Kansas-Missouri Road Trip

Recently we visited Kansas for a family reunion and decided to make a road trip. There was so much driving that being said, we saw some cool things and I was reminded that there is some stuff I would like to go see.

Wichita, KS

We visited the Keeper of the Plains. Yes, we did see this statue back in 2020 but they weren’t doing the fire show at the time due to COVID. If you are ever in Wichita, this is worth going to see. The Keeper stands at the convergence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers and he had been there since the 1970s. I’m not sure what it is, but this location, this status has an energy and its powerful. I’m always in awe. If you go in the evening to watch the fire ring, get there early because the parking lot is small and fills up fast. This is free to visit.

Yoder & Hutchinson, KS

We stopped in Yoder for breakfast at Carriage Crossing. The cinnamon rolls are the size of your face and absolutely delicious. We did not actually have time to do anything in Hutchinson, that being said, we have been before to the Cosmosphere, also in 2020, and I’d love to go back. The Cosmosphere is the premier space craft restoration facility in the world and its on a community college campus. If you like rocketry and space craft, this is the place to go.

Something else that I really want to do in Hutchinson is visit Strataca, the underground salt museum. I particularly want to go on the Lantern Tour. Unfortunately, we will have to save that for another visit.

Independence & Kansas City, MO

We had a free morning before a Royals game and I decided to get in some history. Unfortunately, on the Sunday of a holiday weekend, a lot of stuff is closed. Independence is the starting place of the California, Oregon, and Santa Fe trails. The Oregon and California trails run together for a long time. The Santa Fe Trail is the shortest of the three, kinda. Since the Santa Fe Trail was for commerce I’m guessing people would travel back and forth along it. I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think I’m wrong. More research is required.

Historic Truman Courthouse

Anyway, we visited the Independence, Missouri Courthouse Square. There was a coffee shop open on Memorial Day Sunday, good coffee at least. And we did walk around and see all the historical markers. This courthouse was built by President Truman before he was in office. This courthouse does have a statue of Andrew Jackson out front, I’m not a fan of Jackson, he was not a good person. And there is a sign in next to the statue that acknowledges that. The sign makes a point that I agree with: ignoring parts of history doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Hiding the history, easing the history might mean that people forget but the events still occurred and helped to shape today.

Wayne City Landing

Wayne City Landing, also known as the Upper Independence Landing, was a port on the Missouri River that those people that wanted to take the westward trails might get off at. This was also a location for merchandise to be unloaded. On our visit, we could just barely see the river and the informational posts could definitely use some work as some were difficult to read.

Even though the river port is no longer there this is an interesting bit of history of how people and goods moved in the era before even railroads.

Royals Baseball

This game was against Seattle and it was a heck of a time. The Ranger Stadium here in Texas is really missing out on the proper baseball vibes not having a proper pipe organ. The energy at a Royals game is just infectious, even when their season is not great. If you are ever in the area and enjoy baseball I’d recommend going. It was a ton of fun and the Royals won.

Strip Mining in Kansas

So. Many. Mines. On the way home we stopped in Southeast Kansas to see Big Brutus. Big Brutus is the largest electric mining shovel in the world. IT’S MASSIVE. This shovel is apply named. The museum for Big Brutus is on the spot where he stopped running. This enormous piece of machinery moved at a max speed of .2 miles per hour. The parts of him came in by train and had to be assembled over 11 months.

The weirdest thing about Big Brutus is that he looks out over this beautiful little lake where people are fishing and then you realize that lake was the strip mine that has filled in with water over the past 50 years. And I don’t know enough about post-mining landscape recovery to know if a lake where there wasn’t one before is beneficial to this biome. You would think so but there are plenty of landscapes that are meant to have grasslands that now have trees.

Conclusion

This trip gave me a lot to think about: historically, ethically, conservation and rewilding efforts. I would love to know what you think. Let me know in the comments.

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Santa Fe Trail

If you can’t tell already, this trail is a recurring theme on my blog and I know how it happened: I like history and the part of Kansas that my husband is from has a lot of Santa Fe Trail locations. Eventually I’m going to compile everything I’ve learned into a big essay looking to answer a particular question. Yeah, I have a thesis statement but I’m not ready to fall down the research rabbit hole yet. I have to finish my novel first.

In the meantime, here are the locations we have visited:

• Fort Larned – Yes, a military post
• Bent’s Old Fort – Not a military post
• Dodge City
  • Note: I have not actually been to Fort Dodge yet. I’m going to fix this.
• Wagon Bed Springs
• Santa Fe Trail Tracks
• Cimarron National Grasslands

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Thank you KW Photography for allowing me to use your wonderful photos!

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