There is no charge to access the bridge and someday there will be a trail crossing it. At this time the only open venues are Rock Island Eats (Walk-up window) which opens at 11 AM and River House Restaurant, which opens at 3 PM. It will be a fairly long walk in the weather to get to the enclosed restaurant or event venue (2nd level).

They were busy and there are only 8 tables inside, but after ordering at the counter, we were able to easily secure a table. I never saw people waiting for a table to open, but it helped that there were no parties with more than 4 people. There is more seating outside. 

The food is brought to the tables and the person who brings it offers to refill drinks or bring anything else. Still, customers often return to the line to have their drinks refilled.

We had a half slab of ribs, regular (1/4 pound) burnt end sandwich and onion rings. The meats were both fabulous, with great flavor from the rub. The ribs hit that perfect mix of tender without falling apart. They had great flavor from the rub and neither of felt they needed sauce. The burnt ends were some of the best I have had. The rings are more heavily battered than I usually like, but were still very good, though I added ketchup to them.

Its too bad this restaurant isn't on the Kansas side where I would get to it more often. Including drinks and sales tax, the meal cost $41.79 and we had several ribs to take home.

Burnt End sandwich with onion rings

You must know by now that I love travel, history and dining and this was an incredable combination of all three. My detailed travel report is at Mightymac.org/2026ItalyGreece/
  
  

All of the food was good, although the oysters were very small. The flan was heavenly. I took tiny bites and savored each one.

We had a rib plate with skillet fries and a wing special of eight smoked wings finished in the deep fryer and tossed in hot Louisiana sauce with onion rings. The wings were good and I liked each one a little more than the one before. The fries are probably too salty for many people, but I like salt and thought they were wonderful.

The service was great!
 
 

Ribs and wings

The first stop was the Tauy Creek Bridge in Franklin County, northeast of Ottawa, Kansas. This closed bridge is in worse shape than many and is posted as private property. The 100' bridge was built 1895 by the Kansas City Bridge Co.

Continuing into Ottawa, we visited the Prairie Spirit Trail trail head, but didn't find any real photo opportunities there. Continuing through town, we saw evidence of the damage from the tornado which hit Ottawa while we were in Europe.

At Hope Cemetery, we found the grave of Etta Semple, who was an editor & community leader whose grave was unmarked until 2002. The stone and the memorial signs on it are not aging well.

We continued west to Leroy's BBQ Restaurant in Pomona, Kansas. The small Grandma & Grandpa restaurant was already busy shortly after 11 when we arrived. Doug & Michele are nice people and happy to answer questions. They took over the restaurant in 2013 and I had not been there since they have owned it.

We had a smoked bratwurst with fries (a daily special), hot link platter (with beans & curly fries) and a single rib. We enjoyed them all. The brat was quite good and they sold out almost immediately. Perhaps they will be added to the menu.

They actually brought us two small ribs, so we each had one. The ribs were the optional deep fry finish. I thought it was pretty good, though I don't know if I would have liked the regular ribs even more. I sampled all three sauces (hot, sweet & original) and preferred the original.

The homemade ice cream sandwich sounded intriguing, and was my favorite part of the meal.

We headed south, pausing briefly for photos in Princeton and Richmond, Kansas. The next actual stop was Bauman Brothers Farms, southwest of Garnett, Kansas. I had seen their meats at the Overland Park Farmers Market. It turned out that they have an auto repair at this location, with the trailer they use for farmers markets set up across the parking lot.

They have a large selection of other meats, but the brats selection I had been told was here, was limited to Hawaiian and one other flavor. We would have purchased a package, but couldn't find any way to pay. We would have gone over to there repair shop to ask, but neither flavor had excited us, we went on.

Our next stop was the Allen County Historical Society Museum. When I was adding area attractions to KansasTravel.org, they would not permit taking photos inside the museum, so it has never been on the site. They now permit photos, so we revisited the museum today. It is smaller than I expected. We really enjoyed the enthusiasm of the museum director, Kurtis Russell 

National Humane Alliance fountains were donated to cities throughout the United States and Mexico between 1902 and 1915. I had found a list online which said there is one at Jackson and Washington Streets in Iola, but we found none.

Driving on the Chanute, Kansas, we stopped at Cardinal Drug Store. It had been 15 years since I last visited their 1950s style soda fountain. We had a single scoop hot fudge sundae and small peanut butter malt, They were both very good, but more than we could eat. They are a great value at $3.50 each. I should have gone with a mini malt.

Back on the road, we drove east to Bourbon Lake Falls in the spillway at Bourbon State Fishing Lake. There are no signs to let you know the falls is there and we had it too ourselves. Although we seen much more water some years, there was plenty of water going over the falls.

We planned to have supper at Ole Sawmill Grill 2.0 in Parsons, but when we put it into Google Maps, saw that it is closed on Thursday. We switched to Ballers Sports Bar and Grill, following the route which Google suggested because of road construction. As we approached Parsons, a train slowly started across the road. It stopped for a while and took a total of 23 minutes before we could continue.

Ballers Sports Bar and Grill was busy and a large table ordered just before us. Our food took over 50 minutes to come out. The mountain oysters and fried catfish were both good.

We spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express in Chanute.
  
  

Tauy Creek Bridge
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Brat, ribs & hot links
 
 
 
 

Bauman Brothers Farms walk through meat market
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cardinal Drug Store

Bourbon Lake Falls