Kansas Waterfall Tour; Day 2

Our day started at 8:30 as we departed our motel. It was mostly sunny and 66 degrees. We drove north a very short distance to Strong City, KS, where we enjoyed a large larrapin good breakfast at the Chuck Wagon Cafe.

Back southbound on Hwy 177, one of my favorite drives through the Flint Hills. Some of the hills had been recently burned. Some were starting to show new grass growth. We stopped several times on our way to Cassoday to take photos.

Hwy 54 took us west to Santa Fe Lake located between Augusta and Andover. This is a private lake as we found out when we were taking photos of the waterfall in the spillway. A nice young man drove up on a golf cart and told me my choice was to pay $7 to access the lake area or get a parking ticket that would cost $100. I opted for the $7 fee.

After a short walk on the trails below the Santa Fe Lake falls we were back on the road, Hwy 77 south from Augusta to Arkansas City, where we stopped for lunch at Daisy Mae's Cafe. Then it was Hwy 166 east to the Cowley State Fishing Lake and Cowley Falls. These were the most impressive falls of the trip.
It would be an embellishment to call it a trail from the parking area to the bottom of the falls. Plus, the route was lousy with broken glass and other litter. It was a very steep route over rocky terrain. People are pigs.

We finished off our drive eastbound on 166 into Coffeyville, where we stopped for the day at 4:15. It was 86 degrees. We drove 223 miles today and the Poonie thermometer registered a high temperature of 91. A dip in the hotel pool followed by a stint in the hot tub before calling it a day felt nice.

To see all the photos taken today click on the following link: Todays Photos

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Colorado; Day 9; June 30, 2012

Image
The evening of June 29th we saw the play, “Is He Dead” at the Creede Repertory Theater ( http://www.creederep.org/ ).  It was very entertaining,  one of the better plays I’ve seen. When we drove away from Creede at 6:05 am it was 41 degrees.  A short distance south the temperature dropped to 39.  We tried soaking up the cold for what we knew would be a hot afternoon. We rode South Fork and then east to Alamosa.  From Alamosa we took a detour north up Hwy 17 to see the UFO Watchtower ( http://www.ufowatchtower.com/ ).  It is a place for UFO enthusiasts to go to watch for UFO’s.  The lady who runs the place said something about some sort of vortex existing on the property.  Weird stuff, even for an open-minded guy like me. If the UFO Watchtower wasn’t weird enough we saw a male driving a Jeep with eye lashes over the headlights at a gas station in Alamosa, CO.  Hopefully it was his wife’s Jeep and he was just gassing it up for her. We continued east to Walsenburg, LaJunta, and La
Read more

Florida Trip; Day 15

Image
At 7:30AM we drove away from Russellville, AR on a cold 25 degree morning. At least the sun was coming up. Our route was 7 north to Harrison; 65 north to Springfield, MO; I-44 west; 13 north to Clinton; 7 north to Harrisonville; I-49 north; I-435 west to Kansas in the KC area and home. Hwy 7 in Arkansas is a scenic route with hills and curves galore. We stopped several times for photos. On the south side of Bolivar, MO we enjoyed lunch at Smith's Restaurant. It was 39 degrees when we arrived home at 2:20 but we saw a high of 44. It was a good day for our final of the trip. We drove 330 miles today and the total trip mileage was 3,109. I only have 6 photos today but you can click here to see them -  Final Day Pics
Read more

My Last Ride

On January 11th, 2017, I departed on a ride to Kelli's Korner (Paradise, MO - near Smithville, MO) for lunch with four friends (Carl, Gary, Bill and Larry). It was a beautiful day, which was all the excuse we needed for a ride. I was leading the group and we were taking a long way there. Riding north on county road N, about 6 miles north of Hwy 152 and I-435, the road turned and I didn't. I exited the road into a field. Fortunately there were no fences, trees, rocks, oncoming cars, etc. I have no explanation for this except that I was out of it for awhile. I remember crossing the center line but I was looking down at that time, which is weird. I have no memory of seeing anything after that until I was laying in the field separated from my motorcycle. I do remember a sensation of tumbling but that is all. My first thought was to drive my motorcycle out of the field and get it cleaned up so Chris would not know what I did. What a ridiculous idea that was. After I'd been up
Read more