Little House on the Prairie April 2011

Just South of Independence,Kansas one finds a sign inviting travels to turn for Little House on the Prairie.If you pass it,another sign tells you so and suggests to turn around. We traveled South of 75 through Burlington,Yates Center. The last time we traveled this direction, it was instinctly foggy, so we didnt see the Nuclear Power Plant, I was pleased to note we could see it this time. We considered stopping or at least seeing the lake , but didnt.

On to Little House on the Prairie,what you find is a collection of old post offices, One room school houses and the cabin. Laura Ingals Wilder wrote several books detailing the Prairie life of the 1870's and 1880's. The books and the TV series are iconic. Personally I would rather have the book as what Kansas is, or was than the Wizard of Oz, which I am over and most Kansans have either a love or hate relationship with. As the Summer of 2011 wore on, The Wizard of Oz was shown at the Capital Building as part of Movies on the Lawn series, I told a co worker, I'd have to be paid a lot of money to willingly see it. Little House on the Prairie, William Inge ,Buster Keaton yes, Wizard No !


Anyway, my question was how do we known the Cabin was there. Census work, The Ingals family is listed in the 1870 census in Montgomery County, the book talks about a hand dug well and this spot was the only one that fit the bill. So the log cabin is recreated as it was in the book.

The brounche warns you not to trust GPS and that is correct. The GPS will take you about a half mile down the road.


Traveling through Kansas, you run into a lot of Log Cabins and one room school houses,they all tend to be the same. This one has the rules of conduct that teachers had to live by. This Cabin because of the connection to this great book just feels different.

Kansas at 150

Kansas Statehood was 150 years ago yesterday. Due to budget problems the celebration officially was restrained. No Parades and fireworks that came with Kansas 100 in 1961. The Kansas State Historical Society Musuem charged $1.50 for entry and had bands,food and crafts. Upon entering we could see Dorothy,The Good Witch,scarecrow and the Lion mixing about with men in Civil War uniforms and couples in period pieces. I know similar events went on through out the State, at Fort Scott for example and else where.

The history of Kansas going like this . Coronando came here and found plain Indians,Lewis and Clark spent several days here. The Great Trails of Westward Expansion go through here, Kansas became a territory in 1854 and became known as Bleeding Kansas. Statehood occured and 3 and half months later the civil war began.Kansas had the highest death rate per capita of any state in that great conflict.

Until recently It had become a leader in Progressive politics. As I will talk about woman had the right to vote long before the Suffragettes ,in fact the first Female Mayor of any town was elected in Argonia,Kansas in 1887, 33 years before the Constitution got around to the issue.

Pictures of my two favorite items at the Musuem, the first is items discarded on the trails. It's not the chair and clock that interest me as much as it what they represent. They are dreams of those who crossed the country, as some point they had to dump them on the side of the road in order to continue, the destination itself was certainly a dream as well. I can only imagine the conversation about what item to discard. The State motto of "Ad astra per aspera" is on full display here.

The other is the exhibit about Susanna Salter who in 1887 was elected Mayor of Argonia,Kansas. The first woman to be the Mayor of a city.Kansas Progress thought more than 30 before Women got the right to vote.

As always for as much of Kansas is found in Topeka, you have to go outisde of Topeka to find Kansas. The town of Burlingame is about 20 miles South of Topeka and hosted a 2 day Kansas Day event with a Ham and Bean lunch at the old High School,now a Musuem. We found girls dressed in Pioneer clothes,Butter Makers,we missed the Cow Milking Contest, arts and crafts on display. We came to listen to a Harvey Girl lecture from a professor at K-State. It was really an enjoyable time.

Ending the day at Williamsburg, a town that maybe has 10 people on a good day, the old railroad station has been converted to the town library. Main street has about 2 buildings on each side of the street and a wonderful little BBQ Tavern Resturant called Guy and Mae's. It is one of the 8 wonders of Kansas-Cusine and offers some good BBQ.

