Backroads and Byways - Dodge City to Amarillo

When we left Dodge City this morning, we were in a bit of a funk. The weather was spitting rain, we didn't want to get up early, and the clothes washer in the motorhome unexpectedly quit. Wahhhh! Nevertheless, we headed out of the park, turned west on US 50, then south on US 400 to pick up US 56 heading west toward Liberal, Kansas. We drove through Ensign, Montezuma, and Sublet before turning south on US 83.

Liberal is famous for several different things, among them being the title of Broomcorn Capital of the World. At least in 1905...

The local museum also boasts the only copy we've seen of a manual vacuum cleaner! That vertical handle on the far end is designed to be pushed back and forth, creating a vacuum. Well.....maybe.

Liberal's other famous landmark is Dorothy's House. A tribute to the 1939 movie set in the middle of Kansas, with the original house used in the movie, and a yellow brick road! What more could we want?

Why, a statue of Dorothy with Toto, accompanied by Donna and Sasha!

The house wasn't open for tours while we were there, so we snapped a couple of pics instead.

This was a trip-state day, having started in Kansas and dropping into the Oklahoma panhandle before ending in Texas.

Immediately, we noticed that Oklahoma doesn't look a lot different than Kansas...

Right on the Texas - Oklahoma border lies the little town of Texhoma. No big deal, but for the fact that Donna's Great Uncle Bill had a ranch here back in the day, so we began talking about the good old days....

As we crossed the border into Texas,

we began to wonder where Uncle Bill's ranch was. Just then, we saw a small sign off to the side of the road with his name on it and the name of his ranch: the Bar O. Wow! What luck! Well, sort of...
It took us roughly eight miles to find a place to pull Nessie over to the side of the road. Then we disconnected the tow car and drove back east at the posted 75 miles per hour (or a little over) to check out the sign. After a deep immersion in nostalgia, and about a hundred pictures, Donna said she remembered "The Place" very well. The ranch is now run by Uncle Bill's grandson Steve. Satisfied that the ranch is in good hands, we drove back west....hooked up the car, and continued our journey. Whew!

Another twenty miles southwest on US 54 got us to Stratford, Texas, where Uncle Bill and his wife Aunt Elsie moved after they left the ranch.

As we turned south on US 287, heading into Amarillo, we saw, again, that what they say about Texas is true. Everything's Bigger in Texas. In this case, we're talking about how flat the land is.

After a nice trip on several not-so-well-traveled roads, we find ourselves in the Oasis RV Resort just west of Amarillo. We've stayed here before, and enjoy the park very much since it has paved roads throughout and concrete parking sites for rv's. The park is large, but well laid out, and is a pleasure to stay at.

Three days ago, in Gunsmoke RV Park in Dodge City, we found that our washing machine was not working. It would seemingly get confused as it cycled. This happened last year but the problem went away after a few days. We figured to fix it if possible while we're here in Amarillo, but when we started a test cycle this afternoon, we found that the machine is working fine! Donna ran three loads through the blasted machine before it lost it's mind again. Drat!

The Santa Fe Trail

Our destination on our last day in Dodge City was to explore a little bit farther afield than the town itself. We headed west on US 50 about nine miles from Dodge City to a marker and a trail that has been placed where the Santa Fe Trail came closest to the highway. We were between the Arkansas River, since the trail follows that river as much as possible.

This is definitely Kansas. A breeze is always blowing, generally from the north, and sometimes not so gentle. Storms can be seen approaching for miles, and the quiet of the great prairie is deafening. It was across these rolling hills that wagons (known as "freighters"), pulled by mules, horses, or oxen struggled east and west at the astounding pace of eighteen miles per day.

Hundreds of freight wagons laden with trade goods once lumbered past here. Large caravans took six to ten weeks to travel the 900 miles between New Mexico and Franklin, Missouri. It's difficult to make out, but the area in the center of the following photo shows the trail stretching out away from us. Between the light colored bushes on the left and the line of dark shadows on the right is the trail.

