The meal was great. All of the meats were particularly good and the bacon was awesome. It was much more food than we could eat.

On our way to the first stop of the day, we drove though the small community of Dennis, where we found several interesting old buildings and a horse in harness, tethered next to a carriage.

Next we drove by a old farmhouse near Independence, Kansas which is called Belmont Castle. When I posted a 3 year old photo of it last year, some people had complained that the yard is better kept now and it is.

St. Andrews Catholic Church caught my eye while we were driving though Independence, and we stopped to take some photos. St. Andrews was built from sandstone in 1881-1885. Its most striking feature is 154' tall steeple, which the parish website says is the highest point in town. The steeple houses a 1,640 pound bell which was purchased from McShane Bell Foundry Co. in Baltimore, Maryland on September 30, 1908. Adoration was being observed in the sanctuary, so I only took a photo of it from the doorway. We found some lovely stain glass windows in the stairway at the entrance of the church.

Arriving at Riverside Park (started in 1914), we noticed a sign saying "scenic drive," and drove the narrow one way road through the wooded area at the east and north ends of the park. We circled around to the wall outside Schultz Stadium , near the entrance of Ralph Mitchell Zoo, where Chase Hunter painted several murals last year. I particularly like the one devoted to Miss Able, the rhesus monkey from the zoo which was one of the the first two animals to be launched in space and (briefly) return alive.

Also in the park, we photographed the Santa Fe (AT&SF) No. 1050 locomotive, carousel, mini train, miniature golf and other attractions.

We drove through Independence photographing buildings such as the Union Implement and Hardware Building, First Presbyterian Church, and Magnolia Blossom Inn B&B, before stopping at the Kansas Celebrity Hall of Fame on the West Campus of Independence Community College. The exhibits talk about notable Kansans, from southeast Kansas, including well known ones like Bill Curtis and William Inge, as well as less well known ones like musician Rodney Lay.

The Hall of Fame is curated by the Independence Historical Museum & Art Center.

We drove to Neodesha, Kansas to have lunch at Billy's Bar & Grill. We had Horse Fritters and a French Dip Basket. The fritter was a cheese blend stuffed and deep fried tortilla, served salsa. The French dip was thinly sliced ribeye topped with Swiss cheese, on a toasted hoagie bun, with au jus for dipping. They were both good and I really liked the house fries.

Other Neodesha places visited included Blessed Blossoms flower & coffee shop (where we bought some great baked goods), Old City Jail Guesthouse and the Little Drummer Boy Grave  and GAR monument in Neodesha City Cemetery. We had a little trouble locating this cemetery, because Google and Google Maps has no idea it exists. I've sent an update to Google, so the next person looking for it may have an easier time.

Our next stop was the tiny community of New Albany, where we visited the cool "Covered Rail Bridge." I put that in quotation marks, because it isn't covered. the 1905 bridge is abandoned, but is rather striking because it crosses the Fall River at an angle above a low water bridge on 1450 Road. We also photographed the New Albany City Hall and former State Bank.

We drove back to Fredonia, making a stop at the Wilson County Historical Museum, checking on the exhibit about the the historic bakery on the west side of the square, which had many names, Gaede's, Gaede-Fulghum, Fulghum-Wilson, and Wilson-Herndon.

Friends joined us in Thayer, Kansas to have supper at Big Ed's Steakhouse. It had been many years since we last dined at the restaurant which is over 30 years old. Big Ed's doesn't take reservations, so we made a point of being there by 5:30 to get a table, but there were still a few empty tables when we finished dinner.

Meals include a trip to the salad bar and a generous potato side. Getting the steak cooked as ordered was spotty. The small ribeye ordered medium rare came correct, but the 6 ounce fillet and porterhouse were cooked much less than had been ordered.

We checked into our hotel in Chanute to freshen up, then went on to Humboldt, where a pop up Big Kansas Road Trip would be held on Saturday. In advance of the event, there was a Music Crawl in downtown Humboldt this evening. We made it to the last two stops on the crawl and heard Sabra Stockebrand perform at Sticks Golf and Wayne Gottstine at The Hitching Post. Sticks isn't really set up for hosting something like this and it was difficult getting seating. We left a little before the music was finished there and managed to secure seats at the bar in The Hitching Post.

We enjoyed talking with other people who were in town to participate in the pop up event.

