PART 3 OF A VERTICAL ROAD TRIP OF AMERICA

Load Up The Car — We’re Going To Kansas!

And Nebraska too!

While most people this summer were going to places like Disney World (again) or queuing through the lines at some of our national parks, I was taking the road less followed.

Why? Because I wanted to avoid lines, crowds, and congestion. I’ve been to these states before, but only the cities on the Eastern side, like Fargo, Sioux Falls, Omaha, and Wichita. It’s not fair to judge an entire state based on one city.

I had planned to take this trip up the Great Plains long ago, and when I finally got to it, gas prices were sky high. So I economized by spending some nights camping. To see the Milky Way every night was worth — well, it didn’t cost very much!

Kansas and Nebraska are much more than flyover states. Don’t judge them until you’ve seen them at eye level.

So come on! We’ll drive through amber waves of grain, and I’ll show you some hidden gems that are worth taking the time to see in this part of the country.

Entering Kansas on US 56, you’ll come to Liberal, which begins at essentially the Oklahoma/Kansas state line. With a population of 19,825, it was the biggest town I had hit. The name has nothing to do with politics! It’s red as can be. The main drag through town is called Pancake Blvd. Imagine where they might have gotten a name like that!

But a funny thing happens when you pass through Liberal and continue north on US 83: the land instantly changes to high rolling hills. It’s mainly rangeland, for you can’t grow corn or wheat on a hillside! Vegetation is sparse, and there are still no trees, but the horizon is vast. The Santa Fe Trail ran through this country. Imagine the pioneers on that journey: “Are we there yet???!!!”

I’m unsure how they knew where they were going other than following the ruts of previous wagon trains. The ruts are still visible in small stretches where the land hasn’t yielded to cultivation.

I also saw a lot of this in Kansas. Traveling in mid-July, an election was to be held on August 2, with a referendum on abortion rights. Many more billboards were supporting the bill. Signs that said advocates for abortion were murderers. Signs with huge religious overtones. But in the end, Kansans voted in favor of abortion rights. Coming from such a red state, that surprised me. There is hope for sensibility.

This wasn’t a long travel day — there would be much more to see the next, but in order to make time for it, I had to stop somewhere, and that was in Garden City, with a population of 26,408, it was now the largest city I’d been. It is a nice-looking town compared to Liberal, but after two nights of camping in Oklahoma, my goal was to luxuriate in a Hampton Inn as best as possible!

The first stop the next day was at El Cuartelejo Pueblo Ruins, the only known ruins of the Pueblo people in Kansas. It theorizes that this band fled from New Mexico to escape Spanish rule in 1664. The Pueblo is located within Lake Scott State Park. The area is like an oasis with a lake, natural springs, craggy bluffs, and wooded canyons.

This trip goes through many badlands, but the first are in the Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park in western Kansas. These badlands are part of the Niobrara Chalk Formation, which extends up to northern Nebraska.

Eighty million years ago, western Kansas sat beneath the Western Interior Seaway, a body of water that split North America from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Fossil fields were discovered in 1872, and new finds are still being unearthed. Some of the best are displayed at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, about 130 miles east.

But what I found most fascinating is the Monument Rocks, on the other side of the road from Little Jerusalem. Seemingly out of nowhere, these formations shoot up fifty feet and higher from the prairie floor — surrounded mainly by corn or wheat fields.

From here, I wanted to see some of the landmarks in Nebraska and based on the distances, I would have to spend a few nights in the Cornhusker state. So I continued north on US 83 to North Platte, Nebraska. McCook is the first town of any size you hit in Nebraska, and my first stop was at a Runza!

Unique to Nebraska, a Runza is a sandwich based on the “bierock,” a similar sandwich from the Volga River valley in Russia. It is a yeast dough bread pocket stuffed with ground beef, cabbage, onions, and seasonings, and then it is baked. There are a handful of locations in neighboring states. However, the Lincoln area alone has 13 locations!

After an overnight in North Platte, off to western Nebraska, I went.

Fun Fact: On the way, I passed through Keith county. Immediately north of that is Arthur county. Its county seat is, well, Arthur, population 117. It’s the only town in the county. Must come back here!

I chose to stay at the campground at Bridgeport State Park as my home for two nights. It is composed of a small lake, with surrounding campsites. There are many lakes near the Platte River as it winds its way through Nebraska. Mostly, they are spring-fed or underground passageways from the North Platte River that create the lakes. The water is clean, cool, and refreshing.

I can’t get too crazy going off on Nebraska. After all, it’s where I went to college and have a lot of friends who remain there. But there’s one scene I can’t get out of my head: a young girl, who couldn’t have been over 21, wading in the lake while holding a baby and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth! The people of Nebraska are friendly enough. But on a rural basis, you may think you’re in Mississippi or West Virginia.

The next day I took an excursion to Chimney Rock National Historic Site and Scotts Bluff National Monument. Both are like sentinels guarding the Great Plains. They also signified to wagon trains on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails that they were entering the West.

Chimney Rock rises nearly 300’ above the plains below. Based on sketches, paintings, and an 1897 photograph, the formation has been reduced in height by natural weathering, erosion, and lightning. As a result, it appears delicate, which is probably why you cannot get very close to it.

Just 25 minutes away lies Scotts Bluff National Monument. The bluff rises some 500’ above the surrounding plain and has a road enabling you to drive close to the top. From the summit, you gain a good idea of what the early settlers saw: vast expanses of land with a broad, green swath representing the North Platte River Valley.

You’ll find these landforms quite intriguing if you’re interested in geology.

That afternoon, I parked my butt at the “beach” by my tent, then spent a leisurely evening looking at the moon and the stars. What I enjoy the most is the solitude and the silence. Wind only has a sound when it rustles through the taller grass. Otherwise, it’s just your ears playing tricks on you.

I’m not an early riser — even camping. And I like to take my sweet lovin’ time no matter where I am. Besides, it takes a lot of time and energy to dismantle a campsite, and it’s not as much fun as putting it up! Kind of like a Christmas tree. But eventually, I got on the road, with the next destination being Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

For 56 miles, there was nothing but rolling hills with a mixture of short and tall grasses, an occasional escarpment, and the horizon filled with white, billowy clouds. It’s the landscape Willa Cather's novels were made of.

While I was anxious to see an area full of fossils, that portion of the park was closed for an excavation or something like that. Isn’t that the whole point of visiting the park? So instead, I toured the museum at the visitor’s center (did you know there was once a North American rhinoceros during the Cenozoic Era?) There was. I went for a hike and saw a dead porcupine. Spiky. I then spent the night in Chadron and got a much-needed shower.

Next up are the Dakotas and two state capitals most people never get to!

In case you missed them, here are the first two parts of this series:

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