We had the shrimp fried rice lunch and the 6 piece wing combo. Not surprisingly the chicken the restaurant is named for was my favorite. The 6 pieces were three wings cut in two, so there were three drummies and 3 combination flaps-tips. I had them with spicy sweet chili sauce on the side and spicy mayo. The fries were good dipped in the mayo and I requested a second cup.

Across Kansas many churches have Friday night fish fries during Lent, but tonight we tried something a little different. Christ the King Parish in Kansas City, Kansas served fish tacos, chili rellenos or cheese quesadillas. It was a pleasant change of pace.

I was quite happy with the combo fajitas which included chicken, asada and shrimp. I was a little less happy with the salsa though there were others in our party who enjoyed the salsa mote.

Lunch was a revisit of Romeito Cuban Restaurant, We were impressed with both the food and service the first time.

The restaurant has a lunch menu with 6 appetizers (mostly $6.99) and 10 entrees (mostly for $10.99). The calamari fritos had a nice flavor and I appreciated their offering a lunch sized portion. At many restaurants if you have a appetizer at lunch, it may cost more than the rest of the meal.

The filete de pescasdo was seasoned less than I would have chosen, but wass good with added salt.

It must be more than 10 years since I last visited 125 acre Ernie Miller Park & Nature Center, but the Johnson County Park seemed unchanged. It still has displays of live birds of pray, amphibians and reptiles, a nice room for observing wild birds at feeders and a 500 gallon tank with native fishes. The gift shop stills sells candies containing ants, crickets and worms.

The next stop was Calamity Line Park, a 9 acre city park on land which once had the 1872 St. Louis, Lawrence, Denver and Western Railroad line passing through. There are markers with the history of the railroad (which locals affectionately called the "Calamity Line" since the railroad seemed to operate on a shoestring budget).

The park opened in 1999, but the centerpiece of the park is the train locomotive play structure which was installed in 2022. There was one little boy playing on the locomotive. When I asked his father if it was all right if I took photos with him in them, the father & son stopped and posed for me. We had a nice chat.

On to downtown. With the construction of a much larger County Courthouse across the street, the old courthouse was torn down and is now a park. 

As a young teen, famed scientist George Washington Carver lived in a Olathe for about a year in 1879-80. About 15 years ago I tried to learn where he had lived, worked, worshipped and attended school, but no information was available and the community did nothing to promote this history.

More recently there is info that a building on the west side of the public square in Olathe was "rented for the Colored school" a few years before GW Carver came to Olathe and may be where he went to school. Also a classmate of GW Carver said that there was no playground at the school and they would play marbles on the square. Now there are giant marbles on the square in his honor.

Also on the square is an area with some historic markers and three separate time capsules.

The highlight of my time in Olathe was a visit to Second Cup Cat Café at 417 N Rawhide The cat adoption experience offers kitty cuddles and playtime for $15 per person for an hour, plus a complimentary hot or cold beverage. Children five and under are free and there is half price entry each Tuesday.

There were 24 cats there today and just one woman with a toddler spending time with the kitties. Since the cafe o-pened in September 2022 there have been 713 successful adoptions.

The final Olathe stop was at Midamerica Nazarene University where there are at least 3 identical eagle statues mounted on stone monuments. Two of them flank East College Way at the intersection with South Clairborne Street and have nothing saying what they are for. The third one is on the mall in the center of the campus and has a plaque saying it is in Memory of First MNU President R. Curtis Smith.

For supper we went to Mr. P'z Bar and Grill at Fireside BBQ in Overland Park, Kansas. Yes, the name is that long, though the last half is often dropped. The first Fireside BBQ was opened at this location in 2014 by a fire fighter who parked an old fire truck in front. It has changed ownership, names and menu multiple times over the years. The present place is more of a sports bar which serves BBQ than a BBQ restaurant. They host things like karaoke, and tonight was poker, with tables of poker players taking up most of the dinning room.

We had P'z Potato Skins and a 2 Meat Smoked Platter. The skins were 3 large potato boats loaded with queso, fire chief meat mix, freshly shredded cheddar, chopped bacon, and green onions served with sour cream. Traditional toppings are also available, but that isn't noted on the menu and if we had known, we would have liked that more.

We went with chicken and sausage on the platter. The chicken was described as "smoked, grilled & fried" on the menu, but was actually pulled. It was OK. The sausage was three slices of a mild flavored sausage that did not taste smoked.

The highlight of the meal for me was the fresh cut French fries.

Filete de pescasados

Ernie Miller Nature Center

Calamity Line Park
 
 
 
 

George Washington Carver Marbles
 
 
 
 

Second Cup Cat Café
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mr. P'z

We arrived before noon, but dinning room was nearly full. We had a half rack of pork ribs and "All the Ends" - Beef burnt ends, pork burnt ends, and corned beef burnt ends, plus the choice of two sides.

They brought us complimentary fried cornbread bites, one for each of us. They tasted good.

The food came out in nine minutes. The ribs are still my favorite meat at Burnt End BBQ, but the pork burnt ends are great as well. I liked the corned beef burnt ends more than the beef, but not as much as some of the other corned beef burnt ends I've had recently.

