It was fairly early in the morning when @mrsbozz and I loaded our stuff into the rental car and pulled out of the driveway we had called home for the past seven days in Thornton Colorado. I felt a slight tinge of regret as I slowly watched the mountains recede in the rear view mirror. It had been an amazing trip, but we had responsibilities at home and a long three day drive ahead of us.
While we opted for the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska route on our way out to Colorado, on the way home I mapped out a different path so we could check a few more states off our "visit list". Day one of travel took us out of Colorado and across most of Kansas until we hit the capital of Topeka.
As much as the great plains get a bad rap for being horrible to drive through, I still contend that the Eastern half of Colorado is the worst. Sure, Kansas as mostly flat, but as we slowly approached Topeka, things started to get a bit more hilly, green, and rolling. It was quite lush and beautiful.
I wasn't quick enough to have @mrsbozz snap any photos, but I think one of the things that made me the most sad about our drive across I-70 were the old gas stations sitting abandoned at many of the exits along the way. With the advent of vehicles that can go further and faster, many of these roadside watering holes have fallen to the wayside.
I can only imagine how bustling they must have been back in the day with travelers heading out west and then back home.
Due to the time zones, we lost an hour heading out of Colorado when we moved from Mountain time to Central time. It was later afternoon when we finally rolled into hotel in Topeka Kansas. I'd gotten us a place on the outskirts of the city, so after we got settled, @mrsbozz was interested in driving around a bit and checking things out.
I got us on the highway that circles around the city and before we knew it we were arriving in the downtown area. Being larger town, I actually expected Topeka to be a lot busier than it was. Perhaps it was the fact that it was a Sunday evening, or maybe it's just that midwest pace of life.
We drove by the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site, but like I said, it was Sunday, so everything was closed. That didn't stop us from getting some photos.
The area is actually a bit away from downtown, but it is nice and lush and green. They do a good job of keeping it up. The surrounding homes seem to be in a bit of disrepair, but I guess if you read the description from Wikipedia above, that probably makes a bit of sense.
Although we weren't able to tour the building, it still was cool and humbling to be in such a historic spot.
From there we drove back to the downtown area and made a couple of loops around the capital building. I've had the opportunity to see several state houses in my life and I have to admit that Kansas has one of the coolest I can ever remember seeing.
By now were getting hungry so we quickly did a little research and settled on a place to grab some dinner. I'm going to write more about that in a later post though.
As we were heading to our dinner destination, we passed this large grain elevator and when I saw the word Cargill on the side of it I told @mrsbozz that she had to take a photo. A long time ago I worked for a company that purchased the Cargill Seed company and when they did I was part of the team that traveled across the country upgrading their computer systems. It was an exciting job for a young man fresh out of university. It was also the first time I ever flew on a jet, so I have a lot of good memories of that time.
I'm sure there are folks out there who might disagree with me, but Topeka seems like a really cool area and as much as we were ready to be home, it might have been cool to spend a bit more time there. Perhaps one day we will make our way back.
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On that long way home you can see very beautiful landscapes, worth admiring.
We definitely got to see some beautiful corners of the US.
Driving in America is great as it is so vast, but yeah I did find plenty of boring parts that you had to drive through!
There are some stretches that make me want to veer my car off the road for sure!
Excellent post and photos! I have always had a fascination with traveling to random places like this that epitomize the heartland of the US. I will definitely be planning a road trip in the near future.
It was a really great experience for us. I don't think I could do it all the time, but being able to say I did it at least once was great!
The very best thing about Topeka? You are a lot closer to Arthur Bryant's BBQ (Kansas City) than you were in the morning. I've been through the 'breadbasket' multiple times and directions and for me it's still just a place to get through.
At least when you are headed west into Colorado you can look at the mountains even though they are a LONG way.
That's the thing though, you really don't even seen the mountains until you are about a half hour away from Denver, so it's kind of a joke anyway :) We actually skirted around Kansas City, but we found a decent place to eat at in Topeka I plan on sharing in my post tomorrow.
Wow amazing photography and wonderful view 😍😍
Thank you!
Very nice area with street art, green areas and beautiful architecture, especially a neoclassical architecture building, I think.
Have a great day @bozz friend!
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Thanks, it was a really cool area and a lot better than we were expecting!
Beautiful journey I believe. Nice pics tho...
Thank you!
I’ve driven a lot across the States, and honestly, much of it is pretty boring! After spending time in college and traveling a lot for sports, I remember much of the Midwest being especially dull compared to other places I’ve visited, especially on Sundays.
I don't think I would want to do it more than once or twice, but to be able to say I did it once was pretty cool and it ended up not being as bad as I thought it would be.
Very nice looking place. It is too bad the historic site was closed. Not sure I have been through Kansas before, I don't think so. At least I got to see it through your pictures.
Especially the Eastern part of the state wasn't as bad as I was afraid it was going to be.
It looks like they're were a few sites to see there. I never stopped in Topeka. It looks like a rather quiet city from your pictures anyway!
It actually was a lot more than I expected for being the capital. If you ever do make it there, there is a restaurant I am going to cover tomorrow you should visit.
En ese largo camino a casa se observa paisajes muy hermosos, dignos de admirar.
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