Windy Day On The Plains

Weather, whether or not always has some impact on these trips. Sometimes it is humorous, like this morning when it looked like rain so Cherif suited up in his rain gear. I, as usual was stubborn and simply said to him "you just guaranteed it won't rain". We had a good laugh a while later when the skies cleared and he had to take it all off.

This morning we discovered a wonderful stretch of old route 50 that we rode for more than an hour. It was a great 2 lane, country road that wound through the Kansas farmland. Unfortunately, most of the rest of our day, which was 325 miles of riding, was on an open road that is as straight as you can imagine. After lunch, a south wind kicked up and our last 120 miles was spent alternately fighting a 30 mph side wind and the impact of the passing semis. So, we quit a bit early and are pending the night in Dodge City, of course the historical setting for much of the western TV of our youth. Who can forget Gun smoke? Because we were here with time on our hands, we went to "The Boot Hill Museum" dedicated to the real history of Dodge City and real characters like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, both of whom were real life lawmen here. The museum is a depiction of the original main street and is built near Boot Hill Cemetery.

Fancy casket

I have to say that Route 50 has been a bit of a disappointment. I suppose I expected a bit more of the flavor of history and Americana that we found when we last traveled Route 66. While we did pass through a lot of little towns that have preserved their heritage and had main streets that reminded one of the past, there were not a lot of reasons to stop. A bit too much wide open, 65 mph roads. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe, NM where we plan on spending a couple of days exploring and resting, then it is on to Route 66.