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.

Illinois State Capitol(s)

Almost all the states have had more than one capitol building, but very few have both the old and the new in the same city.  Illinois is one of those states. The sixth and present capitol was started in 1868 and completed 20 years later. It replaced the building that was built between 1837 and 1853.

The present capitol building is built in the French Renaissance style. The dome at 361 feet is the tallest domed state capitol in the country and is even taller than the the U.S. capitol. The statue of Lincoln in front of the building is one of many statues and paintings of the first president from the state. 

The first floor of the rotunda has a statue by Julia Bracken that represents the welcoming of people to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. 

The dome is very impressive with the center stained glass representation of the state seal made from 9,000 pieces of glass. When the building opened, the dome was illuminated with 144 gas lights. The carbon soon turned it black and it was hidden until it was cleaned in 1986, 100 years after it was built.

Under the dome are plaster relief panels that are painted to look like metal.  They represent Illinois history from Native Americans to the 1858 Lincoln - Douglas debates (pictured here). The debates were in 1858 when Lincoln ran for and lost the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Douglas.  Pictures and statues of Lincoln's political foe Stephen Douglas are second only to Lincoln's in the building.

On the second floor of the rotunda are eight statues of famous state legislators and of course there is Honest Abe Lincoln and The Little Giant (5"4") Douglas. In addition to running against each other in 1858, Douglas was one of four candidates who ran for president in 1860 along with Lincoln.

The Illinois House gallery with crystal chandeliers. There are 118 representatives in the House....

......And of course portraits of Douglas and Lincoln. The members sit on the side with the portraits of their famous political leaders, Democrats on the left with Douglas and Republicans on the right with Lincoln.

The state Senate chamber where the 59 state senators meet. President Obama served in this chamber when he was an Illinois state senator. 

This 20' X 40' painting shows the signing of a treaty between George Rogers Clark and Native Americans at Fort Kaskaskia in 1778.

The governor's reception room is used for ceremonial bill signings. Of course it has a painting of the Lincoln - Douglas debate.

Some of the statues in the area of the capitol and on the grounds is one honoring coal miners, another honors workers killed or injured on the job and one of Martin Luther King. As you will expect after reading this post, you know there are also statues of Lincoln and Douglas on the grounds.

The Illinois capitol is another impressive building well worth a visit. We hope your tour, unlike ours, will not be with a large group of fourth graders:)

Also in Springfield is the fifth Illinois capitol that was built in the Greek Revival style. When it was built it was the largest capitol on what was then the American frontier. After the new capitol was built this one was used as a county courthouse.

The House chamber is where Lincoln served when he was a representative from 1834 to 1842. It was here that he gave his House Divided speech. 

After he was assassinated he was laid in state here before his burial at Oak Ridge Cemetery. 

The old senate chamber.   The old state capitol is well worth a visit to walk the halls where Lincoln started his service to the country.