Amazing Kansas!

I mentioned in the last post that the outdoor temperature was 107 degrees.  So when we passed the Frigid Creme, an ice-cream place in the little town of Dighton, I pulled in!  

Delivery right to the car window!

Had to eat that ice-cream FAST!  

It was melting, even in the air-conditioned car!

We continued west on 96 into Ness City.  

The sign reads "Corporal Noah V.B. Ness Seventh Kansas Cavalry. Died August 22, 1864 Abbeville, Mississippi.  In 1876 the Kansas Legislature named Ness County in his honor.  This statue is in memory of Noah Ness and all the brave men who have fought to keep this country free."

The old Ness County Bank

I LOVE old building like this!

and old farmsteads

I wish I knew their stories!

At some point we went north to highway 4 because we wanted to go to Cheyenne Bottoms. 

This is a wetland in the middle of Kansas that is approximately 41,000 acres, 

the largest wetland in the interior of the United States.  

It is a critical stopping point on the Central Flyway for millions of migrating birds.

The best time to see this place is in the Spring or Fall when there are thousands of birds!   We somehow wormed our way out of there on gravel roads back to 281 and then south into Great Bend.

There are several bronze sculptures in this town and wished we had taken the time to stop at each of them.

Just south of Great Bend we came across a historical village.  It was a look into the past with several authentic period buildings.

The Castleton Post Office 1871 - 1935.  I am confident that my grandparents probably had been in this building!  My Dad would have been 12 when it was no longer used.

This is probably when he is about that age.

From Great Bend, we went south until we saw a sign for Quivera National Wildlife Refuge, a salt marshland, another migration route for birds.  Quivera is named after the Quivirans, ancestors of the Wichita tribe.

Look out tower

Again, better to come in the spring or fall, during migration.

What is amazing is that wheat fields but up right to these marshes.  Farmers had begun to harvest.

Amazing Kansas....

We had seen these chalk pyramids, 

hidden cayons,

salt marshes,

 and wheat fields, all within a 170 mile distance, a 3 hour drive!

Amazing God!

"It is He who made the earth

by His power.

Who established the world

by His wisdom."

Jeremiah 10:12

Good-bye baby - journeying home

 I set my alarm for 5.  That is 6 Kansas time, so not really early for me.  I wanted to have time to have my devotions, shower, strip the bed, and clean up the bathroom before loading up the car.  Asking the Lord's blessings and hand over us as we drove home.

And I was hopeful that Tenley would wake up so I could give last snuggles!  I had given Mindy kisses the night before.  Also Tenley, just in case she didn't wake up.  I was grateful that she did!  Jason brought her down and I was able to hold her for awhile before Ruth arrived and we had to leave.

We found a Starbucks and then headed out of town. 

Drinking coffee = pit stop.

Wait, what?   Is it or isn't it?

We stopped at Colby and split a meal.

Ruth wanted to see Monument Rocks so we headed south at Oakley.

It was HOT!  You can see that my arms are sunburned.  

We did put on sunscreen, but....

Too hot to go to New Jerusalem Badlands this day.  Another time.

We stopped at the museum 7 miles away on Highway 83 as I needed to use the restroom.  They had an outhouse.  See it?  Luckily, it wasn't smelly.  It was a two-holer!  One of the holes even had a cushioney toilet pad!  I've used many an out-house or even the side of the road when I grew up in southern Japan.  Once in Kenya, when I was squatting, I noticed huge lion paw prints in the dirt!

We followed this road along the prairie and then it suddenly dipped down and hidden in a canyon of sorts was this campsite. Lake Scott State Park.

There were a few campers at the lake.  I wanted to show Ruth these Indian ruins.

Boy, did I pick up some dust!

Close by the state park is -

It just looks like out of an old cowboy movie here. 

to be continued....