I liked the French fires and onion straws, through the straws are quite salty.

After lunch we stopped at an individual burial near the intersection of K-7 and K-10 in Olathe. The 1856 grave is by itself on the K-7 rightaway and is maintained by Atmos Energy. It is for Asa C. Smith, the infant son of Fountain and Emily Smith, who had a farm at this location until 1865. I had visited this site 5 years ago. but one of the settings was off on my camera and those photos were badly over exposed.

All the Ends
 
 
 
 
 

Asa C. Smith Grave

The first stop was at MM Fiber Mill in unincorporated, New Lancaster, Kansas northwest of La Cygne. It is in the historic New Lancaster General Store. When we walked in, there was no one in the general store, but the owner, Roger Minniear was at work on running mill machinery in the attached store which was once a creamery. 

Roger and Penny Minniear were raising sheep and found it hard to have their wool processed in a timely manor, That had them thinking about starting a micro mill and they learned that the Shepherd's Mill in Phillipsburg, Kansas was going to close. Roger & Penny trained with the folks at Shepherd's Mill and then moved all of the equipment to this cool old building.

Roger patiently showed us how all of the equipment worked and demonstrated almost every step of the processing of fibers. We left with a much more detailed understanding of the processes than we had from visiting Shepherd's Mill in 2020.

There are just two fiber processing facilities in Kansas and there are fewer facilities in nearby states then there were five years ago.

After photographing other historic buildings in New Lancaster, we drove on to La Cygne, where two docents from the La Cygne Historical Society and Museum were waiting to show us the museum. They did a good job of pointing out interesting portions of the museum, including exhibits devoted to the Battle of Mine Creek, which took place nearby on October 25, 1864. 

Much of the museum is currently being used for a quilt show this month and they made that more interesting than I would have expected. The front room of the museum has many sewing machines set up and they have been hosting school groups which have been creating their own quilt squares.

One of the other exhibits which stood out for me was devoted to John H. Smith from La Cygne who was a blind watchmaker and piano tuner who was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not.

Moving on to the Pleasanton area, we stopped at Skyview Farm & Creamery. The family started raising Jersey cows to supply themselves with fresh raw milk, but it has grown into a farm, micro dairy and store selling raw milk, artisanal cave aged cheese, fresh cheese, and other Jersey milk products. The store is open 10 AM - 5 PM weekdays and 10 AM - 4 PM Saturday.

They also sell sausage from Castle Farms (nearby), honey and some other products. They accept credit cards.

We purchased Garlic Dill cheese spread, Jersey Silk yogurt, and Smoked Gouda, Mine Creek Cheddar, Gouda, & Caerphilly Cheddar cheeses. As if this writing, I've tried only the yogurt and Caerphilly Cheddar and enjoyed them both.

Near by, we stopped to photograph the 1927 Mine Creek Bridge, It is a 110 feet long reinforced concrete Marsh arch bridge.

Lunch was at Aunt Toadies in Fort Scott, Kansas. There has been a restaurant at this location since 1952. It was empty for a couple of years before being purchased and reopened in 2003. The name came from the nickname of one of the new owner's parents. The niece of those owners bought the restaurant in 2022, keeping it much the same.

We ordered a bacon cheeseburger and chicken fried steak, with fresh cut fries, mashed potatoes with gravy and fried okra. All were good, even the okra, which I'm often not a fan of. For dessert we shared a honey bun and got a peanut butter pie to go. The pie is made in house. The bun is not, but is heated on the grill and topped with a scoop of ice cream. It is an homage to the same dessert which was popular at Boone and Dauben's Drive-In which burned in 2007.

Continuing south down US-69, our next stop was Schroeder's Custom Butchering in downtown Arma, Kansas. I drove right past this place last year, but did not know about it at the time. It is a narrow store front with a small area for customers at the front.

In addition to fresh meat, they prepare their own beef jerky, garlic sausage, salami, smoked sausage, snack sticks and hillbilly bacon. I was looking forward to trying their garlic sausage, but they were out of everything but smoked sausage and snack sticks (smoked Polish sausage). We got four links and a package of sticks.

We stopped in Girard to photograph the 1906 Carnagie Library. Girard is believed to have been the smallest community to get one. On the way to the library, we spotted an interesting store on a downtown corner and returned to investigate Goings Enterprises, which is five different businesses: Goings Innovations, Goings Gourmet, Goings Media, Goings Manufacturing, and Goings Investments.

They sell a wide variety of items, including ice cream, sandwiches, truffles, fudge, cookies, freeze dried fruit and jellies. We bought a jar of apple butter and a package of freeze dried chocolate caramel crunch (Milk Duds).

On our way through Greenbush, we revisited Saint Aloysius Historical Site. It has a church and a church ruins sitting almost side by side. The 1887 St. Aloysius Church was replaced by a larger building in 1907, but the newer building was struck by lightning and destroyed in 1982 and the congregation returned to the older building. The registered Kansas State Historic Site is very picturesque.