St. Andrews Catholic Church

Miss Able mural
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Covered Rail Bridge
 
 
 
 
 

Big Ed's Steakhouse

After parking on the town square, we walked a block to the Revival Music Hall for a Behind the Scenes tour led by Damaris Kunkler. A former Presbyterian church is being turned into a performance space. The work has been going on for several years, but it finally nearing the end. There will be an event here later in the year and it should be fully ready in 2027.

Back at the town square, it was time to meet other Kansas Explorers and travel promoters at the BKRT Kickoff. It was nice watching the next generation of Kansas Sampler Foundation leadership manage the meeting. Among other things, we learned that the next pop up event will be Saturday, October 3rd in Concordia, Kansas. They are still feeling out this new format and are saying that they will be dropping to two of them each year. 

One of the events will continue to be on the first Saturday in May and the location will be announced at the fall event.

As usual, there was a Kansas travel trivia contest. We won a BKRT jar opener. Over many years, we have been blessed to win several prizes, including a BKRT car flag which waved over our vehicle during the event. Following the meeting, there was a chance to catch up with friends. 

We shopped at Wishing Well Play Co. on the square. The toy store has a nice interactive play area at the back, though no one was using it.

On a very strong recommendation from a dear friend, we changed our lunch plans and went to Union Works Brewing CO. The large restaurant and microbrewery is in the former Wonder Bread factory and opened in June 2024. They would normally have been closed until supper time on Saturday, ubt opened for the BKRT event. They were busy, so I think it paid off for them.

We had a bacon cheese burger, smoked wings with Buffalo sauce and fries. All were quite good. (Thanks WenDee!)

After hurring back to the square, at 12:30 we were the first people waiting in line for the Monarch Cement Plant tour scheduled for 1PM. At the kickoff, they said that there would be just 20 places on the van for tours which would take place at 1, 1:30 & 2. The van pulled up at 12:40. There were about 16 spots in the van and there were already more people than that waiting. They loaded right away and announced that they would make a couple extra trips. 

I think they ended up making many extra trips. When we left town after 3 PM, there were still 15-20 people in line and they had kept loading and going about every 20 minutes. 

The van was driven by Mitch King, a chemist who is the quality manager for the plant. The tour went by the 62 acre solar array which provides enough electricity to run the plant during the day. They have to burn coal at night. The tour remained in the van all the way and Mitch showed us the area where the ingredients are mixed, the large pre-heating tower and the long rotating kiln. 

Following the tour, we revisited the Humboldt Historical Museum. This is one of the museums where the displays tell you about the people who donated artifacts, rather than about what they are or their context. But there are two exceptions, the bed where Walter "Big Train" Johnson was born and Annex 5 which has an amazing collection of folk art by Lewis Howland.

We stopped to buy groceries at "Our Market." We would have bought more, but they were out of their house made beef sticks.

Returning to the square one more time, we went to Halsey's Frozen Custard where we had an Epic Oreo Concrete (oreo, hot caramel, hot fudge & vanilla custard) and a Kook Barrel (triple chocolate cookie, hot fudge and vanilla custard). A barrel is a concrete where they make a hole and pour the sauce into the center rather than mixing in. I though the concrete had a perfect combination of flavor with a nice crunch from the Oreo.

The final stop in town was around the square at Neosho Valley Woodworks, which we first visited and met Pat Haire in 2023. This is the most amazing craft shop we have found in Kansas. It is a master artist's studio, furniture & millwork shop, and living museum. The woodworks is filled with vintage machinery from the late 1800s. These aren't what you would normally think of as power tools, but powered by line shafts, with leather belts running between the equipment and various pulleys. Today it was filled with people who were mesmerized by what they were seeing and learning about.

On the way home, we had an early supper at K&M BBQ in Spring Hill, Kansas. K&M has been in its large current building since 2007, but has been in operation for over 35 years. We had a half chicken with onion rings & fries, and a 
Killer Combo sandwich with beef, pork & sausage on a bun separated by two slices of bread. 

The meats were all good, though I didn't care for the bread or the bun. The onion rings were fine. The fries were under cooked and I think they had been bagged well before we arrived at the restaurant. I ate two and left the rest of the order untouched.

BKRT Kickoff
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Union Works Brewing CO

Monarch Cement Plant kiln running left to right
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Epic Oreo Concrete & Kook Barrel
 

Pat Haire

But this restaurant continues to get high ratings, so we tried them again. I'm happy to say that the experience was better today. We had wings and a fried chicken blt. All were good, with the wings and pub fries standing out. 

