Kansas Adventures, April; Part 3

Leaving Kiowa, we traveled west past Hardtner and the Gypsum Hills Drive we had come south on. We were once again on dirt roads. But they were well maintained.

It is open pasture, which means you may come across a cow on the path.

It takes you into Oklahoma just a little bit, but there are no signs that say "Welcome to Oklahoma". At Aetna Road, you turn north.

We stopped to look at the gypsum which lines the hills and is on the roads. We had to pick some up to bring home as souvenirs.

We found these abandoned antique vehicles in the ditch. Or perhaps there was a huge accident here back in the old days and the vehicles had never been removed?

One of the guide books suggested stopping at this bridge along the river Salt Fork of the Arkansas (incidently, in Kansas, we pronounce that Ar-Kansas, not Ar-Kansaw).

Under the bridge are all these barn swallow nests.

On to Sun City for an afternoon dessert.

Adventures in Kansas; April, Part 2

We arrived in Medicine Lodge around noon. Every 3 years this town has a 3-day mega-event called the Medicine Lodge Peace Treat Pageant (this historical marker says "every 5 years" but all the literature we've looked at says "3"). It is a re-enactment of the signing of the peace treaty. Maybe we will go next year for that.

We wanted to go see Carrie Nation's house. Now, that was some lady! She "was a member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol in pre-Prohibition America. She is particularly noteworthy for promoting her viewpoint through vandalism. On many occasions Nation would enter an alcohol-serving establishment and attack the bar with a hatchet.

Nation was a large woman, almost 6 feet tall and weighing 175 pounds and of a somewhat stern countenance. She described herself as "a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn't like", and claimed a divine ordination to promote temperance by smashing up bars. Hmm.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the house or stockade. It was noon time and the museum curators were having their lunch break. We weren't ready to eat yet. Plus we had read about a place in Sun City that was recommended for lunch, so we drove on.

Three miles out of Medicine Lodge, we turned south on Gypsum Hills Drive, a very scenic route! Kansas??

Part of the road was paved and part was not. When we got to the end of the road, we headed back east to go to Kiowa. There was a museum there that was supposed to have the ax that Carrie Nation used to smash those bars.

When we got to Kiowa, we decided Sun City was too far away for lunch. We wouldn't get there until 3 probably. So we looked for a local diner in Kiowa. The locals seemed to hang out at this place.

We ordered Mexican food and sandwiches. Quite tasty! This is where Al asked about those yellow mustard colored fields and where we learned that they were canola fields.

After lunch, we found the museum. It used to be a firestation in the olden days.

Here is a picture of Carrie Nation, but we could not find her ax. The guy manning the museum didn't know anything about the ax. Well, he had a hard time hearing so maybe he didn't know what we were asking either. At any rate, it seems the guide books are wrong. No ax.

Leaving town, I took a picture of this old hotel. The sign says it is a social club.

Someone commented that with all those boarded up windows, it didn't seem to be so social.

Adventures in Kansas; April, Part 1

When our friends, Rich and Carolyn mentioned to us that they enjoyed road trips too, we invited them on our April Kansas adventure. Rich even offered to drive.


We began at 9 in the morning and spent the next 12 hours on a wonderfully, amazing trip to the Gypsum Hills in southern Kansas and a little wee bit into Oklahoma.

I ended up taking around 200 pictures!! I have weeded them out for the blog, and will post our adventure in several parts or days.

We drove to Wichita and off southwest on K-42. After passing Suppesville, we turned further southwest on highway 2.

We told Rich that we like to stop at historical markers. It wasn't long before Rich made a sudden turn off the road for our first marker.


What an interesting story! If you are a history buff, you can read more about Runnymede here.

We arrived at Harper and went into town. At the main downtown intersection of Central & Main, there is a fountain that has been restored. It served the citizens of Harper from 1909 to 1969. When it was originally presented to the town by a group of ladies, it cost $365. We were disappointed that it wasn't restored as a fountain. No splashing water here.

A sign read "The biggest fish in Kansas flies in Harper."

Leaving Harper on highway 160 west, we drove a little past Attica. Highway 160 makes a little curve north but the old highway turns off to the west. We got off on this road to go to the Attica cemetery.

Mr. Grigsby was an interesting guy...

...and a shirt-tail relative of Abe Lincoln.

Dearest brother thou hast left us
Here thy loss we deeply feel
But 'tis God that hath berefft us
He can all our sorrows heal.

Darling wife and mother no one knew her but to love her.

Rich made the comment that maybe they made the 2nd one smaller due to the economy. Ha!

We drove past Sharon, the home-town of Martina McBride. There we saw many fields that were bright yellow. We had to pull of to look at it. It smelled quite sweet.

Later on we found out that this was canola. Carolyn said that it is christened “Canola” from “Can” (for Canada) and “ola” (for oil low acid). I read that canola is a cultivar of either Rapeseed or Field Mustard. These fields did look like a field of mustard! Just beautiful!

Tomorrow I will post further about arriving in Medicine Lodge.

I am in an "older ladies" (ages 50's-60's) Bible study. We've met for years. Such dear friends! This year we studied the book of Isaiah. This morning, we had our last time together until the fall. It was at Mary Ellen's.
Mary Ellen loves birds. And she is a published author now! She wrote the children's book "Flitty, Twitty and Itty Bitty." LOVE IT! So do my grandkids! Such a wonderfully, sweet story about how much God cares for the birds; and He cares for each of us too!
Mary Ellen does such a wonderful job of decorating!

This juice mix is grape juice, diet sprite and sliced lemons. YUM!

She is such a good cook! Mary Ellen likes to try new recipes out on us. We all loved this cottage souffle!

Easy Cottage Souffle'

6 eggs
16 ounces small curd cottage cheese
1 lb Monterey Jack cheese grated or I used cheddar
1 cup biscuit mix
1/2 cup melted butter, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs in a medium-size bowl.
Add cottage cheese and cheese; blend well. Stir in biscuit mix and 1/4 cup melted butter.
Place 1/4 cup butter in souffle' dish then add the souffle' mixture.
Bake for 45-60 min.

We read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 about the suffering and glory of Christ.
Everyone wrote out griefs, sorrows, sicknesses, transgressions that they have seen and experienced during the past few days. Or possibly some from long ago too. We put these slips of paper in a cup. It represented the cup that Jesus drank. He bore all our griefs and sins.

"He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
and the punishment that brought us peace
was upon Him
and by His wounds we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5