Historic Trails

I spend a lot of time thinking about all the places in the world I would like to visit.  Living in Kansas, many of these places are not a hop, skip, and a jump away.  But we are reminded to "be content in all circumstances, whether near mountains or forests, whether living in Kansas or abroad." (loose translation of Philippians 4:12, emphasis my own).  So lately we have taken the dive into adventures in Kansas- and truthfully we haven't been disappointed yet.  I keep my Kansas travel resources handy, the official 2016 Kansas travel guide, The Kansas Guidebook for Explorers, and my newest (and favorite) addition, The Kansas Trail Guide.  I love planning trips.  Maybe my second career will be as a travel agent or tour guide.  I have a handful of weekend trips lined up for this summer and we started a few weekends ago with a trip to Council Grove.

On Saturday mornings I can't sleep in but Arthur likes a little extra snooze and if our travels don't require an early start he can sleep in.  I wait patiently until I just can't handle the excitement and then run back into our bedroom and jump on the bed, bouncing up and down, hoping he will get up and so we can go "play".  We have recently discussed that we even just enjoy the drive to our destination.  On Saturday mornings we look forward to the line up on NPR with Car Talk and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.  On this particular morning we did get stuck behind an envoy of some large piece of equipment traveling at 15 mph down a fairly busy highway.  After a few miles of this snails pace Arthur decided to hit the country roads to "outrun" this transport before the next country section.

Council Grove is a historic town.  It was the site of the oak grove where agreements were made with the Kaw Nation.  It was also one of the last towns on the Santa Fe Trail.  We started with the historic river walk along the Neosho River.  The highlight was watching a pair of geese with four goslings paddle around on the river.  We spent the morning reading the historical plaques and admiring some of the original buildings.  I was then able to talk Arthur into letting me go to a garden shop right along Main Street which I am sure I could have spent hours perusing.  I limited myself to one basil plant, showing great restraint.

We then moseyed to the historic Hays House. The Hays House was opened in 1857 and is the oldest continually operating restaurant this side of the Mississippi.  It was opened by Seth Hays, the grandson of Daniel Boone.  We ate lunch which included one of the best salad bars in recent memory and my chicken friend steak was glorious.  Arthur had his socks knocked off by the grilled chicken alfredo.  One of our rules when traveling is not eating at chain restaurants.  So far we haven't been disappointed.  We are also working our way through the top 35 small town restaurants in Kansas.  We are currently at 13.  There is a lot of eating ahead of us.

As we were paying we mentioned that we were enjoying learning about the history of the town so the dinning room host asked if we would like a tour of the building.  Of course!  We went to the original cellar complete with original wood beams, meat hooks, and bar.  Upstairs there was  collection of crystal and fancy purses and hats that one of the past owners had donated.  The upstairs was originally a hotel with a few rooms staying intact and the rest has been converted to a lounge area with outside deck seating overlooking Main Street USA.

With our bellies full we decided to hit the trails.  Our first stop was the Allegawaho Heritage Memorial just a few miles out of town.  This is a gem we never would have stumbled upon if it hadn't been for our trail guide.  The land is owned by the Kaw Nation at the site of the original reservation.  There is a monument to an unknown Indian whose remains were found in the area in the 1920s.  There weren't any signs or even information at the area but the trail was maintained.  It was a two mile loop through the Flint Hills and the woods near the creek.  Since we had recently attended a seminar on native trees we marveled at the size of the oak and cottonwoods as well as the different stages of growth in this wooded area.  This hike with the bright green Flint Hills was my favorite part of the day.  

After our warm up hike we hit the Flint Hills Nature Trail that runs just across the road from the Memorial.  The Flint Hills Nature Trail is a rails-to-trails.  They are in the process of converting an abandoned rail line to a multi-use trail that will be about 120 miles in length when the project is finished.  My first experience with rails-to-trails was a bike ride across Missouri on the Katy Trail in college and I love the idea.  In Missouri it has been a wonderful tourist attraction revitalizing several small towns along the trail since cyclists and hikers need water, supplies, and food about every ten miles.  On our hike along the Flint Hills Trail Arthur examined all the trees and we did appreciate some shade and a wind break.  I loved the parts opening up across the rolling prairie.  Our favorite part was at the bridge crossing the Neosho river.  The rail bridge was several feet above the river putting us at eye level with the tree canopy.  We saw a large owl and then watched turtles sunning themselves on the logs below.  We only saw 5 other people out on the trail.  While it was nice to have the quiet and seclusion, we couldn't help but think about all the people who are missing out on this wonderful opportunity to experience nature at a slower pace.

After our 4 hours of hiking we headed back to town to find a cool, tasty treat.  We ended up at the local drug store's old fashion soda fountain for chocolate malts.  Chocolate malts never tasted so good after a warm afternoon of hiking.

On our way home we took a brief detour to try to find the Santa Fe trail ruts.  While we could kind of see the depressions in the ditch this was probably the let down of the trip.  It is interesting how something that was traveled by hundreds or thousands of wagons and people each year can slowly disappear.  History can seem to fade.  That might be what was special about our day in Council Grove-- making marveling at what has withstood the test of time all the more wondrous. We, too, will someday fade, but our lives have consequences that live long beyond us; in fact, our Lord promises that they hold eternal significance.  This should motivate us all to live out our lives in love, for truly, Omnia Vincit Amor.