A grotto was added next to the ruins in 2014, but the only photos I had of it included some cheesy Christmas decorations which had been setting there for some time. The church has not been in regular use since 1993, but is still furnished and is also decorated for Christmas. There are new Stations of the Cross in front of the church which are new since my 2018 visit.

There is a contemporary his and hers outhouse.

Passing through St. Paul, Kansas, a brick classic Conoco Station building across the street from a contemporary station. While looking for a place to park, I realized that the multivehicle garage to the west of the classic building appears to host a private collection of antique tractors and other items.

The classic looking building has brick matching the home on the other side and shares a large fenced in outdoor area. I have since learned that it is patterned off of a real cottage station in Chanute, Kansas. The front of the building holds a collection of old service station memorabilia and other collectibles, while the rear is a guest area. It is not open to the public.

In Parsons, Kansas we stopped at Tolen Creek Park which was being developed when I visited it a few years ago. There are two Stan Herd Sculptures, "Ancient Man" & "Turtle Island." It is a few block walk on a gravel road to the Stan Herd art.

Four miles north and five and one half miles east of Parsons, we stopped at 1877 Oak Grove Schoolhouse. It is an attractive building and it was be nice to better see the inside. A marker outside the building tells its history, including that its final year as a school was 1960. 

The other side of the marker tells about the Osage Trail, which passed by the school when it was built. The Ingalls family would have passed by here and the story of crossing a flooded river in the novel, "Little House on the Prairie" may have have been set here. Laura Ingalls Wilder's journal describes their real life experience and it may have been here at Trotter's Ford.

For supper, we went to Jack's Place in Liberty, Kansas (population about 99). the exterior looks plain, but the interior is clean and inviting. Alcohol is limited to beer and wine coolers.

We ordered the Pork Chop Dinner ($16.25 with salad toast, vegetable of the day and choice of mashed, fries or baked potato) and Mountain Oysters ($21.75 with the same). The pork chops were huge and well seasoned. The mountain oysters were very tender. We enjoyed all of it.

The gentlemen at the next table let me take a photo of the Strip Steak special. Regularly $26.95, but $21.95 on Friday night.

The service was good.

We drove the back roads from Liberty to the William Inge Center for the Arts, south of Independence, Kansas on the campus of Independence Community College. The 42nd William Inge Theatre Festival is being held this weekend and all events are free and open to the public. We went to the evening performance of "Helens of Troy New York" by 2024 Playwright in Residence Emma Horwitz. 

It was followed by talk back session with the audience asking questions of the cast and crew. It added a lot to my appreciation of the art and of the festival.

The night was spent at the Comfort Inn in Independence.

MM Fiber Mill
 

Spinning Machines
 
 
 
 

La Cygne Historical Museum
 
 
 
 
 
 

Skyview Farm & Creamery
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Aunt Toadies
 
 
 
 

Schroeder's Custom Butchering
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Conoco Station
 

  "Turtle Island" & "Ancient Man"
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pork Chop Dinner
 
 

Helens of Troy New York

Our first stop of the day was at Howard's Toys For Big Boys in Chanute, Kansas. We were met by Rusty Alger, who was enjoying coffee with a couple of friends. Rusty's wife, Jamie, joined us shortly and the two of them showed us the 28 antique cars currently on display. Many of them were collected by Rusty's late father, who is the Howard the museum is named for. 

In addition to the antique autos, the second floor houses that Rusty's late mother, Donna, collected

There are also a number of old motorcycles, some pedal cars and a variety of antique automotive signs and tools.

Continuing north to Humboldt, we had lunch at Honeybee Bruncherie, which opened in 2022. There isn't much to show it is there on the outside, but the inside is bright and welcoming. There was a line waiting for tables, but we were able to be seated at the counter right away.

It feels Honeybee strives to put its own twist on all of the menu, starting with the drinks. The orange juice is squeezed by a large machine with a hopper of oranges on the top and their fountain drinks are all from Boylan Bottling Company from New York, which was founded in 1891. I can't say that I am fond of their diet cola.

We ordered Steak & Eggs and a Grilled Chicken Sandwich. The sandwich came with salt & vinegar kettle chips and I selected their Crispy Breakfast Potatoes to go with the breakfast. The food was all good, with the fried new potatoes my favorite part of the meal.

There were no desserts listed on the menu and they did not suggest any.

We stopped by Orcutt Backyard Museum, which is just a few blocks away. There was a list four people and 6 phone numbers on a sign on the museum, to arrange a tour and we called all of them seeing if something could be arranged while we were in town. The first person we managed to reach, now lives in Georgia and the other two were both out of town, so that will need to happen another day.

After taking a few photos around Humboldt, we went to the new Whitetails & Wildlife Museum which opened in January. The large taxidermy collection is very nicely displayed in a purpose built building on the square. It is well worth a visit, but I think many visitors will be satisfied with 15-20 minutes.

The largest display reminds me of the Panorama of North American Plants and Animals at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, though on a smaller scale.
  
More to come...
  
   

Howard's Toys For Big Boys
 
 
 

Honeybee Bruncherie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Whitetails & Wildlife Museum