Topeka, KS Day Trip

 One day, while browsing through Facebook, I came upon this "Guide to Things to do in Topeka, KS". So today, Chris and I decided to check a few of these sites out for ourselves. In the past I've been told that folks have trouble accessing my Google photos when clicking on the link at the end of the blog. As a result, I will start posting more of my photos in this blog.

Chris and I both had a late breakfast (brunch?) so we didn't leave home until after 11:00AM. We took the back roads (32 west from Bonner Springs to Lawrence; 24 west to Topeka). While waiting for a train we noticed it was 64 degrees outside so we put the top down for our exploration of Topeka. Our first stop was the Great Overland Station, an old Union Pacific train depot at 701 N Kansas Avenue. In front were U.S. flags, one for each state.

Next on our tour was the Belshe Fire Hydrant Garden located at 720 SW 5th Street. As you can see in the photos, this is a private residence. The article said the collection includes 100 year old hydrants but the display did not identify which ones were that old.

One hydrant had "IOWA" on the top and one looked like it had boobs.

On our way to Truckhenge we drove past Topeka High School and the Kansas state capitol, both of which are impressive looking buildings.

The last stop in Topeka was Ron Lessman's Truckhenge at 4124 NE Brier Road. This was an interesting place, kind of a big junk yard with Lessman's idea of art scattered all around, and we got to meet Ron in person.

Ron regaled us with his stories of battles with County (or City?) government who were not happy with his property. He told us about this wooden statue (in the photo above) of a naked pregnant woman with a snake wrapped around her. He asked us what kind of baby she was pregnant with. When we told him we had no idea he said it was a "knotty" baby. An old car hood had an eye painted on it, which he said stood for "hoodwinked". Chris told him he was ornery and he said "thank you". Several trees had shoes hanging from them and he explained they were "trees of lost soles". He was quite a character and I think he would have talked forever with a little encouragement. There was a rooster and a peacock wandering around too. 
Quite a place!

entering Lessman's Truckhenge "ranch"

On our way home (via 40 and 10) we stopped at Sonic in Lawrence for an early dinner. We arrived home around 4:30 but we stopped first at a car wash to clean off the dirt and mud from Truckhenge.

We drove about 125 miles today and our high temperature was 68. We did put the top up in Lawrence for the 70mph+ drive down 10 highway to home.

Here's the link to all pictures - All Pics     I hope it works.