"It takes 22-24 months to make a t-bone steak"

Tuesday, July 5, 2008

We woke up to the 1970s carpeted basement wall (almost identical to that we saw at Graceland “down in the Jungle Room”) after a good night’s sleep.

Forget Gunsmoke, Lou and Judith took us for a tour of the real Dodge City before we left. There, between the old Walmart building and the new Walmart, was a prairie dog town! At first, we saw at least twenty prairie dogs perched outside their holes, and we heard them chirping, but once Alex and Eleni were let loose on the landscape, only one remained. This watchdog kept chirping for a while and then hunkered down with the rest. They started to reappear once we left the parking lot. Judith told me that they tried to get rid of this prairie dog town, but they just wouldn’t leave.

Maybe if Eleni and Alex stayed for longer, they would leave!
Down town Dodge City - a statue of a Texas Longhorn across from the crossroads and a flatbed on a train going by. While we watched the train go by (and Alex took a walk with Judith to see the statue of Wyatt Earp (here he is again! Tombstone and Dodge City!)), Lou told me about how the once dry Kansas changed drastically with the discovery of the Ogalala Aquafilter beneath them. Because of this, the packing plants moved here in the past twenty years. So, instead of moving cattle through Kansas, why not take care of everything here? Lou told me, "it takes 22-24 months to make a t-bone steak" here so that it can be shipped to the east coast and eaten at a fancy restaurant for $30 each. 

The calf stays with his mother for 9-10 months (before she gives birth again), the calf is weaned, this now called yearling spends a year in a pasture, then 120 days in a feed yard where he is fattened up on a high protein diet (with lots of corn), and then butchered in the new packing plants. The photos from yesterday showed the stockyards, the cattle car, but my photo of the packing plant didn't really come out that well. Everything may be completed in Kansas now. 

I forgot to ask Lou and Judith the obvious question though, how often do you eat a t-bone steak and how much does it cost in Kansas?

Lou said that this was once a thriving town, but everything has moved out of the downtown. The mall is outside the old town...and you can get anything you want or need there. This depressed us - especially when we asked Lou and Judith if there was at least a good ol' local place we could take them for a cup of coffee.

We ended up here. This was it.

And, it's not every day you get to have ice-coffee in a stagecoach?

We left Dodge and headed east on 50 East and then 56 East. We went through Kinsley which is the center of the lower 48 (sign says New York 1561 and San Francisco 1561).

Old school grainary

Three monkeys on the monkey bars!

In retrospect, perhaps we should have taken the interstate. We were trying to be loyal to the blue highways and soak up some of our new-found admiration of Kansas. However, in doing so, we may have overdone Kansas to the point of we never want to return! That statement may be a bit over the top, but I think the reality is that we’ve been traveling for six weeks now. The kids are deteriorating and Alex informed me today, “this is the worst trip we’ve ever taken.” We were spoiled by five days of people who cared about our well-being and now we are on our own again. No more fooling around, we need to get home. But, we can’t.

These are the moments that truly put me in the pioneer mindset. Clearly, I am worlds away in time and situation, but I feel deeply for those men and women who left their families and headed out west into this blistering and vast emptiness. When I look at pictures of their faces as they sat in front of their wagons with their few possessions and uncertainty about their trip, I am humbled.

Route 56 West went on forever and every town that we approached looked the same. From a distance, the grain elevators rose like old European Cathedrals on the horizon (Neil and I are sure some one else came up with that line, but we can’t remember who to attribute it to just now. However, the simile fits perfectly) and yet, as we approached them, they were rusted and seemingly unused for years. We passed worn out empty old towns that had had their moment.

The real plan had been to get Neil to the Red Sox-Kansas City game in KC, but we could barely get out of Dodge. Depressed and withered from our journey, we arrived at the Prairie Grass National Preserve five minutes before they locked their gates.

We drove down the road a ways, and while Neil never directly blamed me for our not getting to KC on time (or anywhere close to it!), he bellowed out “Look! Prairie grass!” every chance he had after that. The chorus of three were quick to show me that we didn’t have to go to the preserve to find what historians claim is missing from the Great American Desert.

I think I’ve aged considerably on this trip. 

We settled for Council Grove. It was a charming old town that was trying its best to keep the tourist trade going. In August 1825, some US Commissioners and representatives of the Osage Indians signed a treaty allowing Americans and Mexicans free passage along the Santa Fe Trail in return for $800. The Oak tree (there used to be a mile long grove of Oak trees, hence the name) they sat under blew down after a wind-storm in 1958, but they saved part of it in a Plymouth Rock type fashion.

Council Grove became famous because pioneers rendezvoused there before they headed out on the Santa Fe Trail. It used to be a bustling town and a last chance to get your supplies sort of place, but for us, it was quite the opposite. We arrived at 5:30 PM and everything in Council Grove closed at 6PM, so our walk down Main Street was pleasant, but rather empty.

19th century and still going

20th century and on its way out

What used to be here

Eleni just taking a break before dinner

Madonna of the Trail statue
Written on the side of the statue - I love the 1978 addition!

We found all that we needed – we stayed at the Cottage House Hotel (1867) and ate dinner at the Hays House (1857), which was a tavern/store/hotel for travelers. Perfect.

OK, but we really stayed in the motel part of it behind the hotel!

And now, two days later, I remembered that Council Grove is where John Limmer recommended we go for the REAL start of the Santa Fe trail. Serendipity meets unconsciousness! Thankfully, we spent time looking for that Prairie Grass!