Knub's Pub bakes the wings, rather than frying and warns that they take 20 minutes. I ordered mine "Cory spice" which has n additional extra spicy rub and a little more baking, with Buffalo sauce. The sauce was very good and frying is not missed. The blue cheese dressing for dipping is a little watery and would not cling to the chicken.

The fries are fresh cut and dusted with unnamed seasoning. It will not take 5 years for us to return again.

Fried chicken BLT & baked wings

This was our first visit to Mediterranean Taste, which opened in 2021 and has built up very strong ratings. There are just 8 tables, so we went early, but there were only two tables occupied and we soon had the restaurant to ourselves. The staff were very nice.

We went with a chicken kabob wrap and Beef & Lamb Gyro wrapped in tortilla bread. The chicken was OK, but I thought the gyro was very good.

Mediterranean Taste has a large selection of desserts made in house, including on this day, 11 varieties of gelato. After a friendly debate, we decided on a walnut baklava (they had three baklava varieties). I really liked it. It wasn't as sticky sweet as much of the baklava which I have had.

Gyro & wrap

In the menu, every they brag that they use local baked bread, which is delivered daily. The sandwiches were good. They don't tune on the deep fryer until 2 PM, so we had potato chips instead of fries. Overall, the food was good fairly prices. They are little more bar oriented than grill and did not charge for my Diet Coke.

We stopped briefly at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at JCCC, to photograph Betsabeé Romero's "The Reflection and the Trace: Around the Globe." A temporary exhibit made from security mirrors, LED, and stainless steel, 

Then they directed us outside to "Trespassers Beware! Fort Conley and Wyandot Women Warriors" which will only remain on campus until May 24. It tells the inspiring story of the Native American Conley sisters and their decades long battle to preserve the Huron Indian Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas. 

Co-directed by the Wyandot Nation of Kansas and Monumenta, in collaboration with lead artists Omakyehstih Collective, it tells how the three Conley sisters occupied their family's cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas to save it from urban development. While physically defending the burials, Lyda Conley took their fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and became the first Indigenous woman to argue a case before that court. 

The art installation shows a version of Fort Conley, the shack the sisters built inside the Wyandot National Burying Ground and inhabited for years to defend their family's graves. There are informational markers, a video running inside the structure and two audio programs outside.

Trespassers Beware!

There is a California-Oregon Trail Historical Marker, Oregon Trail Park, Scott Spring. and Oregon Trail grave site and a oxen sculpture & covered wagon which were created by local residents Ernest and Della White.

Lunch was a short distance up the highway at South Forty Cafe. We went with the pork tenderloin sandwich and chicken fried steak sandwich, both od which were huge and quiet good. There were also fresh cut fries and house made onion rings.

During the meal, the power flicked off and back on several times, finally going out entirely. Fortunately we were prepared to pay with cash.

A few blocks further north, we stopped at the Historic Hand Dug Well, which I last photographed in 2008. It is one of two Kansas wells which vie for billing as the 2nd largest hand dug well in Kansas. The Seneca well is 34' wide & 65' deep, and the one in Westmoreland is 29' wide & 38' deep, but there is no governing body to certify that. 

We photographed murals and historic buildings, including the Pottawatomie County Courthouse, but did not visit the soda fountain at West Pharm or Westmoreland Hometown Market because they were still without power.

Heading west, we drove through Olsburg, which was founded in 1880 by Swedish and Norwegian immigrants. The town has over 30 3,5' tall hand painted Dala Horses which were put out in 2023. IN a community with a population of 218, it feels like you see them everywhere.

Heading out of town, a spire caught our eyes by the cemetery and we circled back to find the steeple from the 1886 Mariadahl Lutheran Church. The congregation was active from 1863-1958, but the building was going to be flooded by Tuttle Creek reservoir. The church cemetery was moved to this location and the Mariadahl Steeple was preserved. There is an adjacent memorial to John A. Johnson, who was the first Swede to settle in Kansas on June 20, 1855 and had organized the congregation.

There is also a wonder full carved memorial to the church in the center of the cemetery and a marker at the far end of the cemetery for Mariadahl Children's Home and cared for 620 children before being closed in 1969 by Tuttle Creek reservoir.