Small Business in Small Towns

A personal story here. In Junior High I walked to school to school, down a block to pick up Richie, then we walked to a couple of blocks to sometimes Juniors house and then to Gary's house, then across the lawn of Highland Park South over the tennis courts to Eisenhower High School. Sometime in 1980 or so Gary moved to Bennington,Kansas. Richie moved across town to Washburn Rural, I last saw him when he brought over a Record ,Men At Work as my Graduation gift. I have fond memories of those warm and cold days walking to school,going to movies. The Parents picked us and took us to the mall and several movies, sleep overs, the good times everyone hopes for,the true time of innocence.

Gary went with us on a trip to Texas,we stopped several places on the way, I think that was the trip to Astrodome, I remember Galveston Island pretty well, I'm not sure what we did in Oklahoma that trip. I slept a week in Bennington the summer of 1980 and remember 3 things, a tracker pull, seeing "The Muppet Movie" at a downtown movie palace and going to a drug store on the main street that had a soda fountain.


I had passed by Bennington several times over the past few years,going up 81 or connecting to I-70 in Salina. The cut off seemed familiar,but I never stopped. So this trip seemed the time. A couple of factors at play, 1) personal memories, I wondered what I would remember from 30 years ago,never holding out much thought Gary could still be there 2) I always came back in my memories to the Soda Fountain,It was probably the memorable part of the trip.and 3) as I have been though so many small towns,what was the state of this small town.

On the Soda Fountain, I was sure the place was an Alco,Duckwalls or woolworth,that is how I remember it anyway. Soda Fountains are so much of a by gone era that you can mostly only find them in Museums, I have seen several the view years on my travels, the one that sticks out is the Old Train Station Museum in Ottawa. Topeka has a working one in Old Prairie Town. I sort of wish my Lunch would allow me time to go more often. In the end it is only open at certain hours. But I have been there.The Soda Fountain is definitely a prime piece of Americana.As I have looked at so many on display I recalled I have been to one. At 45 Museums now contain,not the memories of others but mine.

On Small towns.I'm not talking County seats with the court house squares filled with antique stores,rexall drug stores,the town or county newspaper site, I think of towns with a main street that at the most is 3 blocks long. In Wellsville, It's 2 blocks long with one stop light,2 antique stores,a BBQ restaurant, a pizza place and a flower shop. It's doing pretty good.

Onaga,where I have not been isn't doing good. The town grocery store burned down earlier this month. Shuttle buses twice a week take those who cant or wont drive to bigger towns until they decide what to do with the store. I think about myself in Topeka,waking up to find I need milk driving the 5 minutes to the Wal mart or Dillions to get what I need.

Lebannon,Kansas the town you can see in the distance from the Geographic Center of the US, by appearances is not doing well.The Main street has a gift shop along side boarded up buildings and other than a cafe isn't doing well. There is a Casey's general store,a locally owned pizza place, a bank, including a branch of mine in Halstead,Kansas, a town off the main drag and location for the movie "Picnic".


The newspaper in Topeka talks about the decline of small town America. The new Governor wants to establish Rural Enterprise Zones and I wonder about Soda Fountains, what ever happened to the Kid I went to see so many movies with and took a vacation to Texas with. So it was time to go back to Bennington,Kansas ....

The Main Street was vaguely recognizable to me,I thought the store was the one boarded up but a wooden wall and a mirror was visible from a corner store with a sign in the window saying "Loft Apartments available". A sign out front asked "Have you had a Green River ?" a sure sign of a Soda Fountain inside. The sign above said "The Linger Longer".

I had only to walk in and recognize the Mirror,the wood paneling, the counter and the chairs. I was pleasantly surprised, It was not in a museum somewhere. The lady behind the counter asked what brought us here and I told my story. She didn't remember Gary,but knew someone with that last night. She said you probably remember it as a Drug Store, the mention of comic books and I could visualize the creaky comic book stand and spinning it around when I was there 30 years ago.