For 60 years, this prairie was torn by the hooves of animals and compacted by the weight of the wagons. The wagons ofttimes traveled four abreast to avoid dust and to quickly form defensive circles. They moved over when tracks became to deep of muddy, creating parallel tracks hundreds of yards wide. The shouts and cracks of the bullwhackers' whips, the rattling of the harness and wagons have been quieted. The depth of the ruts has dwindled due to wind and rain erosion, but their continued existence testifies to the thousands of people, wagons, and carriages that used this highway.

Stretching away to the left, the trail is just visible.

Continuing on to the village of Cimarron, then turning south toward Meade, we again saw hundreds of electricity producing wind machines. A continuing headline on the Wichita television stations tells of the local utility company charging residents who have installed solar or wind equipment for the use of the wire that is used to feed excess power back into the grid. What??? Have we been scammed?

In the hamlet of Meade, population 1,700 more or less. It is an agriculture center, with Co-op grain elevators standing tall in the center of town. Meade is also the location of the Dalton Gang Hideout. In 1886, a young woman named Eva Dalton arrived in Meade to establish a little shop where she made and sold lady's hats and "finery". She met John Whipple, a local merchant, and they were married in 1887, and moved into this cozy little home.

Eva's brother Emmett Dalton attended the wedding and other brothers arrived soon after. In the following years, news of the Dalton Gang's criminal episodes fed speculation about Eva's involvement with her brothers. The brothers activities made it impossible for the Whipples to remain in Meade, and in 1892, they quietly left town, abandoning their home. After they left, a 95-foot-long tunnel of dirt and wood beams was discovered leading from the house to a barn down the hill, the means by which Eva's outlaw brothers came and went undetected. Ironically, in October of 1892 the reign of lawlessness came to an end when the gang attempted to rob two banks at the same time in Coffeyville, Kansas. The only surviving brother, Emmett was sentenced to life in prison, but paroled after 14 years.

We've enjoyed out stay in Dodge City, with its flavor of the Old West. Just a short distance out of town, the quiet of the prairie is disturbed only by the constant wind. When the sparse auto traffic on Highway 50 runs on down the highway, hurrying to a distant destination, one can hear the voices of the past whispering, whispering.

Queen of the Cowtowns

Cattle, mostly Texas Longhorns, were driven up the trails and boarded rail cars headed to markets in the East between 1875 and 1885. Dodge City became the most renowned Kansas cowtown of the era. Prosperity from the cattle trade led to violence, becoming home to top lawmen and gunfighters as well. Wyatt Earp, the Masterson Brothers (Ed, Bat, and Jim), and Doc Holliday among them. The cattle industry continues to grow and develop in the area, with feed yards having a combined capacity of more than 60,000 head. The cattle enter the feed lots weighing 600 to 700 pounds, and are fed to a weight of 1,000 to 1,200 lbs in about 140 days. Feed yards in the state of Kansas market over five million cattle annually, about one-fourth of the demand in the United States.

Our tour of the city began this morning at Boot Hill Museum. A number of places have a "Boot Hill", and Dodge City is no exception. The history of this one, however, is well documented, and while the "occupants" of the original cemetery have been moved (twice), the area has been preserved as part of the museum.

The museum has an excellent display detailing many aspects of the lives of Native Americans. Did you know that the seating arrangements in a tipi was very important? Men sat on the north side, cross-legged, while women sat on the south, but not cross-legged.

This proverb has meaning these days:

Of course, there is a direct reference to the old tv program, Gunsmoke. Donna wanted to check out the saloon to see if Matt and Miss Kitty were inside!

The Long Branch was the scene of several shootings. On April 5, 1879, wagon driver Levi Richardson and gambler Frank Loving engaged in a gun battle. Knowing that Loving was a regular at the Long Branch, Richardson came to the saloon and waited for him so he could settle his differences with him permanently. When Loving arrived, the two men began shouting and both started shooting. As they chased each other around the stove, they were so close the ends of their pistols almost touched. Eleven shots were fired, leaving Richardson mortally wounded. Loving was cleared, pleading self-defense.

Wyatt Earp was born in Illinois, and, having a rather checkered youth, was not always on the correct side of the law. Eventually, he was appointed marshall of Dodge City in 1877, having returned from Dakota Territory and Texas with his common-law wife Celia Ann Blaylock, and Doc Holliday, whom he had met in Fort Worth.

