A trip to the Flint Hills

We wanted to take our young friend, Kaho, to the Flint Hills, to see the wide spaces of Kansas.  She invited her friend, Yoko. 

 Bikers on 1st street.

We told the girls we better stop for bathrooms as we would not find any for a while.  

We drove to Matfield Green and then turned east into the Flinthills.

The road we had planned to take was closed.  Bridge out.  So we had to take a detour.

 

 After driving for some time, Al stopped the truck and had us get out to just listen.  No noise.  Just a little wind, some crickets and the swishing of prairie grasses.

 

The cell tower cast a shadow across the grasses.

 

 The trees showed that there must be a creek (do you pronounce it creeeek or crick?  We tend to say crick.)

When rainy, this is much fuller. 

 How would you like to live way out in the boonies?  It would take a L-O-N-G time to get here when you have to get groceries.  But what a beautiful home!  We found out later that it was a weekend get-away.

We came upon a couple who had just moved to the area and were trying to go home from grocery shopping in Emporia via the Flinthills.  They assumed that the roads would be north/south and east/west every mile apart, as it is in most of Kansas.  And then they had car trouble.  And no cell phone.

Al took the husband with him to a nearby rancher to get some help.

 We girls went for a little walk while we waited.

 Help was coming so we wished them luck and headed back home.

 We were wrong!  There IS a bathroom out in the middle of nowhere!  

Back to civilization.

 Back to town on 1st street, about 45 minutes.

The Flinthills are NOT like Japan at all!  I still recall the culture shock of seeing this place called Kansas where my parents brought me.  Here is where I grew up.  

Mountains and sea

But the Flinthills have a beauty of their own!