Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Garden City to Dodge City KS 55.3 miles - 1,764 miles cum





























I was unable to update the blog yesterday because of no Internet access. Here is a belated update.
Brian asked Hans, Meiri and I if we wanted to see the historical buildings in Garden City before we left for Dodge City. It was a nice sunny morning so we agreed to go. Garden City is .really a nice community. There are beautiful brick roads and very nice well kept houses throughout the town. We went up and down several streets looking at houses which were on the historical landmark register. Eventually we wound up on the main street looking at an old hotel. A fellow cyclist rode up and started talking to us about the hotel. It was built in the late 1800's and had closed as a hotel in 1977. Now there is a group working on the restoration. All of a sudden he asked we wanted to go inside as he had a key. It turns out that he was vice-president of the preservation group. Of course we said that we would love to see it. He took us all through the hotel and told us all about it. The hotel has an interior courtyard lit by skylights. The rooms are all around. They have a lot of work to do but the building is in pretty good shape. They have restored one of the rooms to look the way it did back in the 1890's. He said they intend to make it an operating hotel again.
After that we rode back out of town to get back on our route. At that point Brian said we were back on the route sheet. I told Meiri that what he was saying was code for I am not waiting for you guys. He was out of sight within minutes. When I grow up, I will be that fast too!!!
It was a short day so there was not need to hurry. It was also a hot day so we definitely didn't hurry. We stopped at Clark's drugstore in Cimmaron Ks for ice cream at the old soda fountain counter they still have. Oprah Winfrey stopped here a few years ago when she was touring America. The girl waiting on us said Oprah didn't really like Kansas because of the smell. She wouldn't use the rest room in the drugstore because of the lack of security. I am not sure who she was afraid of since it was a one person rest room. The ice cream was excellent!!
We stopped at all of the historical markers we came to along the way. Most of them were describing the old Santa Fe trail.
We eventually got into Dodge City. It is more or less a tourist trap. We all went to boot hill after dinner but not much to see. We then went to the park where a local concert band was giving a performance. It was pretty neat. Just a lot of folks enjoying the pleasant summer evening. Adults listening to the music and kids playing in the grass.
A few of us got into a poker game after we got back because Sean, from England wanted to play poker in a western town. Sean the mechanic and I skinned them all!!!
Tomorrow more Kansas

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