Wyatt arrived in Tombstone, AZ, in 1879 where he accepted the appointment as deputy sheriff and faced the McLaury's and the Clanton's at the OK Corral. Leaving Tombstone, he spent time in Idaho, San Diego, San Francisco, Nevada, and Nome, Alaska. He was arrested a number of times for running illegal card games. He died on January 13, 1929 in California.

Wyatt's friend and associate, Bat Masterson, was born in Canada, but moved with his family to Wichita, KS, where Bat worked for the railroad. Taking up Buffalo hunting, Bat made quite a good amount of money, but soon found his calling as a gambler. Bat was known to everyone in Dodge City, and soon was appointed sheriff of Ford County. That led him to jobs as marshall of Creede and Trinidad, Colorado. As time progressed, Bat took work as a sports writer for the Morning Telegraph newspaper in New York City, where he was found slumped over his typewriter one morning at the age of 67. Read Masterson's last words below his photo below:

There were a number of "soiled doves" in Dodge City, with one of the best know being Mary Elizabeth Haley, know as Squirrel Tooth Alice. Having been captured by Comanches at age 10, but redeemed by her family, she was considered to have been defiled. When she met and fell in love with a man twice her age, her father shot and killed the man. She ran away from home and fell in with gambler "Texas Billy" Thompson and they soon found their way to Dodge City. She had a fondness for Prairie Dogs, making pets of them. Thinking they looked a lot like squirrels, and noticing the gap in her teeth, the famous moniker was coined! One of her daughters commented about her "she wasn't average."

When Wyatt Earp ventured to Texas, only to return in the spring with Doc Holliday, Doc brought along his lady Big Nose Kate. Mary Katherine Haroney was born in Hungary in 1850 where her father was a famous physician. He moved to Mexico to care for Maximillian I, but when the government fell, the family hurriedly moved to Iowa, where it was noticed that structure did not fit Kate well. When she came to Dodge in 1874, she lived in the Dodge House with Doc. They both loved the nightlife and hard fast living. Kate often said of Doc:  "I can out shoot him, I can drink more whiskey than he can, and I can beat him playing poker." They loved and fought hard. One conversation between Wyatt and doc took place after Kate drank too much and began to wreck the hotel room. Doc said, "You know, I had to quiet her, Wyatt; I just hit her gently over the head with the butt end of my gun...had to quiet her."

May I introduce Big Nose Kate and Doc:

Dodge City is dotted with bronze statues of famous local personalities.

James Arness:

Wyatt Earp:

And Wyatt again, looking west down Front Street, the worst street in the territory.

"El Capitan" memorializes the 4 million head of Longhorn cattle driven over the Santa Fe Trail to the railhead in Dodge City. Longhorns are descendants of Spanish cattle brought to Mexico in the 16th century.

Donna stopped for a drink and a hand of cards with Bat Masterson. Notice he's reaching for his gun.....not a good sign!

Feed lots still dot the Dodge City countryside. An overlook is provided so we could see the Martin operation, known as "The T-Bone Factory."

As we returned to downtown, we saw a group of silent but vigilant cowboys from the past keeping a watchful eye over their city.

Backroads and Byways - Dodge City, Kansas

US Highway 50 goes right by our house in NorCal, so when we saw that it was only 8 miles north of us in Yoder, KS, we had to go test a section. Near Hutchinson, KS, the road is four lanes wide, divided, and smooth. It can go up against any road we've been on in this beautiful country. But near Sylvia the road began to get a little narrow, and by the time we reached Macksville, it was a country road! Nice, you understand, but a bit more rustic than we had started with.

Passing through Kinsley, we noticed a small sign identifying the town as the "Midpoint of America", because it is exactly 1,561 miles to San Francisco, and 1,561 miles to New York City! A little farther on, near Offerle, we came across a huge wind farm. There must have been hundreds of machines, all turning lazily in the Kansas breeze.

At last, after a grueling 130 miles on a straight-as-a-string Kansas highway, we rolled into Dodge City. As usual, the local tourist bureau has been hard at work!

