Flatlands

Flatlands really describes most of Missouri, Kansas and eastern Colorado.  This part of the country seems to be characterized by huge vistas and dirt roads.  Well, they do pave the Interstate, but we haven't been on many of them.

The day after visiting with Pres.Truman we went to Kansas City and stopped by the Arabia Steamboat Museum.  This was most interesting.  Some guys decided to do a little aquatic treasure hunting, and since MO isn't near an ocean they used the next best thing, the Missouri River.  They were hunting for the steamboat Arabia, which had hit a snag and sunk 132 years ago.  They found it, but not where you might think.  It was in a farmers field, 45 feet below the surface.  The river had changed course and left it stranded there.  However, before it ended up on (in) dry land, the river had covered it with a thick layer of silt, so everything was perfectly preserved.  Some of the bottled pickles and other food was even edible.  This ship was a supply ship, headed for the Frontier, so the "find" was a veritable Walmart of items of everyday life, much of it destined for shop keepers.  Many thousands of items, which they had intended to sell, but when they realized the magnitude of their discovery they knew that it had to be shared in an educational way.  Thus, the museum.  These fellows and their family ran a refrigeration business so knew nothing about historic preservation, but they learned.  The sheer volume of items is amazing.  It was also interesting to note the tools and household things, and to realize that there are a lot of things that we have not really needed to improve on, design-wise, since the 1880's. 

After leaving the Arabia we headed west in the rain and camped in Tuttle Creek State Park.  This was located near a large flood control dam which was still being worked on, and the road under construction was closed, as you can see from the photo.  Not sure of the reason for the dirt pile behind the gate- maybe for emphasis or for those who can't read the sign!

The next morning was sunny again, so we embarked on a day that went from the sublime to the ridiculous.  We decided a little more politics couldn't hurt so we went to Abilene and visited the Eisenhower Presidential Library, home and grave site.

  It was interesting to note what he did with the problems that Truman had struggled with before him.  It also brought home the fact that there probably isn't anything new that Pres. Obama is dealing with today, just a culmination of the problems of history.   It was nice to see that the Presidential Library is heated with solar.

Our next stop was on top of a knoll, on a dirt road, on a ranch somewhat in the middle of no-where.  We were trying to locate the Geodetic Center of Gravity of North America.

It's located in some rancher's field, so we couldn't go to the actual spot, so we took a photo as close as we could figure it.  Great view, though.  You really could see "forever" from there.

Lastly, we ended up in Cawker City, a tiny burg of some 300 folks, to view the world's largest ball of twine.

Enough said.  Yes, it's big! (kudos to Chevy Chase)  We camped that night at Webster State Park, and endured a super strong thunderstorm with "dangerous hail and lightening," as the weather radio that I'm glad we invested in described it in the tornado warnings.  No twisters, thankfully.  We did have a flood inside the van when one of the water system fittings broke.  Oh well, it will all dry out one day.

Today was overcast and misty.  In a day that was all driving, the big adventure was getting stuck on a dirt road that was actually muddy clay, thanks to the storm the night before.  It was a relatively deserted place, but a man came along to check his oil wells and saw us signaling.  However, by the time he had gone around another road and approached us from behind Bill had managed to back up to the start of the road and we were free.  It's May 12, and we are in Falcon, CO, outside of Colorado Springs.  This is high plains country, mostly range, and very different from the fields of Kansas.  Very beautiful, in its own way.