She gave a history of the building, said the fountain was against the other wall she is a farmer and opened the store a month ago "for the community". We talked about Kansas Sampler Foundation, they had been there and it's going to be on the cover of the next book.As we drank coffee, which hit the spot on a cold,windy day she called Gary's mother. He was in Olathe,married and a couple of kids.I was pleased, not pleased to hear his mother is not doing well.I didn't remember the city swimming pool. We talked a lot about Small town schools versus Big Town school, graduation rates,quality of life issues and eventually we decided it was time to leave,Hamburgers at the Cozy Inn in Salina beckoned. She offered to take a picture of me behind the Soda Fountain and explained how it worked. Invited us to the Rodeo in June and the street dance.And we left.

Bennington had 625 people , is doing ok thanks to people with the vision of opening a Soda Fountain where one stood so many years ago. I was pleased to be in Bennington again and see what I remembered was still there, not ready for the Museum just yet. And so in love with Kansas and great Kansans that a phone was made and I got to hear what my Junior High School friend was up to.

In 2010 I was in all 4 states that surround Kansas and several places in between.I saw street named after Country Music Stars,saw about 20 Court houses,ate at local chicken resturants, saw Wagon Ruts of the Oregon trail and stood in the middle of the Road of the famous Route 66.

Winter in Kansas being what it is, I can't say for certain I will get out again before Kansas turns 150 on January 29th, so Happy Birthday Kansas !!! No place seems a more Kansas place than a 15 year kid in a Drug Store on a hot August day in 1980 or a 45 year man in the same place on a cold December afternoon.
Thank you for reading, whoever you are.

wind and one last journey of 2010

The overwhelming summary I have of travel in 2010 is weather, the first to Fort Scott was delayed by snow and iffy when did make it. The fog was so thick on K10 in Olathe that a fire truck came out of nowhere,it cleared by the time we reached Fort Scott,but we missed the view of the power plant on the Military road the lines the east edge of Kansas.

In was cold and windy in Oklahoma City in February. I climbed a ridge in Ottawa in a light rain to see the Marais des Cygnes River in early May. It was over 100 degrees in July when I stood in Cawker City to take a picture of phone booth on a street corner.Coming back from Winterset,Iowa I watched a lightening storm over North Kansas City.As I stood looking at a sign explaining the fence some half mile in the distance was Colorado in October it was blustery and cold. A cold,grey day in November made thoughts of skipping the Veterans day parade in Emporia a good idea. This weekend the trip to Concordia on 24,down 81 to salina and then I-70 was defined by wind so bad it stopped you from walking at I walked north on the flat tree less plains toward a guard tower of a German POW Camp. It was a quite a year and very interesting trips.

We saw 3 court houses Saturday, In Clay Center,Concordia,and Salina. The Clay Center one was nice, in a town square with 2 teenage girls bravely manning a Salvation Army kettle,a painted sign for Coke was on a wall and our stay was brief. On the way we passed Riley County High School, at the intersection of 77 and 24,with its enrollment in 2008 of 221 students,the school can boast of 2 current players in the NFL,quite a feat. Jon McGraw of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jordy Nelson of the Green Bay Packers.

Concordia is the county seat of Cloud County. Home to the National Orphan Train Museum which is a visit for a another day. The Historical society annex features one of the more unique murals in Kansas, the side of the building has brick cravings of the counties history.I highly recommend the Museum nearby in the Carnegie Library building, It talks about the POW Camp,has an unusal collection of pencils with business printed on them,tons of milk bottles,old dressses,military uniforms and almost anything else you can imagine, truly charming

Cloud County was briefly the home of one Boston Corbett http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Corbett

Known for several things,being the man who shot Lincoln Assassin John Wilkes Booth, shooting up the Kansas House of Representatives during his brief career as a door keeper and generally being crazy. Concordia was also known for being home to some 5,000 German and Italian Prisoners of War. The Guard tower and and one of the building still stand outside of town.It was hear on the flat plains with no trees in sight that the wind stopped me from walking to the guest sign in sheet.

