July 25 - 27, 2021:
In the morning I get on the road heading for Hutchinson, Kansas where I plan to get a motel room for the night, I need it ! Along the way I pass through the towns of Marion and McPherson, Kansas.
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| Attractive victorian business |
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| The Marion Train Depot, now the Library |
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| The last Carnegie Library built in 1923 |
As I ride into McPherson, Kansas I see a unusual mural and I know I’ve been here and taken this photo before. I also remember the Opera House and a search of former blog posts confirms that we passed through here several years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McPherson,_Kansas
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| A most impressive team for the middle of Kansas |
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| The McPherson Opera House is beautiful |
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| The Capital Block, another survivor |
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| It somehow all fit together artiscally |
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| Nice window details on Capital Block building |
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| Interesting auto restoration mural |
Continuing on to Hutchinson, I realize that I've been here also, probably during the same trip. In the motel room, I get on the internet to check my photo library and find that I have an album with 250 photos from Hutchison, KS. I’ll just do a quick pass in the morning to see if there any big changes and then continue west.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson,_Kansas
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| The Fox Theater still looking good |
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| The Kress is still looking good |
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| The Flag Theater |
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| This row of buildings seems improved |
In the morning, I head out on route 14 north to route ? (unknown) since my GPS prefers I take a narrow, bumpy country road for 40 miles that goes through the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. I wasn’t in a big hurry, but you couldn’t really see much from the road and it wasn’t really very attractive country. As I am driving through the Wildlife Refuge, I see many oil pumps in fields and marsh areas. It seems odd to allow oil rigs in a wildlife refuge where a leak could have dire environmental consequences ?
I arrive in Great Bend to an almost blinding white grain Elevator and adjacent the falling apart old Great Bend railroad depot. It’s a nice town and looks prosperous with a more modern, than I like, Court House and a clean tree lined Main Street. There isn’t much of interest for my taste though, except for the beautiful old Crest Theater. A statue in front of the Court House is interesting though, it’s of Jack S Kilby who invented the microchip, who was a beloved Great Bend native. It’s nice to be out of that part of the country where most of the statues at Court Houses are for Confederate war heroes !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bend,_Kansas
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| The huge white elevator as I enter town |
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| The old Rail Depot, hopefully they are doing something with it |
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| Interesting downtown mural |
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| Mural remembering the nearby WWII Air Force Base |
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| The Court House |
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| Monument to Jack S Kilby |
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| Beautiful Crest Theater |
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| A saved steam Locomotive in a town park |
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| An auto restoration shop |
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| Not unusual to be passed by such a trailer here |
10th Street is where all the business is located, every chain restaurant, motel, fast food, convenance, grocery store and liquor store. There are very few bars in this town, it seems odd to me, but it seems common in small Kansas towns. However, by the quantity of liquor stores people obviously indulge in alcohol frequently, I guess they all do it at home, closet drinkers perhaps ? They also smoke a lot here, I’ve noticed this in Kansas, it appears to be way above average. Also, as I have seen all over these rural areas they love their hot rodded up big pickup trucks, spewing diesel smoke (blowing coal they say) with high turbo whine. Liberals, progressives, environmentalists take note, you are going to have a hell of a fight fight getting these people into electric powered vehicles.
A few miles outside of town I see a auto junk yard, (recycling center), with a field totally filled with old cars and trucks from about 1930 to 1970. I would have loved to get inside, but it was closed, adjacent to a busy road, and tough to even take a quick photo.
There are two good museums in town, the Barton County Museum and the Oil and Gas Museum. I visit the Barton County Museum which has many historic buildings moved here from other places such as a Railroad Depot, Church, Schoolhouse, early settlers cabin and a barn full of tractors and farm implements. The museum interior was a mix of Indian artifacts and early settler history and goods.
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| The chief had no sense of humor |
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| WWII airman's flight jacket |
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| I need to investigate this ? |
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| Cottonwood branch star cross section |
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| Great Bend animal exposition |
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| 1956 National Drag Race Championships in Great Bend |
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| Jack Kilby was a genius |
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| The Belpre Train Depot was moved here |
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| Looks very original inside |
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| An Avery Tractor |
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| I couldn't pass this test |
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| The Kanza Tribe's legacy |
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| Lots of oil in this area |
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| A belt driven machine shop |
I find a great overnight spot a couple of miles outside of town at Fort Zarah which is an abandoned army post from the wagon train / Indian battle days. There is nothing there, it has been converted in a park with a few camp sites and tables. You can park overnight, totally free, some road noise, but not as loud as the cicadas, it was great.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Zarah
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| Many famous people passed through here |
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| It look so peaceful today |
First thing in the morning I drive to the town of Pawnee Rock where the historic Pawnee Rock is located which was a landmark on the Santa Fe Trail. It was another place where people carved their names in the rock outcroppings. The strange fact about this landmark is that the locals carted to top 20-30 feet of the landmark rock away to build roads and such in the 1900’s. Historic preservation was unheard of in those days. They have since built an observation platform to enable you to see a view similar to the original.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawnee_Rock
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| Pawnee Rock was once a landmark, not so much these days |
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| A monument to the pioneer trails |
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| Many left their mark on the rocks |
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| A Grand sight ! |
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| This was a treasured place for the Indians |
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| The much lowered Pawnee Rock now has an observation platform |
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| The view from the viewing platform |
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| Most of the names are worn away |
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| The view from the entrance drive |
In the afternoon I drive to the town of Hoisington, Kansas and explore the downtown then drive to the nearby Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge. It is another large Nature Conservancy wildlife refuge. The downtown streets of Hoisington are decorated with metal art sculptures of the various wildlife found in the wildlife refuge.
https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/cheyenne-bottoms-preserve/
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| Nicely done street signs |
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| Wildlife mural |
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| Kansas wheat rules here |
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| The Nature Conservancy is great |
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| The Wetlands & Wildlife Scenic Byway |
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| I love the symmetry of these Hay rolls |
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| Oil wells spread all over this wetland area |
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| This preserve is also shared with ranchers |
After another night at Fort Zarah, I ride over to the Great Bend Drag Strip. I had seen an exhibit at the Barton County Museum about the Great Bend drag strip which was the site of the very first NHRA Nationals Drag Race event in 1955. Who would have thought that this area would be the center of Drag Racing back in the day ? The drag strip is located on the municipal airport property and is still in operation but is no longer sanctioned by the NHRA (too small), but is sanctioned by the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association).
That’s all for Great Bend, next stop is Scott City, Kansas
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