We’d planned to stay in Syracuse, KS our first night but we were doing so well we pressed on to Lakin, KS. We started getting stiffer headwinds and so getting into the Motel was a real treat. That night we got pizza from the gas station next door. I’ve heard lots of people argue about who’s pizza is better, but I’d venture to say that not many would say their’s is worse than what we had.
The next morning we headed off down the road again and made it to the town of Cimarron. This ‘old’ motel had just been renovated as was the Mexican restaurant next store and both were superb.
Leaving CImarron, we chased a rain storm for a few hours. Then the winds really came in. We’d pulled over to see a landmark site where you can still see the ruts form the pioneers and looking up we saw what looked like huge thunderclouds against the ground until we realized it was big dust storms. We headed off towards Dodge City and got there about noon. Since we hadn’t gotten breakfast, we stopped into iHop and got something to eat. Finishing up, we met a young man, Josh Shierling (travelingshierling.com) from FL, who is walking across America (SC to CA). After exchanging info, we headed off to our WarmShowers’ hosts, Warren and Lyndy.
Talk about some wonderful people. They are truly the epitome of hospitality. They encouraged us to get a shower and then take their car to the Boot Hill museum. We did, and it was a fantastic experience.
Tickets were only ~$12 and included walking through the cemetery (most remains were moved previously but some were left). Then it was into the buildings with the old western store fronts. First a gift shop and then next door to the saloon for a beer (me) and a sarsaparilla (dad). We then went next door where the actual museum starts. It wanders through the remaining buildings and has a tremendous amount of memorabilia. Finally, we had an ice cream and headed back to our hosts.
Returning, Warren told us of a recumbent company not far away and asked us if we wanted to go visit it. We did and soon were getting a tour of the factory. Have you heard of RANS Bikes Inc? RANS founder had both an aviation arm and the recumbent arm but the manufacturing has been taken over by Jerrell and Kara in Montezuma, KS. I think Warren put it succinctly when he said that he thought that Jerrell was a savant. His attention to detail, measuring to the 1000ths, the elegant welds, the style of jigs he’s using, his high requirements for the materials he’s using was simply staggering. We came away very awed.
Arriving back at Warren and Lyndy’s, Lyndy had created dinner and we feasted on ribs, pork loin, corn and finished it off with with mug cake for desert. After talking together for awhile, we hit the sheets. The next morning, after a delicious bagel, egg and cheese sandwich and coffee we headed down Rt 283 toward OK. We thought we’d need to camp under a bridge over the Cimarron River near the border, but going through the town of Englewood, we found that they were allowing camping in their park and a music festival was going on in the park. This means that we were able to buy dinner and drink from a vendor. Turning in that night in my tent, I got serenaded by as many as 6 music groups (some of them very good). Unfortunately for the organizers, the temperature had hit 105 degrees so they probably had less of a turnout than what they deserved.