Highland Hotel and Convention Center Great Bend

... know unless it's wheat) up to the top of the towers. On the front of the building was the tunnely thing that would load the crop into trucks. Various doors in the barn had seemed to have blown off or broken down into big shards. I took some pretty cool tin roof pieces that I might try to paint on at home. The barns were great. There was a train track, the sun was shining, and it was a beautiful, beautiful day.

We also went to check ...

... an 1881 historic ranch house, limestone barn and outbuildings, and one-room schoolhouse. Today's Prairie is home to an astonishing variety of life: over 450 species of plants, 150 kinds of birds, 39 types of reptiles and amphibians, and 31 species of mammals.

Although Mushroom Rock State Park is the smallest state park in Kansas, it's the most interesting. The Park has Dakota sandstone concretions. There are many concretions in this Park, but some of it still remains and has been supporting three of the rocks for many years.

The resulting combination of rocks have a mushroom shape. The unusual shapes caught the imaginations of the Native Americans and pioneers, some of whom have left graffiti in softer sandstone.

... the railroad was completed through Kansas, the fort was abandoned.

Santa Fe Trail Museum:

The Santa Fe Trail originated in Independence, MO through Kansas and ended in New Mexico. The Trail began in 1821 and carried a stream of merchant wagons and pioneers until replaced by the railroad system in 1880. The Santa Fe Trail Museum tells the story of the transportation route once known as the Santa Fe Trail which blended the Indian, Mexican, and American cultures.

... 8217;s other significant accomplishments during his Presidency included the Civil Rights Act of 1957; support of the Brown V. Board of Education’s desegregation of schools lawsuit; avoiding a nuclear war with the Soviet Union; and began NASA.

Dwight was nicknamed Ike. He was of German descent and in German, Eisenhower was pronounced "Ike- enhower". Dwight preferred to be remembered as General Eisenhower rather than President Eisenhower.

... way point of our trip! On the way in we stopped at Braums a local ice cream parlor and I had a chocolate shake and a burger, yum! Got to the hotel a quick swim and stretch, now my blog and then off to dinner!

Last night the wild west show was dreadful! bad jokes and off tune singing that lasted too long.

... wheat fields but they are still several weeks from harvesting. There has been a lot of moisture and some damaging hail through this area so the crops are spotty in places, even destroyed.

Although not far from our destination, we stop for the night in Great Bend. This allows us to arrive in Alva Oklahoma by noon tomorrow and gives the truckers the afternoon to unload machinery.

... could/would be profitable! As we got into Oklahoma, the products changed from range for cattle, to cattle in pastures and what had been range was now planted to dry-land wheat or alfalfa. The ranges were still fenced on both sides of the highway. The land got flatter and fewer hills were to be seen. By the time we got to Kansas, most fields were not fenced, many were irrigated and planted to wheat, alfalfa, or corn. The cows were penned in feed ...

... lands once. I'm enjoying the great outdoors, I climbed a mountain Harney Peak the other day and I saw the crazy horse...http://www.crazyhorse.org/ new things I've done...driven on the right hand side of the road ...driven an automatic...driven a quad bike...bought a digital camera...drunk moose drool(a beer)created a travel blog...cut down a juniper hedge.....gone to a strangers wedding...met a professional photographer of rodeo events and a life coach.

departing odometer 23955....arriving odometer 24337. We drove 382 miles today. We have stopped at the Santa Rosa RV Park for the night. They have a BBQ Restaurant here and not much else. I think a Catholic Church and a Dollar Store is all that's here. The sunset was nice so I took a pic. We will be seeing a lot of desert plains and cactus for awhile. YEEHAW!!!!!!