Before crossing the mile long Randolph Bridge at Tuttle Creek Lake, we pulled into Tuttle Creek State Park to take better pictures from the side.

Past Randolph, we briefly photographed the 1876 Old Winkler School House, It was outside the area flooded by Tuttle Creek and one of the few structures which wasn't destroyed on relocated. It is now in terrible condition and we could see pieces of the building waving back and forth in the strong wind.

As we continued to drive west, there was construction on Fancy Creek Road and we had to wait 10 minutes for the "follow me" truck and we spent it talking about the area with the flag man. 

In Clifton, Kansas, Shirl was expecting us at Shirl's Doll & Toy Museum. The museum fills 6 rooms of the small house, floor to ceiling. The front room is much like the museum, but the items there are available for sale.

Shirl has a lot of enthusiasm and loves talking about her exhibits. She offers free water and (sometimes home baked) cookies. She also gave us small key chain flashlights with their logo. Call Shirl at (785) 614-0322 or email her at meleiszler@twinvalley.net.

Before leaving Clifton, we stopped at T's Grocery, which has a large and more modern selection than I would have expected in a small storefront market. We try to patronize these small town stores when we are in rural Kansas.

Arriving in Clay Center, it was after 4, so we needed to make the next couple of stops before they closed at 5. The first was at Diecks Clay Center Locker, which in addition to other groceries and an extremely varied selection of meats had a huge selection of jerky, beef sticks and sausages. It is also a good spot to pick up an inexpensive fountain drink.

We arrived at the Utility Park Zoo about 4:35, so we missed going in the tropical bird exhibit, which closed at 4:30. We dodged the sprinklers which were shooting across the sidewalks and visited the rest of the small zoo. It is come a long way from the sad, tiny, barren WPA cages it was when I first visited 20 years ago. The town can be proud of the improvements which have been made in the past 10 years.

With no time constraints, we went on to photograph the new murals which had been painted around town since my most recent visit in July 2021. It appears that there have been no installation in the Mural Project since 2024.

We stopped at The Fork in the Road, an honor system market with fruits & vegetables, meats, homemade food and a greenhouse on the east side of Riley, Kansas. It is a really a neat place. They even sell gift cards on the honor system. We would have bought plants if we didn't have another hot day on the road ahead of us, but did buy a shepherd's pie to but in the cooler.

Staying in Riley, supper was at The Farmhouse, The first Farmhouse opened in Olsburg, Kansas in 2013 and this downtown Riley location is abut 7 or 8 years old. We had a very nice meal. A lamb chop burger with onion rings, A western chicken sandwich with fresh cut fries and a fabulous house made skillet chocolate chip cooking with homemade ice cream. It was SO GOOD!

The final stop was at Keats Park in the unincorporated town of Keats; five miles west of Manhattan, Kansas. It is a really nice park with good, clean facilities and a Tree Walk. There was a lovely setting sun.

We spent the night at Bluemont Hotel on the edge of Aggieville and KSU in Manhattan, Kansas.

Chicken fried steak
 

Historic Hand Dug Well
 
 
 
 
 

Mariadahl Steeple
 
 

Randolph Bridge
 
 
 
 
 
 

Shirl's Doll & Toy Museum
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Fork in the Road

The Farmhouse

We went with two of the breakfast items they are known for, French toast and chicken & waffles. The French toast was made from thick brioche topped with seasonal berries, blueberry compote, and whipped cream, and came with a side of bacon. 

I liked the bacon and preferred the French toast to the waffle because of its toppings. The hot sauce which came with the chicken and waffles went well with the fired boneless thighs.

It had been several years since we had been to the Flint Hills Discover Center and I had been needing to take some new photos. A new temporary exhibit, "Roar & Explore with Dinosaurs" was opening the next day. Although they were still making finishing touches, Marketing Specialist Deanna Likes gave us a preview. There are 8 scale replica animatronic dinosaurs in the exhibit. It was also nice seeing the recently updated Carl and Mary Ice Prairie Playscape on the second floor.

On our way out of Manhattan on US24, we stopped at Linear Park, which has a nice view of the Big Blue River (just before it empties into the Kansas River). A train crossed the river on a bridge while we were there.

