The food should have been warmer, but I enjoyed the food overall. The rib tips were outstanding and the cheesy corn was very good.

Thayer, Kansas has a couple of steakhouses. I was disappointed with Big Ed's Steakhouse that last time we ate in Thayer, so this time we tried Poor Boy's Steakhouse. It is typical for places like this in rural Kansas. Very plain, and open only 22 hours a week. The salad bar was uninspired, but fairly high quality. My ribeye was very tender and had a pretty good flavor. Others in our party seemed to mostly enjoy the meal. 

Poor Boy's Steakhouse

We stayed at the Knight's Inn in Chanute. The rooms were clean and in good repair. Service is unavailable after 11 PM, but both of our requests which were made during office hours were promptly filled.

The continental breakfast was minimal, but we didn't go there for the food. The price was quite reasonable, and that is no longer true at the motels in many small Kansas communities.

We spent Saturday in Fredonia. The parade parade began shortly after we arrived. It consisted of several high school bands, a handful of politicians, every EMS vehicle in the county, trailers filled with alumni from the classes which had a multiple of 5 years anniversary, and floats from every church in town.

The streets around the courthouse were lined with a carnival, crafts & gift vendors and many food vendors, both commercial and run by local churches or civic organizations. I sampled beef burgers from 2 of the three vendors serving them. 

My favorite part of the day was playing bingo at booth on the Courthouse Square.

On the way back to Chanute, we had supper at the Prairie Nut Hut (yes those are what they sound like) in Altoona. It is a small old bar & grill with a counter and about seven tables. In addition to prairie oysters they serve what I think are some of the best burgers in the state, and fresh made fries and onion rings.

Fall Homecoming Parade
 
 

Prairie Nut Hut

Santa Fe Cafe is open from 6 AM to 2 PM daily. From 7 AM on Sunday.

This location was then run by Mary's children and then by some long term employees. Its reputation went down hill over time and it closed in 2013. Finally, long term customers purchased and remodeled the restaurant and The Stack BBQ open in April of this year. Former employees still work there. The interior is quite plain.

The flavoring in the the rubs and sauce at The Stack are similar to that at Jack Stack and the large onion rings are similar, despite a different presentation. The sausage and burnt ends were my favorite meats this day, with the ribs being almost as good. The onion rings, fries, cheesy corn and garlic toast were all good. 

If this restaurant was located a little closer, this place would move into the rotation of bbq restaurants which we visit.

sausage, burnt ends and onion rings

Science Fiction author and scientist, Dr. David Brin, appeared at Jayhawk Ink Bookstore on the University of Kansas in Lawrence. I was among the 25 or so people who heard his presentation on The Dangerous Impudence of Speculative Fiction and photographed it for our sister web site, the MidAmerican Fan Photo Archive.

I attempted to have supper at Little Saigon Cafe in Lawrence, which has been receiving some good reviews, but it turned out that Little Saigon Cafe is closed on Sunday & Monday.

It turned out that a brand new restaurant is located next door - Hog Wild BBQ. Hog Wild is a Wichita based chain and I have previously dined at their Hutchinson location, across the street from the Kansas State Fairground.

The hot links tasted pretty good, but I wish they hadn't been saturated in their sauce. Hog Wild has two sauces on the table and there is no reason that diners shouldn't be able to select which sauce and how much sauce they want. The curly fries were fine. The corn tasted like it had just been dumped out of a can and heated.

I returned Saturday for some daytime photos. On Saturday you are given a plastic spoon as you enter the event space and many of the contestants were offering small samples. With so many teams, it didn't take long to be totally full.

There is no charge for attending the Chili Challenge or for samples, though most booths has tip buckets, with the money this year ($4,266.95) going to Juvenile Diabetes.

After giving up 7 runs in game 1, the Royals' pitching was much better tonight and the Royals had a big 5 run 6th inning, winning the game 7 - 2. No one left the stadium early and after a brief post game celebration it took a long time to get out of the parking lots and away from the game congestion.

The $3.89 - $5.99 individual slices of thin crust pizza are about the size of some personal pizzas and is lightly sliced into smaller pieces. The calzones and sandwiches have a higher ratio of dough to fillings than I would choose.

Linda had the fried chicken, which is better than some. My 12 ounce ribeye steak was good for its $19.99 price with two sides.

We followed lunch with a drive through Shawnee Mission Park in Lenexa & Shawnee, to add the 4th season to its listing. It was a spectacular autumn day and the Johnson County park was filled with people enjoying the sunny October weather.

Shawnee Mission Park

In the photo at right, coaches Bill Self, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Ted Owens are being interviewed by ESPN basketball analyst, Jay Bilas.