Backroads and Byways...Yoder, Kansas

Following our new mantra of taking the roads less traveled, we hopped back on US Highway 54 this morning, once again heading west. We kept our speed low and enjoyed a leisurely journey through the towns of Piqua, Yates Center, and Eureka. The road was in excellent condition, with very little traffic. We spent a bit of time counting the expired Armadillos along the roadway! It was kinda interesting when the GPS screwed up and took us off the highway through the town of Kechi!

It is, however, Kansas....

We skirted Wichita on the north side and slipped onto Highway 96 going northwest. 96 is called the Fairgrounds Freeway because it leads to the Kansas State Fair site in Hutchinson, Kansas. The road was a joy to drive on...smooth, no potholes, very little traffic and a 70 mph speed limit! One hundred forty nine miles after we left Iola, we arrived in the Amish community of Yoder, Kansas, a farming community of some 194 souls. This is proof that the town exists:

Main Street is a block long, and by the time we visited, about 4:30 in the afternoon, most of the stores had closed.

We stopped at the Yoder Discount Food store for a bit of milk, and felt like we had stepped back in time 50 years. The small store had a decent selection of merchandise, but was certainly not the brightly lit, wide aisled, Muzak-in-the-background stores we are accustomed to these days!

We also stopped at the other store that was open, the Yoder Meat and Gift Company. As you would expect, this is partially a butcher shop for local ranchers, a gift shop for us tourists, and a grocery store with specialty Amish delicacies, such as...

We are staying in the Hitchin' Post RV Park just a stone's throw off of Hwy 96. At $25 a night for full hookups and wifi, it's a bargain. Easy to get into and easy to get out. As you can see....there aren't very many guests staying tonite!

Opposite the highway is the main industry in town, the grain elevator. Of course this is corn country, so the elevators are filling fast. The train cruises by us (and to the elevators if necessary), taking grain away for processing.

This tractor and string of trailers has been making round trips all afternoon (at least since we arrived at 3:00 pm). He weighs his trailers, dumps the grain, and circles around to weight again before heading off down through the center of town, presumably to the farm.

The temperature here in Yoder is 90 deg, with humidity about the same percentage. Oddly, the wind is blowing at 20-30 mph, with gusts to 50 mph! The Wichita tv news indicates that there is a series of storms off to the west, so that may be contributing to the strange weather.