Sunday, May 31, 2020
Grand Island, Nebraska to Warsaw, Missouri
Highlights: Pony Express Barn, black squirrels, and the Flint Hills of Kansas
Due to Covid, we got a sit-down, order-off-a-menu free breakfast at the Clarion Inn in Grand Island instead of their usual hot breakfast buffet. Even better!
In the northeast corner of Kansas, we stopped in the town of Marysville, town mascot the black squirrel and home of the Pony Express Barn Museum. The Pony Express only operated for a year and a half, from April 1860 through October 1861, when it was made obsolete by the completion of a transcontinental telegraph line, but it remains an icon of the American West.
Pony Express Barn Museum, Marysville, Kansas
Black squirrel of Marysville
Black squirrel of Marysville
Brown and black squirrels of Marysville
We continued south through the Flint Hills of Kansas, stopping briefly at the National Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. It was too hot to hike, so we quickly moved on. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Kansas, leading me to ruminate on what should be its state motto. Thinking of Nebraska's “Honestly, it's not for everyone,” for Kansas I came up with “Kansas: It's not as bad as you think.” Tom had an even better idea, though, with “Kansas: It's almost OK.”
Flint Hills of Kansas
Lodging: Hidden Lake Resort, a redneck little fishing lodge on the Lake of the Ozarks, where we rented a large room that hadn't been remodeled since the '70s for $49. I'm not being critical, just descriptive. We liked the lodge and its friendly staff a lot!
Driving distance: 489 miles
Tom
Goetz's Homepage
|