The Real Middle America

 Goodland, Kansas, a farming community of 4,500 souls, is not your average small town. One of the earliest pieces of history relating to Goodland concerns the Kidder Massacre. In July, 1867, a detachment of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment was carrying dispatches for (at the time) Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and were massacred by Cheyenne or Sioux indians near Beaver Creek, very near the future town of Goodland, which was incorporated in 1887. Located 17 miles east of the Colorado/Kansas state line and the town of Kandorado, it lies squarely in the high desert category with an elevation of 3,700 feet and an average rainfall of less than 20 inches. 

So why are we here? Well, for starters, it's 236 miles away from the snow that Central City was getting when we left there this morning! 

For another, it has an unique distinction: it lies exactly on the line separating Mountain Time and Central Time! More interesting, the KOA that we're staying at sits on the time zone line such that our motorhome is in Mountain time, but if you walk less that 100 yards to the east side of the park, you're in Central time! We've given up trying to watch tv because the cable system is in Central time and the satellite dish is in Mountain time and we get confused!

Leaving the Denver area this morning, it was (again) a surprise to drive across eastern Colorado and see the miles upon miles of flat to rolling countryside.

Eventually, we came across the state line.

And soon found ourselves in Goodland. A quick drive around town led us to the old Telephone Building, built in 1931 in the Art Deco style. At the time, Goodlands manual exchange had more than 1,000 telephones and the system was overloaded. United Telephone built the building and installed the fourth dial exchange in the state. United Telephone merged with Southwestern Bell in 1937 and all the mechanical equipment was removed in 1957, and the building is no longer open to the public.

Goodland is also home to the world's largest Easel.

Kansas is the Sunflower State, and Goodland is the center of the local sunflower industry, so it makes sense that when the city fathers were searching for something to bring people in off the interstate, they would settle on something flowery.

The easel is 80 feet tall, and the representation of one of Van Gogh's "Sunflower" paintings is 32x24 feet, and weighs 45,000 pounds! The artist has plans to erect seven large paintings around the world, but is working on number three at the moment.

We're finding that Goodland is a quirky place with several odd or interesting things to see, so we're glad that we'll be here a few days.

Stay tuned!