Northeast Kansas Day Ride

Chris and I decided to take a day ride and, hopefully, see some fall foliage.  We like the scenery in northeast Kansas so that was our destination.

We took off at 10:40 and rode Hwy 45 north out of the Kansas City area to the Weston Bend State Park in Missouri.  A few photos were taken from the scenic overlook of the Missouri River.  As we continued north we enjoyed the fall foliage in the bluffs east of the highway.view along Hwy 45 north of Weston, MO

At Hwy 59 we turned west towards Atchison, KS and the Missouri River.  This area had been flooded this past summer, which was obvious from the new road, the significant amount of standing water (still), the fields of bare dirt, and the flood line on a vacated farm house.home along Hwy 59 west of Atchison, KS; note the flood line on the house

In Atchison we had lunch at the Riverhouse Restaurant.Riverhouse Restaurant; Atchison, KS

From Atchison we rode north on Hwy 7 (also known as the Glacial Hills Scenic Byway) to White Cloud, KS, which is just a few miles from the Nebraska border.  Fields along here were barren with cracked soil.  If not for some standing water (still) it looked like desert in places.

We made a quick detour to Troy, KS for a potty break.  While there, we rode around the Doniphan County Courthouse (http://www.dpcountyks.com/) located on the square.Peter Toth Indian Monument at the Doniphan County Courthouse; Troy, KSOn the south side of the courthouse is a 27 foot  high wood sculpture of an Indian.  I found out later it was carved from a Burr Oak tree by Hungarian-born sculptor Peter Toth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Wolf_Toth).  Toth created a series of similar sculptures called The Trail of Whispering Giants to honor Native Americans.  There is at least one in each of our fifty states.

We rode south back to Atchison where we took a walk along the river and checked out the Amelia Earhart Earthworks (http://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/artresults.php?id=100).  It looks better from the air.  I was not impressed by what I could see from a slightly elevated area nearby.

We arrived home at 5:30 after a great ride of 200 miles.

For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/goldwinger.shawnee/NortheastKansasDayRide?authuser=0&feat=directlink

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