We continued east to St. George, Kansas which we last visited in 2020. The small river town has lot of little interesting spots cool old grain elevators (two of which are 8 sided), Black Jack Spring, murals, and the largest Bur Oak tree in Kansas. We went down Boggs Landing to enjoy the view of the Kansas River, but a and bar has cut off the landing from the river and it is grown up, ending the view of the piers that are all that remains of the St. George Bridge which was destroyed by flooding 1951.

We stopped for lunch in town at Willie's Hideout, which had great onion rings and the best cheese steak when we were there in 2020, but it has changed hands and menu. The Rocky Mountain oysters and seafood sampler were OK, but not what I was hoping for. The best part of our meal was the sidewinder fries.

Back on US24, we continued east, stopping briefly to photograph a couple of buildings in Wamego, before heading south and through Alma to Volland, "A Place for Art and Community" which we had been wanting to visit, but had previously been unable to visit during the limited hours.

The artist colony is centered on the nicely restored Kratzer Brothers Mercantile, a general store which operated from 1913-1971. There is currently a small exhibit called ART | Reimaginations. Upstairs there is a loft which may be used by visiting artists. The surrounding area has a nature trail with sculptures, a display of the art of the late M. T. Ligget and a 1920s kit house which is an Air B&B.

Back in Alma, we picked up cookies at Alma Bakery and stopped at a store front where the window said, "Flint Hills Pints" and "Homemade Ice Cream" in big letters. We learned that Moege Farms, a four generation family farm which started in 1885 has making ice cream and selling it at special events for a year or two and had just opened this retail outlet 2 weeks ago.

They don't dip ice cream, but sell 4 ounce containers for $5 or a larger size (I missed the number of ounces) for $7. There was a long list of flavors, but only a few were available and we went with caramel and cookies & cream. I liked both, with the cookies & cream being my favorite. There were no toppings available, but there were wooden spoons and a table. I assume there is more to come once they are more established.

There was a short drive through McFarland, Kansas to photograph the mural that was painted in 2024. It depicts the the Rock Island Railroad and the long gone Modoc Hotel, which was built by the railroad in 1912. We were a little confused that the old bank building it is on says it is the post office and we could see mail boxes inside, but around the corner was a much newer and smaller building which said it was the post office. It turned out that the post office had moved into the new building, from this one, but more recently moved back.

We stopped at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas to photograph the Victory Highway Eagle monument. It has been placed with collection of often unrelated veteran's monuments in the south east corner of the park.

The Victory Highway Association was head quartered in Topeka and in the first two decades following WW1, sought to establish a paved highway from New York City to San Francisco. At each county line, they intended to place one of these eagles as a memorial to those who died in the World War. Only 6 were erected. Today they are here, at the University of Kansas, and in Wamego, with 3 more in California. This one was originally at the Douglas County - Shawnee County Line.

We also visited the Humane Alliance Fountain in Holiday Park, but this monument is missing most of its fixtures and is in terrible condition. There is an adjacent monument to Cyrus K. Holiday, the first mayor of Topeka and it is in good condition.

Supper was at North Star Steakhouse, on the north side of Topeka, Kansas, There is a bit of a prohibition era theme, though it is mainly reflected in the plain, windowless exterior, dark lighting and some menu items. I have already tried some of their steaks and we had catfish and sizzling chicken. They were both generous servings and I enjoyed the chicken a lot.
 
 

Flint Hills Discover Center
 
 

Boggs Landing
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Flint Hills Pints

McFarland Mural
 

Victory Highway Eagle

Lunch was at Cookee's Drive-In in Pleasanton, Kansas. It is in an old Valentine Diner (manufactured in Wichita, Kansas( and I had photographed it before but never had a meal. We ordered a grilled chicken fajita wrap and an Angry Jack Burger with fries. Neither the wrap or fries were treats, but the burger was great. The burger's combination of pepper jack cheese, jalapenos, onion ring and there special angry sauce, isn't something I would have ordered, but it had many recommendations. The flavors combined in a way I really liked and the onion ring provided a nice crunch.

Supper was in Fort Scott, Kansas at Outpost Chicken House, which the Bowman (which has other Fort Scott restaurants) opened in 2024. I have been very happy with the food at their Nu Grille, so I'm willing to believe they just had a bad day, but I was unhappy with my fried chicken and corn on the cob, which had been kept warming for too long before being served. The fries tasted unpleasant. I ate two and left the rest. 

The bright points in the meal were the mashed potatoes and the really awesome biscuits.
  
  

Outpost Chicken House