We returned from our annual Kansas trip on June 2. Had a great time with son, daughter-in-law and grandson. He's four now, soon to be five.
My son took me on a day trip to Gyp Hills. That's a beautiful area where gypsum has been mined for maybe a hundred years(?).
I do have one picture to share of the water towers in Pratt. This was apparently originally a joke, but it has been officially preserved. It's something that I would have done in my younger days.
I used an automotive GPS for the first time on this trip. I have to say that it was very useful in keeping us alert to upcoming exits. Last year, we explored Kansas City because I missed the I435 exit. And, in Mount Vernon, IL where we spend the night, it knew that the I64 exit numbering is discontinued for the brief distance that I64 and I57 share the same roadway.
This is our third trip to Kansas and I'm still blown away by size of the farms. That's beautiful country by any standard.
That's pretty wild country. That 40 mile almost straight stretch of US160 between Medicine Lodge and Coldwater has very few mail boxes to serve the houses you can't see from the highway. I've traveled that route at least 10 times over the past 50 years. Scenery doesn't change much over the decades. A friend and neighbor in his late 50's grew up on a ranch in that area. He spent most of his youth on horseback. Well, except for the very long bus rides to and from school. Short buses because the time it takes to get from town to the remote ranch homes takes so long they can only get to a few in the time allowed. Short buses are also much easier to tow out of a snowbank or muddy ditch.
It is desolate. In Pratt, there are a fair number of streets paved with brick. Looking down the side streets in Kingman shows the same thing.
Are these leftovers, or are they actively preserved?
The brick industry was hugely active at the time most Kansas towns felt the need to hard surface their primary routes. There were dozens of brick plants within 40 miles of my home, for example. Most put an imprint to identify themselves on each brick. Unfortunately, little is done in most towns to do anything but make minor repairs. Many asphalt streets were placed directly over the original brick, so there once were many more than what you see today.
