I was wanting to return to Kansas for a visit - to see some things I've never seen and to visit places I had not visited in a long, long time. The original plan was an eight day odyssey in last June and early July. Because of my knee surgery, we opted instead for the shorter trip duration to Chicago.
And then an opportunity came up in mid-August for G and I to go -- much shorter in days and I had to compromise a lot of my original plans. But, I still wanted to go, and in hindsight, going to Kansas was very good for my soul, for my refreshed mind. A few extra days for the Labor Day Weekend holiday.
The Kansas trip will be separated into three posts - Day 1, Day 2, and Days 3 and 4.
G and I boarded an 8 am flight at the Nashville airport to fly to Kansas City. That cut out 8 hours of drive time not counting the necessary stops in between. And on the way back as well.
We arrived at KC early on Thursday morning, picked up a new CR-4 rental car, and headed west to Hays. We would be staying in Hays for three nights. We headed west on I-70. I had planned three stops along the way but opted to only do two of them.
 |
| Flint Hills |
The first stop was in the town of Wilson. Small town but there is an interesting thing to see in the Czech capitol of Kansas - a very large Czech egg.
The park where the egg is located has other nice features including a park bench with Wilson as the back.
Outside of Wilson heading back to the Interstate, I captured this view of a row of posts made from stone. Very common in this part of Kansas to use limestone as posts instead of wood as trees were not as plentiful.
Our next stop further west down Interstate 70 was Victoria. Amaze is that there is a minor basilica located in the small town of Victoria -- the ever stunning St. Fidelis - Cathedral of the Plains. I had not seen the interior since I was a youth. G had never seen it -- and she was stunned at the beauty. Unfortunately my camera did not even come close to capturing the beauty.
Across the street from the church was a sculpture titled - Volga German Family by Pete Felten. Felten was a well known limestone sculpture artist. He created several sculptures in Hays and around Hays.
The short trip from Victoria to Hays was very short! We checked into the hotel early. One of the foods I wanted to eat was a chicken noodle dinner -- something I enjoyed growing up on the farm. JD Chicken had it on the menu -- we both got the same. It was delicious and brought back some good memories of a less stressful time.
This was the route I planned for Day 2 - Friday. Day 2 blog post is a separate blog post. Hays hotel to Stockton, east to Cawker City, back west and then north to Smith Center. West from Smith Center to Highway 183, and then south to Stockton. Then west to Mt. Vernon/Webster, and south to Zurich and Hays. Originally, Nicodemus was a stop but the visitor center was closed during that time for renovations.
