Colorado Springs to Dodge City

Today we would start to traverse the plain states on our way home.

Marianne declared that she would like to go to Dodge City. To be honest, like most cowboy town of repute, I had no idea where it was. It turns out to be in Kansas.

So we headed directly east from Colorado Springs. 

Miles away from Colorado Springs, we could still see the Rockies with Pikes Peak quite prominent.

It was not as flat as I expected with quite a few hills.

Plenty of open sky.

And a road that seemed to go on forever. We decided to set the GPS to avoid freeways so that we could drive these old roads with not much traffic.

On and on and on.

Vast open spaces and big skies.

The town of Kit Carson in the distance.

Kit Carson is named after the famous frontiersman.

The town is quite small and has a museum with a caboose outside.

It used to be the local train station but was moved from near the train line to the side of the main street.

The bloke who was looking after the place looked amazingly like Kit Carson himself. He had never realized it.

The train from Chicago to Los Angeles still passes through here but does not stop. The timetable is here.

You see these in countless movies and this one still works.

I have no idea what this is.

This little museum is filled with stuff from a century ago.

See the description below.

The trombone.

This device, called a permanent wave machine, is truly scary. You can read about these machines here.

It looks like the hairdresser attached this clips to your hair that has been rolled. Some liquid is applied and the roll is heated. 

110 volts next to wet hair is not for the faint of heart.

Old radio from Atwater.

Another painting of Kit Carson.

We went out to the caboose.

There was plenty of room and a single person could probably live in one.

Across the street was the outdoor part of the museum. Here are some out houses.

Lots of old farm machinery.

The town itself is quite small and very quiet.

The typical wide main street.

Train line west.

Train line east.

Some shops near the museum.

Back on the road again.

It was well over 90 when we stopped for lunch which turned out to be a small tub of ice-cream. It was cool and refreshing but we did not finish it. And yes, we know it was bad for us.

They are everywhere. Marianne hates them.

A truck driving on the train tracks.

Wetlands area for birds.

One of the huge circular irrigation machines in action.

I had barely noticed these signs but now I wish I had. You tune your car radio to a certain frequency and you hear information about the area on the Sante Fe Trail.

Entering Kansas.

Corn that is not as high as an elephant's eye, but still growing.

Blades for wind turbines just outside Syracuse, Kansas.

Apparently these turbines are made by Vestas.

After checking in at the motel we went for a walk around Dodge which looks like  reasonably prosperous town.

There is a museum with some fake storefronts. There does not seem to be much left of the old town.

The Museum sits on the site of Boot Hill.

Actually, the first Boot Hill was in Hays, Kansas. There were quite a few of them.

I can't resist a steam engine.

To be honest, I was not too impressed by the fake storefronts etc. Perhaps it is time for me to get 'the hell out of Dodge'.