Topeka to Ojo

We left Topeka and headed west across Kansas, Colorado and into New Mexico to Ojo Caliente. The first 100 miles were on I-70 and the last 650 were on secondary highways. We love traveling these roads and seeing the small towns and cities along the way.

The rolling hills of Kansas. Even on the interstate there was not much traffic.

Actually we were more likely to encounter this kind of traffic jam on the local roads. There were signs warning to be alert for farm machinery because it is the harvest season.

 Not sure what grain this is but it looks like a work of art as it is piled on the ground before shipping.

There are fewer and fewer of these old style grain elevators, but seeing them in the distance is a sign of a small town along the railroad.

Our first stop after Topeka was Dodge City. Even though we have been here before and done all the Wild West stuff, we stayed two days to catch up on laundry after not having full hook ups at our last stop. 

The biggest change in Southwest Kansas since our 2012 visit is the huge boom in wind energy. There are hundreds of windmills spinning in the wind and many more on the ground waiting to be assembled.

In Garden City there is a huge area with parts for hundreds of windmills. These behemoths are more than 300 feet tall with turbines the size of our motorhome sitting atop towers over 200 feet in the air with three blades over 110 feet long.

We drove highway 10 across the high plains of Colorado in 2012 and it's now one of my favorites. It is a narrow two lane road, but with very little traffic. You can get the feel of what it must have been like for the early pioneers when they got there first look at the towering Rocky Mountains in the distance.

After an overnight stop at the base of the mountains, the next morning we headed over 9,413 foot LaVeta Pass. They are all set for winter with the snow fencing in place. We were surprised that there was no snow even on the highest peaks.

Another change since our last visit to Colorado is legal recreational marijuana. Every little town had a shop with the green cross. I have to say we?????????????????

Beautiful fall trees as we arrived in Ojo Caliente.

This is the third time we have been to Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs and Spa. We love coming here to soak our bones in the springs and get massages. One thing we don't like, they doubled the price of an RV spot and the only improvement was a bath house that we don't need. I guess it is just that it is becoming more popular.

There are great hiking trails at Ojo that we always take advantage of. The trees along the river where in there full fall splendor.

Once you get away from the water the high desert is covered with dry land vegetation. Here the sun was lighting up the trees in the valley below. 

Just before our last visit there was a bad flood in Ojo. On our hike we found this old wash that the flood had cleared of debris making a new trail down the hill. 

The springs are open until 10 PM and it is very neat watching the stars come out while soaking in the warm springs. 

One of the seven different springs. Each has water with different minerals that are said to cure what ails you. The Lithia water is said to improve digestion and mood.  

The big pool is the coolest and is right next to the hottest soaking pool. There is also a mud pool where you can mud up and then dry out in the warm New Mexico sun.

Nanc found this corner of the Iron Pool where the hot water was coming in on her back. The iron is said to benefit your blood and immune system, prevent fatigue and promote healthy skin tone.

I don't know if it's all the minerals, the warm high desert sun or the quiet atmosphere at Ojo, but being here sure is relaxing.

Even though we are not happy with the increase in price for the campground, we do love spending time at Ojo. This time we even ventured into "town" for a couple meals even though the restaurant here is very good. Ojo will always be a stop for us when we are in the Southwest.

Kansas Capitol & Browns

Touring the state capitol building in Topeka, Kansas, our 23rd, was beyond a doubt the high point of any we have seen so far. We also visited the the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site where they tell the story of that historic Supreme Court decision.

The Kansas capitol is built in the classic style with four wings that house the legislative and executive branches of government. At 304 feet the dome is 17 feet higher than the United States Capitol. 

President Dwight David Eisenhower was born in Texas and died in Pennsylvania but his formative years were spent in Abilene, Kansas, the site of his presidential library. 

The interior dome is composed of 256 glass panels. The chandelier is a replica of the original which was melted down during WWII as part of the scrap metal drive.

The flags in the rotunda represent the nations that have claimed any part of the state throughout its history; United Kingdom, the French Monarchy, the French Republic, Mexico, Spain, Texas, United States and Kansas.

The thing that makes this tour unique is that we got to go up into the dome. On the first landing you can see the back of the columns where, over the years, people have written graffiti. This is no longer allowed. You can also get an up close look at the chandelier. 

Looking down from the steps to the second level is really impressive.

And we still had a long way to go, from the outer edge of the dome, up the long straight stairs, to the spiral steps, to the top. It is 296 steps from the fifth floor where the tour starts to the top.

Looking through the center of the interior dome at the painted walls on the inside of the dome we viewed from the ground floor.

The outside of the glass panels and the winch that is used to lower the chandelier to the floor below for cleaning and changing the light bulbs.

We made it!  I've always wanted to go to the top of the U.S. capitol but I don't think that will ever happen so this will have to do even though the view of Topeka and the Kansas plains is not the same as the view would be of Washington, DC. We did learn that Oregon is the only other state that allows dome tours, so it has moved up on our to do list.

