December 17, 2006
This is really not a good time of year to make longer trips--little to do with the temperature (although that's something to think about), but it's because the days are so short that you can't get anyplace before the sun starts dropping (which brings us back to that temperature thing).
Kansas
I ran up the turnpike to the Admire exit. That would be the extent of that sort of highway.
The hills around Eskridge, Kansas have some of the best roads in the state.
St. Mary's, Kansas. In the late 1970's the chapel burned, leaving this picturesque ruin. I don't know if there are plans to rebuild.
This monument to the St. Mary's students who were killed in World War I also gives an idea of how the importance of the railroad has changed since then.
Seneca, Kansas
Nebraska
Pawnee City, Nebraska for the night. At $30, you don't expect WiFi or much of anything else. Still, the room was clean and perfectly fine. It's dark by 5:00pm, and I don't want to be out there dodging deer.
This was the first day of business at the new Subway. The hotel owner told me about it, so I walked to the town square for dinner.
They had done a booming business all day, and people were still coming in.
The county courthouse at night.
Tecumseh, Nebraska also has a large town square with the courthouse in the middle.
I don't know that it ever got above 40 degrees this day. Even so, I never did bother to use my electric vest.
Breakfast at the Tecumseh cafe.
A coal train near Vesta, Nebraska.
You can always tell the rails that the coal trains use. Always exceptionally straight, and never with wood ties.
Crab Orchard, Nebraska is not on any sort of main road. You have to want to be there.
Beatrice, Nebraska is the regional business center for this part of Nebraska.
Odell, Nebraska
Kansas
Near Hanover, Kansas. I particularly liked the window detail above the front entrance.
The old Hollenberg Pony Express Station is now a small Kansas state park.
So, just what is this plant?
It is very difficult to say exactly what the plant is because
the plant in your photo is past maturity and I cannot see the
leaves well. It is definitely in the Asteraceae (Sunflower)
Family. From the time of year and what I can see from the
photo, I would guess that it is an aster - perhaps smooth aster
Aster laevis [=Symphyotrichum laeve] but I cannot say for
sure.
Regards,
Mike Haddock,
Kansas State University
http://www.lib.ksu.edu/wildflower/
Near Barnes, Kansas.
I saw a small sign for Kimeo, so I turned down the road. But, it seems that Kimeo hardly exists anymore. There was but one house, and it was abandoned. The church, however, was in fine shape, although on this Sunday afternoon there was nobody around.
The only road into the town does not even rate a Kansas highway number. I've been to most places in Kansas, but I had not even heard of Green before coming across it, today. When I parked in front of the old IOOF building, I only intended to take a picture of that, the Post Office, and the library.
Then I noticed that across the street there was a cafe that was open.
It was nearly full. The food was the sort of thing
that you'd expect from a potluck, and it was served the way you'd expect
a potluck dinner to be served--do it yourself. Broccoli salad, sweet
potatoes, Jell-O salad, meatballs, deviled eggs, and on and on. They must have had 10 different pies to choose from.
It turns out that this cafe is only open on the 1st and 3rd Sunday
of the month. That's it. The whole community seems to pitch
in to run the place; so the fact that it seemed to be a potluck
affair is pretty much on target. It was hard to tell the wait staff
from the customers--I'm not sure that there was a difference. It was pretty noisy as everybody seemed to be
talking across the room to each other. I was told that just about
anybody who lived in town was there. Quite a number of people stopped by my
table to ask me how I was doing (aren't you cold out there?) and to tell me a little bit more about
their town and their cafe.
The Republican River
A section of old U.S. Highway 40 (long replaced by the Interstate).
Chapman, Kansas (home of astronaut Joe Engle).
Not a lot of traffic this Sunday afternoon.