The Mother Road -Route 66

Trip Date :November 13,2010


We spent most of our time in Missouri, just over the border in the Joplin Area. Visiting the Marlin Perkins statue in Carthage,another wonderful courthouse in Carthage. The George Washington Carver National Memorial in Diamond is of interest to Kansans as he Homesteaded in Ellis County.But the Kansas focus here is 13 miles of the great and legendary Route 66 that took millions from Chicago to Los Angeles from the 1920's to the 1970's.


Cherokee county touches Missouri to the East and Oklahoma to the South. The route of 66 takes from Joplin,Missouri the home of Dennis Weaver and one of Bonnie and Clyde most famous shoot outs through Galena,Riverton and Baxter Springs to Miami,OK where Mickey Mantle was born.Souvenir shops exist in each little with shot glasses,coffee mugs,T-Shirts and Maps. The main landmark is in Riverton where the Rainbow bridge,built in 1923 still stands on the Old Route 66 Road, the newer road is a few yards to the South. Few miles of the Old Road still exist. I traveled the old road in Seigleman,Arizona several years and now have seen the bridge.

Another Kansas Court House in Columbus on our way home and dinner at Chicken Mary's in Frontenac. To go back to a trip last year in Pittsburg, a chicken restaurant was started by 2 sisters to feed coal miners, the sisters feuded and Mary opened her own restaurant literally next door to her sister Annie. The Restaurants have been featured on the Food Channel and both are part of the 8 wonders of Kansas-Restaurants.

I have been to Hays House,Bobo's Drive in Topeka,the Chicken Restaurants of Crawford County and Brookville Hotel in Abilene. Trips scheduled to the rest soon.

High Plains

Date of Trip:October 16,2010

I recall my first trip west last year and being fasinated by the wind farms, miles and miles of Tall, lean white windmills dotting farm lands between Salina and Russell on I-70. The overwhelming image I had on what would be the longest trip I have taken since the mission to explore Kansas,was not taken with a camera,but lives in the minds eye. The wind farms at night.It's really dark in that stretch of road, the towns are all miles off the highway and the dark sky has a beauty all it own. To the north they are dotted with red lights,obviously used for air travel, the funny thing was they blink on and off in what is almost a dance to no music. In the car we were listening to a biography of John Wayne, so that couldnt be it. Heading west we timed the first view of the sentenial like windmills at 10 miles. So it was a few minutes before we reached the farms itself and the cause of the blinking was revealed. The blades whirling around cut out the red light for a brief moment. It was beautiful to watch the ballet of red dots against the black night.


The weekend was also a time of Fall festivals,a corn husking contest at the Buffalo Bill statue near Oakley to the Maple Leaf festival in Baldwin.

As we have gone on this trips, a bucket list has emerged, County court houses. I love the town square feel to them,mainly because we in Topeka have the Capital Building, the court house is a gross looking 1950's look to it.Most of the courthouses are old,situationed in the town square with mom and pops stores around them. As we found in December in Yates Center,wonderful christmas lights, 3 hit county court houses, in Sharon Springs,Goodland and Oakley. Plus a beautiful court house in Cheyenne Wells,Co.

Mount Sunflower is the highest point in Kansas at 4 thousand feet. It is not a mountain at all by the high point of several hills. It lays 11 miles down this road and 2 miles up that road from US-40. Or you get there from I-70, same directions, 12 miles here and 2 miles there. Either way you pass farm land,cows grazing and occasionally passing the road.

The Summit includes a picnic area,a mailbox with a guestbook and stories about a wedding conducted there on a New Years Day in bitter cold, some iron works and a note that Colorado is at the first fence in the distance, about a half mile away.

Please to note I made it all four states in this calendar year and Jan 29,2011 is the 150th Birthday of Kansas Statehood.

Pictures US-36

!. Skyline of Lebanon as seen from Geographical Center of the US Marker
2. Old Hotel at Center
3. Marker with directions to Center
4. Pony Express stable near Hanover
5. Oregon Trail Park, Pott County