Kansas...a different view

While we were in Boot Hill Saloon the piano player and the bartender struck up a conversation with us and when they found out what we are doing with the RV and all they told us we needed to go to Garden City, they said it had a wonderful zoo and to top it off it was free, and if it's free it's for me! So we packed up the clan and drove to Garden City.

We passed thru Spearville Kansas, this region in Kansas is considered to be the most windy in the United States, which explains the high interest in developing additional wind power in the and Spearville  Kansas has long been known as the Home of Windmills, a designation that dates from the days of small windmills used to pump ground water for irrigation and livestock. This tradition now has a new dimension  with the arrival of the Spearville Wind Energy Facility and the wind turbines, when fully extended, the tower and vertical blade reach a maximum height of 391 feet above the ground. They are awesome to watch and so graceful!

WINDMILLS

We went to the zoo the next day and it was wonderful and they had animals Pierre and had never seen before! Lots critical endangered animals...totally awesomeness! Then we drove around and checked out a few museums and then a local grassland park. Kansas has LOTS of grasslands.
Surprisingly they have a lot of feedlots in this area also, they are huge facilities that house thousands of cattle being fattened up for the kill. The stench is horrible! Nasty business!
We are headed back to Panama City, yes we are...the lyrics to the Eagles song, Hotel California keeps going thru my head ....you know the one....you can check any time want, but can't ever leave!....that's Panama City folks. I'm trying to be optimistic...

Dodge City, Kansas

Oh my gosh...what can I say about all that is going on around here in Junction City, Kansas, we have been, going.going,going...making lots of memories!
Pierre and I have been sailing on a boat for most of these little peeps lives, so we have been enjoying getting to know them! But as with all good things this is quickly coming to a close, we are getting things ready to ship out. The Owls Nest Campground here in Junction City has been a nice campground, the people are so nice and helpful and it is well kept up, clean and very quiet.
We decided to head to Dodge City when we leave here, yeehaw! Lots of history packed in a small space there!  "Kansas has but one Dodge City, with a broad expanse of territory sufficiently vast for an empire; we have only room for one Dodge City; Dodge, a synonym for all that is wild, reckless, and violent; Hell on the Plains."
-- A Kansas Newspaper in the 1870's
Famous for its rich history as a frontier cowtown, it offers up a wide array of legends, lore and history to travelers in western Kansas and Dodge City had a reputation for being the most wicked town in the Old West.
Fort Mann was actually the first settlement of non-indigenous people in this area, not Dodge City. It was Fort Mann that later became Dodge City. Fort Mann was built by civilians in 1847 to provide protection for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail, but it collapsed in 1848 after Indians attacked it.
In 1850, the U.S. Army arrived to provide protection and they constructed Fort Atkinson on the old Fort Mann site. In 1853 the Army abandoned Fort Atkinson because they wanted to establish military forces further north. Early in 1865, the Indian Wars in the West began heating up, and the army returned and reconstructed Fort Dodge to assist in providing protection on the Santa Fe Trail.
   The town of Dodge City can trace its origins to 1871 when rancher Henry J. Sitler built a sod house west of Fort Dodge to oversee his cattle operations it was conveniently located near the Santa Fe Trail and Arkansas River, and Sitler's house quickly became a stopping point for travelers. In 1872, George M. Hoover established the first bar in a tent to serve thirsty soldiers from Dodge City and when the railroad arrived in September they found a town ready and waiting for business. The early settlers in Dodge City traded in buffalo bones and hides, but with the arrival of the railroad, Dodge City became involved in the cattle trade and soon became a boomtown, with thousands of cattle passing annually through its stockyards. The peak years of the cattle trade in Dodge City were from 1883 to 1884, and during that time the town grew tremendously, and no town could match its reputation as a true frontier settlement of the Old West. Dodge City had more famous (and infamous) gunfighters working at one time or another than any other town in the West, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and Big Nose Kate, just to name a few,  it also boasted the usual array of saloons, gambling halls, and brothels, including the famous Long Branch Saloon where Belle Starr worked. For a time Dodge City even had a bullfighting ring where Mexican bullfighters would put on a show with specially chosen longhorn bulls.
Today Meat packing is the primary industry in Dodge City. Cargill Meat Solutions and National Beefboth operate large facilities in the city. The city also hosts farm implement manufacturing and serves as a supply center for area agriculture. Livestock-raising is a major activity while wheat and sorghum are the area's main crops. In addition, a local tourism industry, including a casino resort, has developed to capitalize on Dodge City's history as an Old West cowtown.