Up early and out to Boot Hill, a reconstructed Wild West street on the site of the real Boot Hill Cemetery. It was a beautiful museum and a fitting way to say goodbye to the west:
We got the hell out of Dodge at 11:00!
As the wind was really battering us on Highway 56, inevitably a Wind Farm appeared!
We found our way to Fort Larned, a beautiful restoration and reconstruction of a fort that protected the Santa Fe Trail and was in operation from 1859 to 1869 and sold in 1884.
Afterwards, a private rancher owned the property, and the buildings, much of which was still standing when the National Parks Service acquired it in 1964. It's lovely. The best “modern” part is the graffiti on the stones from the turn of the 20th century to the 60's when, apparently, people picnicked at the site:
Here are some pics of the site:
There was an eery moment for us when we were visiting the Company Officers' residence. First, there was a dead bird on a table in the back porch. THEN, I got spooked by the ticking clock (correct time):
THEN, as we were leaving, the front door slammed shut behind us (okay, it was windy, but...).
Luckily, we did get one last view of ruts of the Santa Fe Trail as we were leaving the site:
It was a VERY windy drive then (people kept saying “It IS Kansas!”).
Saw an “Alfalfa Seed” sign wrapped around a hay bale with a picture of “Alfalfa” sayng “Have a Hay Day”.
In Conway, KS, we started to see miles of oil wells.
We finally stopped driving and stayed in a WalMart in McPherson, KS.
Here's the (pretend) view from my chair, taken by David, the naughty boy (and it's a REAL view from the MH!):
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