We're not in Kansas anymore!

We left Buffalo Bill State Park shortly before 10 AM under a cold, gray and cloudy sky. By 11:00 AM we were in McCook, in SW Nebraska, and admiring the gently falling snow. It wasn't exactly a blizzard, but there was enough to make the roof-tops and ground white and more drifting down, a chilly 35 degrees, but thankfully no wind!

The rolling grain fields of Nebraska flattened considerably once we entered Kansas, looking more the way we've pictured the plains, and the snow stopped! No doubt because it had warmed up to 36!

You never know what unique sites you'll encounter on the road. We stopped for fuel and while it was pumping watched this semi tow a wind turbine tower around a sharp corner. You've got to admire the skill some of these truck drivers demonstrate in managing large loads like this one.There are a few of these wind generators on the horizon across the plains, but so far none of the huge installations that we've seen in Texas and California.

 

 We later crossed over a rail line with a multitude of cars carrying these tubes, and passed truck after truck transporting them. Apparently this is a booming business in the area.

We skirted around the west side of Oakley, the county seat of Logan County. Oakley wasn't named for the world-famous performer "Annie", the town-site was laid out by David Hoag in 1884 and named after his mother, Elizabeth Oakley Gardner-Hoag. Annie Oakley did performed with the "Wild West Show" in the area.
There's a museum honoring Buffalo Bill at the entrance to town, and nearby is this amazing sculpture of Buffalo Bill in action. It commemorates a buffalo shooting contest near the town between William Cody and William Comstock. Cody won, earning the name "Buffalo Bill".

The seemingly flat terrain across Kansas is deceptive. As we left the highway for our new temporary home at

Our site, looking toward Horsethief Canyon

Scott Lake State Park we suddenly found ourselves in a deep canyon filled with rocky cliffs and a wide variety of hardwood and evergreen trees.
Scott Lake is primarily a fishing lake, but there are also accommodations for equestrians, and judging by the concession stands around the lake shore it must be a very popular family hangout during the summer. Everything is closed this time of year. In fact, we never saw any park personnel, and only a handful of other campers.

An unusual feature of the park is an archeological site - Pueblo Indian ruins. Pueblo tribes are generally considered to live in the southwest, but on two occasions two different groups ventured clear up here, stayed only briefly, then returned to their homelands. Several signboards around he excavation explain the history of the area.


There's also an historic home, once belonging to the couple that donated this property for use as a park.

It was not open, closed for the season as is everything else, but looked quite cozy tucked in a copse of trees near one of the limestone cliffs. High up on top of the cliff is a monument to the family, and a stone shelter for those ambitious enough to climb up the narrow trail to view the monument.

There are vague trails up the rocky canyons here, making for interesting walking, but cutting cross-country is a bit hazardous. It seems a strange combination, but the forest of trees is carpeted with sharp, spiny yucca and cactus.

Do I look cold enough?

Venturing off the trail is hazardous to one's shins!  The multiple blossom stem remaining from the yucca that bloomed in the spring illustrates just how many of them there are.

Under other circumstances the trail would have been of interest to me, us but with the 34 degree day and intermittent snow showers  a quick view of the archeological site was about all we could muster up. We made a quick tour of the site and then dove back into the RV for a nice, comfy day watching football.

Just before we left the state we stopped for fuel in Liberal, Kansas, home of Dorthy and Toto. Their house was just down the Yellow Brick Road from the fuel station! (That really is the name of the street!)

A few miles down the road we left Kansas and enter Oklahoma. Across the narrow panhandle we saw extensive oil and natural gas wells, cattle, and lots of wide open spaces. By evening we were in The Republic, at our overnight stop, Collingsworth Pioneer Park, near Wellington. See the next post for a report on that site.