On the Road - Day 8 -- Panhandles and Tornado Alley

I'm still on Albuquerque time and I almost missed breakfast and, gee whiz, these Texans mean to stick to their schedule. Yessir, 9 AM is 9 AM.  I whined a little and she let me get some coffee and a couple danishes to take back to my room.

I was thinking about going to see the Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument about 30 miles north but they have a schedule too. You are not allowed to walk around on the trails unless you are escorted by a Ranger and they only go at 10 AM and at 2 PM and you have to make reservations. What's with that???  We are talking about rocks not WMDs. I wasn't going to make the 10 AM walk so I gave it up for this trip.

I decided to stop off at Lake Meredith National Recreational Area which is next to the Alibates monumednt. The drive north out of Amarillo is not a pretty one this time of year and much of the land had recently burned. This is wildfire season and there were a lot of warnings on the radio and weather reports. I drove up to Fritch Texas and then stopped off at a picnic area overlooking the lake. Fritch has seen better days...I hope. It looks pretty bad and I was surprised at how many buildings looked like they were falling down or had been bombed or hit by a tornado and never demolished or fixed up. There are a lot of mobile homes but most don't look liveable and many have gaping holes in the walls. While most of the panhandle is pretty flat this is a pretty rugged and rocky gorge carved by my old friend, the Canadian River. The overlook is about 100 feet above the lake and there really wasn't much going on.

Today's drive was going to be off the interstate on back roads and eventually getting to Kansas and US Highway 54 but I had to go through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles first. I decided to use my trusty GPS and it showed me how to go from the picnic area, past the Sanford Dam that backs up Lake Meredith and on through a bunch of tiny towns. This must be cotton country because there were a few fields that had scraps of raw cotton hanging on the dried weeds. Every town had a huge grain elevator but I didn't see a cotton gin.

Once again, crossing the Texas line doesn't need a sign....it is obvious based on  the patterns of agriculture and land use that something fundamental has changed. Going into the Oklahoma panhandle was prettier and less trashy than Texas. Maybe prettier isn't the best word....it is all flat plains...but there was less stuff and what there was seemed to be better cared for and not falling down.

Generally the roads were about the same in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas...not much traffic and you could make good time.

I went through Beaver Oklahoma and discovered Beaver Dunes State Park. If I had an Off Road Vehicle I could have spent the day driving around on  the sand dunes but the Subaru wasn't up to it and I had to rely on it to get home. The park was pretty much empty except for one group of campers. The dune area is partly stabilized with vines and undergrowth with small pockets that are sheltered from the wind. About 300 acres are open for ORV use

Crossing into Kansas was not as noticeable as leaving Texas. The terrain is pretty much the same and the winds were very strong. Fire warnings were out because if a fire started it would probably be up to Canada in a short time with the wind and humidity as low as it is.  I hit US 54 at Meade KS, apparently the site of the Dalton Gang hideout. I followed the signs and found it located in a residential neighborhood looking like a fake western movie set. I decided not to stop and didn't bother to record it with my camera. The James Gang would never have stooped to stay in such a place.



Greensburg KS

 I went on to the town of Greensburg, which, if you recall, was almost entirely destroyed by an EF5 tornado in May of 2007, killing 12 people. Greensburg's population tumbled from over 1,500 to 777 after the tornado. They are intent on rebuilding and the motto seems to be "Stronger, Better, Greener". They are trying to make it a "green" city by conforming to LEED standards as much as possible. I stopped for lunch at a little coffee shop/deli in one of the few new buildings. The main street shows signs of rebuilding but the entire place seems pretty sparse.  I think the jury is still out on the recovery. Part of the problem is they have to compete with the bigger town of Pratt, a few miles up the road, that has a Walmart and several motels.  Greensburg is also famous for the world's largest hand dug water well (that I did not see) and it is the home of a 1000-pound meteorite on display in a museum (which I also did not see).

I drove on to Wichita and found my motel. I ate at a Denny's and found some gas. Watched a little TV...that was my day.   Should make it home fairly early tomorrow.