March 30, 2008
Two Buttes, Colorado is in eastern Colorado, not very close to much of anything. I've been there before, but never by the small road straight west out of Johnson City, Kansas. Two Buttes would be my goal.
Kansas
It'd be cold and misty just about the entire trip, with riding temperatures ranging from the high 30s to the mid 60s. Most of the time it was around 42 degrees. My electric vest was never so appreciated.
This is Kingman, Kansas.
From Kingman, I dropped south to US-160, and would stay on that road all the way to Johnson City.
Abandoned houses and cars along the way.
Ashland, Kansas.
I arrived at Ulysses, Kansas as the sun was setting. It was very cold.
The road west out of Johnson City doesn't have a name while it's in Kansas (other than Road 2), but at the Colorado line it becomes CO-116.
Colorado
This is Two Buttes, Colorado. It clearly was once a fair sized town, judging by the remaining streets and the now-cleared lots. These days, there's not much left. I parked the bike next to the (abandoned) general store, and walked around.
This community center was built by the WPA in 1936.
Continuing west on CO-116, I connected with US-385 and turned north to Lamar, where I'd pick up US-50 for the return ride east.
Breakfast at the Hickory House in Lamar, Colorado. I did not even try to eat all of this, but that warm coffee cup sure felt good on my hands.
Just west of Granada is the Amache Japanese Internment Camp, one of several such camps established in the U.S. during the Second World War. The camp site has been preserved, and there are a number of signs explaining how the different areas of the camp were used.
The camp entrance is about half a mile south of US-50 at the end of this dirt road.
Many building foundations remain, but very little else is evident except for the streets and the trees.
About a mile farther southwest is the camp cemetery.
June 20, 1943
Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado
photo
by Joe McClelland
Kansas
Still on US-50, this is Ingalls, Kansas.
Ingalls is on the route of the Santa Fe Trail. Markers such as this (below) are fairly common, and were put in place through the efforts of the DAR.
