Dotted roads

 After leaving 4 corners at White Cloud, KS, we continued on into Nebraska, following the Missouri River along highway 7.

We pulled into Rulo, Nebraska, population 144.

Back in the 1980s, there was a religious cult 2 miles north of here along the Missouri River. The farm had been converted into a compound and the members of the cult committed thefts throughout the Nebraska-Missouri-Kansas area. The stolen property would be sold in order to buy weapons and survival equipment for the group.  It was later raided and the leader put on death row.  We did not know this information beforehand or we might have tried to locate the area.

We crossed over the Missouri River.

We came to a village called Big Lake.  There are homes and cabins around this lake.

We took North 111 to highway 29 and took it for 30 miles.

We had made it from Kansas, into Nebraska, to Missouri and into Iowa in about an hour.  At Hamburg we filled up with gas.  I saw this interesting statue by the park.  

I love it when a town decides to keep old buildings!

This would be a fun house to re-do!

We had decided that we would take the dotted road from Hamburg, Iowa - a dotted road means it is a scenic route (although sometimes we wonder why it was ever considered a scenic route).  

Using Maps on my phone, we found the "dotted road" called Bluff Road that followed the bluffs to the east.  This runs along the Lewis and Clark Historic Trail. 

The Loess Hills rise 200 feet above the flat plains forming a narrow band running north to south 200 miles along the Missouri River.  The plains are between 3 and 8 miles wide.   If you look at a map, you will see it from Kansas City, through Omaha and on north into South Dakota!

We drove past Waubonsie State Park

We missed this scenic overlook.  I noticed the sign when I reviewed my photos.  I was just taking a picture of it to remind me what roads we were on.  We may have to try this road again!  I looked at pictures on-line and it would be worth it!

At a fork in the road, the signage was not clear on how to stay on Bluff Road and we went out of the way just a little.  Luckily it wasn't too muddy since it was a minimum maintenance road!  I guess if it had been muddy, we would have made a U in the road.

We came to a town called Tabor, Iowa.  There is an underground railroad station here; the Todd House Museum.  It would have been closed when we drove through.  That would be interesting to visit!  We visited one in Wisconsin.  The Milton House.

There is a Christian college named Tabor here!  

We have a Mennonite Brethern college named Tabor College a half hour away from us in Kansas too! 

When we got to highway 34, we went east to highway 59 and north to highway 80.

The sun set as we got to Highway 80.  We pulled into Des Moines around 11PM.  Passed our bedtime but what a fun adventure going on unknown, "dotted" roads!  Tomorrow to Dubuque to see something we have never seen before!

To the corner of Kansas

We had been contemplating a new road we'd never been on before to go to Wisconsin.  The night before we were going to leave, we watched this show on PBS called "Kansas From Above".  Here is the promo:

In it, it shows that at the northeast of Kansas, you can see 4 states.  "Let's go there!"

We went to Hillsboro to pick up sausage for the kids and then took Highway 77 up to Highway 70.

I have read that these dugouts from the late 1800s were used as storm shelters from tornadoes and as a cellar for food as it kept food cool.  Some have said that people might have lived in them until a proper home was built.  Today they are mostly homes for critters!

We took 18 into Manhattan and then up Seth Child Road up to 13 and over the dam of Tuttle Creek Lake.

North on 13 to 16 to 99 (for those interested)

It was quite hilly.  Kansas is not flat!

We came into Frankfort.  It was named after a man named Frank Schmidt, not after Frankfort, Germany.  The population is around 723, verses Frankfort, Germany, whose population was 753,056 in 2019.

The town lost 32 men during WWII, more per capita than any other community in the United States!

The Banker's Inn, a hotel you can stay at!  Built in 1887, it has The Trump Suite (named after the Trump Apron Factory during WWII), Skylight Suite, and the Presidential Suite.  Check out the web site to see pictures.  I'd love to stay there sometime!

And Elsie Grace's next door.

"Allen, let's stop for a piece of pie!"

It was late enough in the afternoon that they were out of pie, but they had some delicious fudge and lemon bars.

The owner told us that she began this store as a hobby and named it after her grandmother.  When her husband was tragically killed in an accident, this became her way of income.  

I told her I'd love to come back and she said she was selling the place this summer  and retiring as it was getting too hard for her.  She said she thought they had a buyer; a young couple moving out of a big city to come try small town living for their family.  If the sale fails, I hope someone else will buy it!  Or even the shop across the road!  A young couple purchased it and decided it wasn't for them.

The Frankfort school built in 1902-03.  The 1880 schoolhouse burned down after a lightning strike.

We turned east on highway 36.

We zig-zagged our way to the corner of the state.

White Cloud, Kansas

White Cloud was a thriving city in its day, with a population of 2,000.  This port town located on the Missouri River, was a popular stop for steamboats carrying supplies for the west.  It was named after Ioway tribal cheif, Ma-Hush-Kah or White Cloud.  You can read about this town here.  It is really interesting!

This was the school house.

It is almost a ghost town these days.  Population is around 115.

We turned off the main road onto this little slip of a road.

and then on to this little rutted, dirt road.

From here in Kansas you can see Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.

The Missouri River ahead

We turned left and traveled along the river for a bit and then went into Nebraska.

That was fun!

Good-bye Kansas!