Yesterday morning I headed northeast to complete the tour of towns in Kansas. I headed up some back roads and came to Frankfort, my hometown. I lived around that area from 1953 to 1968 and graduated from Frankfort High.
I went into panic mode trying to take this picture as my camera didn't want to work. Mary had used it a few days earlier and the SD card wasn't making contact. I reinserted the card and it worked fine.
I headed on north on K99 to the Winifred corner and traveled west about four miles. My cousin Charles Gerstner lives near the Winifred corner and farms the ground there. I used to trap in this area for raccoons.
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Google Maps could not find Winifred but did find a Baptist Church and the Winifred Feedlot. The feedlot is just to the south of Winifred and is owned by my cousins daughter and husband, Steve & Jody Keating.
There used to be a Massey Ferguson dealer in Winifred and dad bought a tractor or two there. The owners last name was Totten but don't remember his first name. The building is still there among other things!
I headed back to K99 then north to US36. The first thing I knew I was Home!
I went on west through Marysville to K243 towards Hanover. At the intersection there is this sign:
As I started north I was just in time as a Pony Express rider was going by.
I went on to the Hollenberg Pony Express Station. I saw a covered wagon and the station.
Since this a historic site they have a museum you can visit and see some of the items on display. It was interesting.
For some reason I thought Hollenberg was close by. Wrong! Once again Lola gave me a scenic route. I have it programmed to avoid unpaved roads but usually its just the opposite. I went north on the All American Highway to State Line road which was paved.
There is a town just a half mile west and part is in Kansas and part Nebraska.
There is not much there.
I went west a short distance and the road turned to gravel, then rock.
There were some pretty flowers.
And a farmer harvesting wheat.
The road turned to dirt, then gravel and finally after 10 or 15 miles I came to Hollenberg, KS.
They had a post office with a water supply in the middle of the road.
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I was sitting there trying to figure how to get out of there without riding more gravel roads. The post mistress drove up and I talked with her. She said go west young man and ye shall find pavement. After two miles I did come to pavement and went south. I had Narka plugged into Lola and she kept wanting me to go west but they were all gravel roads. I looked at the map and thought it shouldn't be far to the west and I would hit K15. Wrong! It was far and the roads were not good. Some have soft spots with sand and that is scary. I finally came to K15 and thought I had it made. Wrong again. Lola kept wanting me to go west and there were no paved roads. I saw a sign that showed Mahaska 10 miles west on a gravel road so I took it. Now this was a good gravel road but had spots where they put rock on it, not good. It actually turned to blacktop about a mile from Mahaska. Now I have it made I thought.
They had a wagon decorated for July 4th.
Lola showed about 6 miles to Narka and right outside town the road turned back to gravel. This gravel was a little deeper and about a mile before I arrived at Narka there was a curve and I was on the high side and a car was coming. I had to move right some and when I did I got in deeper gravel and was in trouble. I gave it the gas a shot back down to the track just in time for another truck to approach. I didn't move over so far that time and did arrive in Narka.
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There was a paved road heading south out of Narka to Cuba which was 13 miles. Oh blessed pavement. As I topped a hill the road was filled with a combine coming my way. I hit the brakes and it took the driver too long to get over. I thought I was going to have to ditch it but he got over in time. Not sure a car or truck would have made it. I made it to US36 and Cuba.
I headed west to Belleville for gas which I was about out of. I think I had 10 miles left in the tank. I fueled, bought another bottle of water and had a sandwich since it was 1:30 PM. I headed south on US81 to Concordia, then east on K9. I came to what used to be Rice, KS.
There was a sign about a historic arch bridge so I had a look see.
I headed on east, and then south to Aurora, KS
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I headed east and south all on paved roads to Idana, KS.
I about lost my head on this one!
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Next I headed south on a not so good paved road to Longford.
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Then It was back northeast to my last tour town of Green, KS.
I headed back on US24 and came to Leonardville the home of Jordy Nelson. He was an excellent receiver for K-State and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. He is a wide receiver and made a great catch for a touchdown in Superbowl XLV last year against the Chicago Bears. He now has a super bowl ring!
There were thunder heads building to the south but they looked further south than I would go. I fueled and bought another bottle of water at Wamego. Then went south to I70 to try out the new 75MPH speed limit. I arrived home at 6:15, 10 hours after I left. I had a total of 435 miles some of which were very grueling. I was tired, thirsty for some Jack Daniels and hungry.
This has been a great way to see Kansas and I hope some of you will do the same. I will need to find something else to capture my travel interest now. So I now have all 35 tour towns and 34 extra towns.