The Kansas Senate chamber with 40 members has been restored to its original appearance. The chamber has several types of marble and the original, native Kansas wild cherry desks.

Here we are seated on the bench in the Old Supreme Court chamber. In this chamber in 1925 the court was the first in the country to outlaw the Ku Klux Klan.

Some of the beautiful art work, including the state seal, found in the capitol.

The House of Representatives has 125 members. A unique feature of this chamber is some of the pink columns are really painted using a faux marble process. 

Another unique feature of this capitol is the 1923 elevator that still has an operator rather than being modernized. The legislature has even passed a law that it will always have an operator.

The Governor's Ceremonial Office that is used for bill signings has many pieces of art and artifacts that are important to Kansas history.

Some of the statues on the grounds and atop the dome include, Abe Lincoln, a Kansa warrior atop the dome, a replica of the Statue of Liberty, and a tribute to pioneer women.

This mural, Tragic Prelude, was painted by John Steuart Curry in the 1930's. The painting is filled with much symbolism related to abolitionist John Brown, the time of Bloody Kansas when Kansas had to choose between being a slave or free state and the Civil War. Here is a link to a site that explains Curry's painting. 

The tour of the Kansas capitol and being allowed to go to the top of the dome sure makes this one of our favorite tours of any of the capitols to date.

The Monroe Elementary School was one of the segregated schools where Black students in Topeka were forced to attend even if other schools were closer to their homes. Oliver L. Brown was one of  several parents who filed a suit that separate schools where not equal. The Supreme Court ruled 9 - 0 in Brown's favor in 1954 overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision which previously allowed segregation. This ruling is looked at as the beginning of the civil rights movement.

There are a series of videos that explain what civil rights are and exhibits about the Brown decision and the civil rights movement. While this is an important site in the movement, we were not that impressed with the way the story was told.

I'm really behind with the blog. We are now at Good Life RV Resort in Mesa until the first of the year. We are looking forward to seeing many friends here and going to Secrets Silversands in Cancun for vacation. I do have a couple more RV repair issues to write about, but that is for another post.

 Life is Good.

Dodge City & the Wild West

Because of the issues we were having with the RV, we spent four days in Dodge City, an interesting little place that celebrates both its historical and fictional past.  Dodge is located on the 100th meridian which is considered the line marking the beginning of the arid high plains.  It was where the large southern buffalo herds roamed which attracted the plains Indians and it was where Coronado crossed the Arkansas River in his search for the city of gold.  Later, the Santa Fe trail passed through Dodge.  After the railroad came through, it became the destination for the cattle drives from Texas which brought rowdy cowboys and the famous lawmen who controlled the town. Later it became the big agricultural center that it is today.  The whole story is told at the Boot Hill Museum, a recreation of the old town.

Some of the Indian Artifacts that tell the importance of the buffalo to their culture.

     The buffalo where here first which attracted the Indians.  The cross marks the spot where Coronado crossed the Arkansas River.  The arrival of the railroad brought the cattle and the cowboys and that lead to the town hiring famous lawman, Wyatt Earp.     

There are plaques on the sidewalks throughout Dodge honoring both real and fictional citizens. 
In the top row are real people.  Starting on the left is Big Nose Kate Elder, a love interest of Doc Holliday; center is Wyatt Earp, who was a Deputy Sheriff under Bat Masterson; right is Doc Holliday, a dentist, gambler and gunfighter.
In the bottom row are some of the fictional characters from movies and TV shows about Dodge.
Left is Milburn Stone, who played Doc Adams on Gunsmoke; center is James Arness, Marshal Matt Dillon on the show and Gene Barry, who played Bat Masterson.
There are many more plaques including the entire cast of Gunsmoke.

I found this display of original signatures of some of Dodge City's most famous citizens very interesting.  It is a direct link to past characters, many of whom I grew up with as the were portrayed in the movies and TV shows of my youth.

Nanc is checking out the pictures of some of the famous people who have visited the Boot Hill Museum.  They included politicians like John F. Kennedy and Gerald Ford, who where both here before they became president and many famous entertainment personalities.

The recreated Front Street of Dodge City.  All of the businesses where actually in the city during the frontier period.

Here is the inside of the bank, mortuary, newspaper and blacksmith shop. 

The Long Branch was not just the fictional saloon in Gunsmoke, but one of 19 bars during the cowboy days that lead to the city's reputation as the "Wickedest Little City in America". 

You can have a beer or a sarsaparilla while listening to the piano player at the Long Branch.  In the summer they have can can dancers in the bar and old time Western shoot outs on Front Street.

This is where the name Boot Hill comes from. This was really just the cemetery for the down and out who could not afford to be buried at nearby Fort Dodge.  All of the bodies were relocated years ago as the city grew and took over Boot Hill.

A stop in Dodge City sure does bring back a lot of memories from the old Western movies we watched as kids.