Best Western Country Inn And Suites Dodge City

... The place she stopped was Clarks and it is the same as it was in the 50's. I had a "black and white" which is vanilla ice cream chocolate syrup and marshmello cream! The prices were like the 50's as well, for all four of us the bill came to less than ten bucks! With a belly full of ice cream the next stop would be Dodge City, when we got to the hotel the rooms weren't ready so we went into town for ...

... when we left Denver but on the road back the mountains were glorious, again I asked her to take a picture and she did - along the only stretch of the road with a bridge in the way !! She did manage to get an up close picture of an empty twizzler packet but I think we'll leave her camera free at the Grand Canyon ! A cracking picture of theRockies from the plane on the way to Vegas made up for it ;-)

Day 167 Dodge City - Kansas This close to a famous city such as Dodge city, it became a must see destination. The truth be known it most likely was always in our sights!) To follow up on the Chisholm trail, we had to back track a little to a Town south of Wichita called Wellington. Deciding to top up with groceries first we asked Mandy to take us to the nearest Super Wal Mart. No problem, away we go down the track north a little to the closest Super Wal Mart! WRONG ...

... my tongue starts to gag with conflict - what is the meat taste with oatmeal consistency? I swallow and smell closely. Dang that smells like sausage. The clerk has returned to the desk in this lobby so I ask what is this in the pot? She smiles, "Why it's gravy for your biscuits, ma'am." Wow. I discreetly bin the bowl and finish the biscuit with jelly. I know if I spent more time here I'd learn so much more.

My longest ride yet at 418 mi and I arrived by 5:15pm. Felt a little buzzy after a long windy ride which started in fog! The breakfast was also monumental for 6:40 at that Sedalia Comfort Inn - hot choices, yoghurt, melon, etc. Did my best since I knew I wouldn't want to stop much. Lots of fields and little oil derricks (?) and ...

... at walmart overnight but it really was too windy and too hot. Steve sniffed out the city fairground/ rodeo grounds which often have a camping area that is not generally advertised as one. We found someone there who looks after the grounds who lives in an RV. She was lovely and charged us $15 for a site with power and we also had access to the showers etc. not posh but great for our needs. It also meant that we could run our air ...

... which last about 5 minutes. Whinge aside, today was gorgeous, beautiful clear blue skies with a slight breeze in the air. Left Colorado for good today and entered the flat plain which is known as Kansas. We normally take a photo of the State sign as we pass them but Kansas was so plain and uninteresting we only saw it at the last minute, the adverts for road safety were bigger.

Today we began our journey in Dodge City. We visited the Cross of Coronado, about five miles W of Dodge City. This is where Father Padilla of the Spanish Conquistadors crossed the Arkansas R. in search of "Eldorado's Lost City of Gold." We also visited Fort Dodge and Liberty Garden, one of my personal highlights of that day. The Liberty Garden is a memorial to Sept. 11, where an actual piece of the World Trade Center and Pentagon rest ...

... hour drive, straight across the highway and through a town called Greensburg. Over the weekend there were 29 tornados in Kansas, two of which had completely wiped out Greensburg and one that was in full swing as I was treking my way across the state. The roads had very little space to pull over, the rain was falling hard & fast and there was a detour ...

... where folk bring their home or store made chilli, and everyone gets to enjoy them for free - Music to my ears! I ended up filling up (surprised?!?) with all types of chilli, including pineapple, green chilli, and one that would have made a good alternative to paintstripper... Still it was all free! Only a couple of good pubs, suggested by the locals, so ended the nite with a few drinks and then a long, long walk back to the motel - try and work some of the food off!