Wednesday

We started the day very early at mile 6003, getting on the road just after 6am. We stopped at this little coffee shop in the town of Warrenton called the Main Street Coffee House. It was run by this couple who had opened their shop almost exactly a year earlier in a historic house built in the 1903. They couldn't have been nicer! They even had dog treats handy. We sat on their porch, drinking coffee, eating a very good egg and sausage croissant (and dog treats) while planning out the day's route. The lady asked if we were traveling and we informed her that we were headed back to California, returning from a trip to Maryland. She told us that their son was a Marine and had been stationed at Camp Pendleton, just south of Orange County where we live. Was afraid to inquire further about him for fear of what the response might be. After talking with her for a bit, we didn't sense that anything bad had happened to him. They were especially nice to us and we do hope that all goes well with them, their new business, and their son, where ever he may be stationed.


After breakfast, we headed for Jefferson City which is, you guessed it, the capital of Missouri. We got there a little before 9am. This was a pretty quiet town, but very nice. Didn't walk around it very much, but we found another little coffee shop to get a refill and we were quickly on our way.

At mile 6228 we hit the Kansas state line around lunch time. As we approached the Kansas City area, we contacted a friend, Clarence, to see if he could meet us for lunch. He works at the huge Sprint global headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. Fortunately, he and his wife, Johanna, were able to meet us. We ate at one of the many restaurants on the Sprint campus. The headquarters literally make up a city of its own; they have their own zip code. It seems like a really nice place to work with lots of green area between the many buildings. It is a college campus-like environment. There are several cafeteria-style restaurants, coffee shops, a huge state-of-the-art fitness center, a hair and nail salon, a florist, a bank and other retail stores, all on the Sprint grounds. Very impressive. Unfortunately, we had to be on our way pretty quickly. So we said our goodbyes and returned to the Missouri side of the border and headed for downtown Kansas City. We drove around a little bit, making sure to check out the recently restored Jazz District. We also managed to see Arrowhead Statdium where the Chiefs play and Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals. Kind of wish we had taken a picture at one of the city's famous fountains so we had something to show for our visit. Kansas City is known as the "City of Fountains," boasting the greatest number of fountains in the world second only to Rome, Italy.


Continuing our westbound journey, we got back into Kansas and made the relatively quick trip to Topeka to get a shot of the state capitol building. Topeka is also the site for the famous Brown vs. Board of Eduction case in 1951 which helped to pave the way for integration and the civil rights movement. We drove west through the rest of the city, made another coffee shop stop and got back onto I-70 for the long, straight drive across the state of Kansas. The overcast sky that we had traveled under all day turned to storm clouds as we made our way out of Topeka. As heavy rain began to fall, we made a slight detour off the freeway to the town of Wamego. This small town claims to be the "Oz Capital of the World" and is home to the Wizard of Oz Museum which houses one of the largest public displays of Oz memorabilia. We had hoped for a good photo opportunity here, but the rain and relatively unimpressive appearance of the museum's front dashed those hopes. While continuing off the freeway, we passed through the town of Manhattan and drove through the Kansas State University campus. On our way back to I-70, we happened upon the gate of Ft. Riley. We found out later that this large military installation throughout it's history has been home to George Custer, the famous all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, the soldiers of which were called "Buffalo Soldiers," and most notably, the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division, also known as “The Big Red One.” We turned around at the gate and got back onto the freeway to continue westbound, stopping for the night at mile 6674 in the western Kansas town of Colby at another Wal-Mart. This one was pretty crowded. There were at least eight RVs, about four trucks and a few other cars also camped out there. Doing this saves so much money, especially with amount we are spending on gas!