Friday, November 1, 2013

COWBOY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

With Monday morning we were heading out of Pueblo, CO - east. Eastern Colorado and on to Kansas - both known to be flat - ugh - two days to just get over with, we thought.

Thankfully, it was a much better ride than we anticipated.

Except for the wind - grrrrrrrrrrrr to that darn wind.

We were so excited to be out of the gas guzzling mountains with fingers crossed for winds from the west to push us down the highway.

Sadly, that was not to be - a constant wind - yes - but day one from the north and day two from the south - we just couldn't win.


Monday was an easy day for me both navigation and photography wise.  A photo every few hours. Yawn.


Not to say that there wasn't anything to look at along highway 50. Thankfully this road exists. As I look up on my map our drive through eastern CO could have been much worse. At least this route mainly follows the Arkansas River with a city or town every 10 or 20 miles to keep the monotony levels down. There were some trees, albeit the towns looked pretty forlorn.


But mostly, the day looked like this. Interesting in the sense that part of it made up the Santa Fe Trail.


You really have to be made of something special to call this area home. Ahhhh - there's a place for everyone isn't there. 


Nice to see green at the end of October. The day was cloudy but very very warm - and very very humid. Not something we are used to.


By the time we got just past Garden City I finally HAD to take a picture of this. Not good. We'd past about 6 of them - Feed Lots. Ok - so someone please let us know. Is this how the cows live 24/7 or are they just in these pens right now to be fattened up and shipped out. If it's the former we are totally unimpressed - yes we eat beef - but really - is this necessary with all of the range land out there? Grrrrrrrr. And Garden City? Who came up with that name? Sorry - if the city itself is a garden - we didn't drive in - but from what we saw on the outskirts it doesn't give us hope.


And just down the road? Look'y here cowpokes - if it ain't Dodge City. Yup partner - that's what it is. Cassia and Derek - partially curious - me? Excited - I've mentioned that I'm a Western book fan - right?! Ya - I know about 100 times now. 

And with our arrival into DC we are know back to our Plan A - before our detour into Colorado.


Upon entering DC we drove straight through - it was getting dark. The Walmart must be around here somewhere right? Nope - so we finally had to stop for directions from the friendly UPS guy. On our way back through the downtown we decided to stop in at the visitor's center - just to get a quick look. What? No - 'no camping overnight' signs. Well, that's like an invitation to spend the night according to the Wood Clan. And look - on the barrel - it says 'RV Parking' - well, ok then - this is where we'll spend the night - who needs Walmart anyway!

By the way - this baby above chugged a million miles.


LOVE LOVE LOVE all the Western history!


Interesting clouds with the sunset that night as we were walking Rufus around the block.


The next morning - our first stop was a visit to the Center. 


A ton of info and a very friendly info lady. 


Then a tour of the historic downtown. Warm and cloudy - not raining at least.


Our overnight spot. Stealth - unofficial boondocking - at it's finest. The building provided shelter from the nighttime south winds.


A stop in a the Boot Hill Museum and shop meant a ride for Cassia. Yup - the usual sitting area is in fact, on the wagon, but not for this horse riding girl.


Boot Hill was the cemetery where many of the local cowboys ended up - dying with their 'boots on.'


Not quite the same with all the modern day shops. Hard to get the true old west feeling. Boy do I wish that I could time travel while standing here to see the real Dodge City back in 1872, when the train was just pulling into town and the buffalo roamed in the millions. I read that between 1872 and 75, 3,000,000 buffalo were killed, thus the need for the longhorn cattle drives. Sad. You'd think they could have paced themselves a bit better than that! 




Cassia really put herself into this pose. I only said 'Cassia - stand beside the longhorn.'






What stands upon the modern day Boot Hill.

By noonish we had felt that we had seen what we wanted to see in Dodge City. There would obviously be a lot more to see during the summer season what with the trolley tours and shows. I was just glad to finally visit this place with such a rich history.

We continued our ride through Kansas on highway 400 heading southeast. It wasn't long before we were heading towards Greensburg. I was reading to Derek from our Kansas book that there was a BIG WELL there - it looked to be a neat building from my perspective. We decided to stop there for lunch.

Greensburg we both said - why does that name sound familiar?

Do you know?

Teresa

1 comment:

  1. I wish that cattle were still being rounded up and driven to Dodge City after a life on the open range. Feed lots-ugh! They're the reason we seek out organic or grass feed beef. The purpose of the feedlots is to put fast weight on the animals. To do that they have to confined for months, feed a diet of mostly corn which is not good for them and given antibiotics to bulk them up - bad for the cows and for the people who eat them. Google factory farming. Or maybe not! Reading about it really makes you very skeptical about eating beef, not to mention chicken or pork.

    I'm glad you're having a good trip! Good decision to escape the cold of winter for one last season. :-)

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