Days 2 & 3: Cheney Lake, KS, to Dodge City, then to Pueblo, Colorado

 We’re clipping along westward at a pretty good pace. The object right now is to get some miles behind us so we can be in Boise Idaho this coming Tuesday. We want a few days to enjoy family and friends and prepare for Hudson’s and Misty’s wedding on Saturday. So we’ve been driving a lot, and staying in each place only one night, which is not usually our preferred way to travel. We like to take our time and explore a little more. But that will come later. 

We woke yesterday morning at Cheney Lake State Park to this beautiful sunrise. Since we’d driven so long the day before, and we didn’t have as long a drive ahead of us, we took our time enjoying the morning by the lake, and didn’t leave camp till 11 a.m.

The weather has been HOT! Daytime temperatures have ranged from 97-100 during most of our driving time. We’re so thankful for good air conditioning in the car, and in the travel trailer.

As we moved from the eastern half of Kansas to the western half, we saw a definite difference in the agriculture, due to the change in humidity (or lack thereof!). The map below shows a stark difference right down the middle of Kansas. The green part to the right is where we saw more corn fields, and once the white part started, to the west of mid-Kansas, we saw mostly grain fields, cattle feed lots, and even the occasional horse-head oil pump. It reminded us a little more of west Texas. 

Every bit of hay is baled, even right up to the edge of the highway:

Gas stations out here are few and far between, so when we arrived at Dodge City, Kansas, we slid in on fumes and a prayer. We were so thankful that we didn’t run out of gas in 101 degree heat! Our campground was right in town, which is unusual for us; we generally like to be “out” when we camp. But it was very convenient for exploring the town. 

Dodge City was the end point for many of the huge cattle drives in the 1800’s. Millions of Longhorns were driven to or through the area. As we drove around town, we were surprised to see that the majority of 

the population is Hispanic (almost 70%, we later found out). After we thought about it, this made sense. The Mexican cow hands, with their stamina, strength, and endurance were crucial to the success of the strenuous, exhausting cattle drives. And since Dodge City, with the railroad, was the end point, many of the vaqueros settled here. 

After setting up camp, we went in search of a mid-afternoon lunch. There are about 20 Mexican restaurants in the small city, and we were ready for some authentic Mexican food. However, we couldn’t find a single restaurant open in the afternoon. I realized that the proprietors were probably all observing the traditional afternoon siesta. We had to settle for Applebees….not very historic, but tasty nonetheless, for 2 hungry travelers! Then we explored around town before retiring to our campground in the middle of town.

Day 3: Dodge City, Kansas to Pueblo, Colorado. Thursday, June 17

As we enjoyed our tea outside Lucy this morning, we experienced an unusual event: the train ran right alongside the campground. What an interesting juxtaposition!

We knew today would be a long drive, and that we would climb in elevation (making the travel a little slower), so we set out a little earlier. (We’re not known for our early-bird tendencies, so for us 8:30 a.m. was an early start!). Our steady push westward took us through lots of little western towns, and quite a few abandoned cabins on the side of the road. The Post Office in the town of Hasty was especially picturesque:

After we settled into camp this afternoon, we saw a huge storm on the horizon. We pulled everything inside as the wind picked up. But as threatening as it looked, the storm slid on by us. The breeze that it brought was a welcome relief from the heat, though!

This shot from the Google Earth app shows our route over the last couple of days. The east-west green line toward the bottom of the map (below the Interstate) follows the Arkansas River. That’s essentially where we’ve been traveling.

And now that we’re in Pueblo, we’ll be heading toward the Rocky Mountains tomorrow. We can see them looming ahead. Tomorrow we plan to skirt south of the most mountainous areas, and end up near Mesa Verde National Monument. We’re going to spend 2 nights at the same campground, so we can have a little more time to explore the area. 

Thanks for joining us on our journey. Hope to send the next blog post from near Cortez, Colorado. Westward Ho!