May 2021 Road Trip to Kansas Part One of Five Series

Kansas Flint Hills Beauty

Because of COVID and life, May 2021 signified two years since last visiting with Mom. We decided in March to plan a trip to Kansas and to see Mom. This series will be divided up into five parts to make it easier for me to tell every nuance of the trip!

We left a day early on May 19 and spent the night in a familiar hotel in Franklin, TN. I was able to give a plaque to the Tennessee PTA president.

The next day we took a different route out west -- I-40 to Jackson, Jackson to Dyersburg. This was the first time I crossed the Mississippi River on I-155 out of Dyersburg. We then cut across country through Poplar Bluff to Springfield, MO. We drove near Corning, AR where the children's great-grandmother had raised her family. We stayed at our pre-trip reservation hotel at Springfield.

The next morning after a short drive from Springfield, we were in Kansas. The beauty of the Flint Hills is just astounding -- tall grass prairie as we drove highway 400 towards Wichita. Then we got onto Interstate 35 and enjoyed being able to go faster than 55 mph! But it was only a short thrill as we had to turn onto highway 56 to head towards Great Bend where we would be staying for a couple of nights.

We stopped at Fort Zarah just a few miles outside of Great Bend along Walnut Creek. Fort Zarah was built to protect commercial traffic along the Sante Fe Trail. It didn't last very long and the abandoned buildings were used by ruffians of every type.

All that remains of the fort is a deep depression into the ground. Picnic tables were built for visitors.

We checked into the Angus Inn at Great Bend, met my sister and mom in a different town. Sister went back home while we enjoyed eating pizza and visiting with Mom at the local Pizza Hut. 

The next day we went out to sister's farm house for a great tasty lunch, went through a bunch of family pictures, and visited with our nephew. It was a great day and a great visit with family and with mom!

I discovered after the fact that two of my high school friends were at the Angus Inn the same time I was there! Such a missed opportunity! Would have loved to visit with Anne and Tracy after so many years from Smith Center!

Parts Three - Five will detail several stops taken on one day, Sunday, May 23rd where we basically drove in a semi-circle for most of the day. A lot of details and hopefully short blog posts for each!
Part Two will detail a brief visit to a memorial while we were staying in Great Bend -- the B-29 Memorial.
All parts written by Dwight Hunter