Bill’s Road Book
Day 14, 6 July: 277 miles, 6 hours.
Hwy 50/400: 53 miles to Garden City, 50 miles to
The next morning we oldsters had a wander around the touristy area of Dodge City. None of us was wildly impressed. I had the impression that Dodge City was important in historical times -- and it is still clearly a major centre for the beef industry, but the town has modernised with time and only too late realised they possibly had tourist appeal. It looks as though at that point they threw up something to appease visitors and did it badly. I don't know exactly what I expected but whatever it was those expectations weren't met. Even Simon called it Dodge-y City. So we left and carried on to Colorado.
(Everyone had to have their picture taken playing in the choo-choo-train...)
Not too far out of Dodge City, we came upon this sign
and all the vehicles stopped and everyone, but me, went to see the sights.
They were gone long enough I decided to check it out, only to be impressed that they could spend so much time looking at so much nothing.
I took a picture of this sign because I knew you would want to know all about the campsite where the US survey team stayed for 11 days in 1825 (and no doubt I'm failing to properly appreciate what they accomplished whilst they were there).
These pictures represent how I see Kansas. These are the views in every direction from the little pavillion over the sign:
You see what I mean?There is one advantage to a flat horizon, mind, a characteristic I got used to growing up in Oklahoma: you can see what's coming at you.
The terrain changed a bit as we entered Colorado, but more about that tomorrow. At the RV park at LaJunta. Bob, Bill and I stayed in the RV, all the others rented a cabin. There was a BBQ that night, but the mosquitoes probably had the best feed of all. I kept worrying about West Nile Virus. We used lots of spray and Helen put out candles, but we really shouldn't have been out at dusk, which is their feeding time.
Curious about Bill's chances at Grandfather-hood, I asked Martin if he liked children. Of course his response was the classic about not being able to eat a whole one. Then he went on to report that he weighed something like 13.5 pounds at birth, so I just take it that Helen (about 4'11" if that) will be practicing her birth control meticulously.
I've nagged Simon to upload more of his pictures and he promises he'll get right on it...I'll add them as they become available.
1 comment:
You have not appreciation for truly historic sites. There is a place in Colorado, I don't remember just where but that it took a lot of climbing and walking to get there, where you can actually see the wagon tracks in the rocks where the pioneers crossed the Rocky Mountains going west. My brother thought it was really neat. I should have stayed in the car.
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