We had time this afternoon to cruise through the city of 28,000 people, and located this historical marker.

We have slipped into the Gunsmoke RV Park just west of town. This is a quiet park in spite of the nearby highway. New owners (since July) are making a valiant attempt to spruce up an older park. The sites are long enough for Nessie and Gus, and we don't have neighbors immediately next door. Utilities (except for advertised Wifi) are good.

The weather has turned cold. Today we fought a headwind of 20 mph all day, and the skies were cloudy. No rain, but dreary. The high temp today was 60 degrees. Quite a change from the 80's and 90's we've been enjoying!

Lindsborg, Kansas

A reference to the Swedish town of Lindsborg, Kansas, caught our eye the other day, so we elected to visit today. The weather was iffy most of the night, with rain predicted, but at about 10 this morning, it settled in, seemingly forever! The local evening news has reported a rainfall of more than 5 inches in the area, with continued rain overnight! So it was a perfect day for a trip!

Lindsborg is located about 55 miles north of the thriving metropolis of Yoder, and was settled in the spring of 1869 by Pastor Olof Olsson from Sweden. Known as "Little Sweden", some thirty percent of the population is of Swedish descent. Downtown shops specialize in heritage souvenirs, including various sizes of Dala Horses. The Dala Horse has been chosen by the city of Lindeborg as its symbol of identity with Sweden. Originally carved from scrap pieces of wood during the long, cold winters  of central Sweden, the Dala Horse was chosen as part of the Swedish display at the Paris Exposition in the mid 19th century.  Lindsborg has placed a number of specially decorated and named Dala Horses along the main street of town.

Beautiful, eh? Since it was raining pretty hard, we drove up and down the street, hopping out every 100 feet or so to snap a pic!

Downtown Lindsborg is a quiet place on a rainy day, but they say it buzzes with tourists on weekends!

A bed and breakfast is located just off the main street, and is elegantly decorated. We had to snap a photo!

A display of Gnomes in the Hemslojd got us to this figure of a cowpoke! By the way, Hemslojd is a Swedish word for "handicraft".

Dozens of Dala Horses decorate the town, but we simply couldn't compete with the rain and only got pictures of a few. This guy is near a Sprint phone store.

Just outside a Mexican restaurant, this horse is decorated with a Dio de Los Muertos theme.

We stopped at Jalisco for a mexican food lunch, and admired the artwork in the dining room. Every chair, every table, and every booth seatback is decorated with artwork reflecting Mexican heritage.

Heading south out of town on a really cool brick paved street,

we arrived at Coronado Heights. Constructed in 1936 as a project of the Works Progress Administration on a 300' bluff in the Dakota Formation, it is said that this point marks the place where Francisco Vasquez de Coronado gave up his search for the seven cities of gold and returned to Mexico. This area is known as the Smoky Valley, and the bluff is a landmark seen for miles.

Normally, one can see for miles from the top of the castle, but today was an exception. The area is a well visited park during good weather.

Although we didn't get out to investigate and search, the bluff is a haven for the Prairie Racerunner, a species of lizard that lives throughout the US. According to a signpost, it's also known as Cnemidophorus Sexlineatus Viridis. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, I gotta go for today. We're planning on going across South Yoder Street for dinner at the Carriage Crossing restaurant. They're supposed to have great fried chicken and chicken fried chicken. Don't tell my cardiologist!

Swedish afterthought:

Ole (our favorite Scandinavian) got a job at the fertilizer factory. The boss tried to determine the extent of Ole's abilities. "Tell me, do you know anything about nitrates?"
Answered Ole...."All I know is dey are cheaper dan da day rates,"

And then:

Ole was hitchhiking and was picked up by two Swedes in a pickup. Ole rode in the back. The truck ran off the road into a river. The Swedes got out, but Ole drowned trying to get the tailgate open.

And, finally:

Lena: Vhen ve vere younger, Ole, you used to nibble on my ear.
(Ole starts to leave the room)
Lena: Vhere are you going, Ole?
Ole: Into da bedroom to get my teeth.

ok, ok....