Kansas Backroads - March 31st to April 1st, 2022
Back on the road for the start of Season Four: Alaska Bound 2022. It felt good to be traveling again. The daily routine was familiar to us and it didn’t take long to get back in the groove. We sort of had the feeling that we had returned home, even though it was on wheels.
Our route started out in I-70, a familiar stretch of road from Denver, Colorado to Wilson, Kansas. As we crossed the border into Kansas, we stopped at the Kansas Welcome Center to have our picnic lunch. While we were there, Keith grabbed a brochure on Russell county, where we were spending the night. The description of things to see in the small town of Lucas sounded interesting. Lucas is just north of Wilson Lake State Park, where we planned to camp. So we made plans to check it out on Friday.
For dinner, we decided to eat out since it was a rather long day of driving, for us anyway, close to six hours. Keith was driving under the speed limit to conserve on gas to somewhat counteract the high fuel prices. Ann picked out a restaurant in the town of Russell, the Fossil Bar & Grill. We like to visit local restaurants. They advertised that they have the best burgers in town.
When we pulled up to the restaurant, we discovered it was in the same building as the gas station. That made us pause and reconsider. We walked inside anyway and were pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere was very pleasant and our waitress was friendly. Ann ordered the bacon cheese burger with sweet potato fries and Keith had the mushroom Swiss burger with tater tots. The burgers were hot and tasty. The sweet potato waffle fries were nice and crisp. Not having tried other burgers in town, we cannot say for sure if these are the best in town, but we would not be surprised if they are.
When we arrived at Wilson Lake State Park, the park office was already closed. We did not have reservations since this was still their off-season, so all the sites were first come, first serve. We read the information board on how to self-pay and drove around to pick out a site. We liked the quiet solitude of the Grama Campground, with the variety of birds singing in the nearby trees. However, the bathhouse was closed. We could have used our emergency toilet, but decided instead to pay the extra two dollars for the electric and water hook-up sites in the Big Bluestem Campground. The site we picked out was at the end of a point, right on the lakeshore. We arrived just in time to watch a beautiful sun set out over the lake.
There were several others camping on the same point. All the ones we met were also from Colorado. We guess that makes sense, since Wilson Lake is about a comfortable day’s drive from Denver.
On Friday, day two of the season, we were back on the backroads, where we like to be. Before we left Wilson Lake State Park, we walked up the Dakota Trail which started from the bathhouse in the campground. It is a short nature trail up to the top of a small hill, overlooking the lake. It was a chance to stretch our legs and take in the view before heading down the road.
There are not many hiking trails within Wilson Lake State Park as most of the trails are mountain bike trails. The Switchgrass Mountain Trail inside the state park was given an “Epic Award” from the International Mountain Bicycling Association, according to the brochure we were reading.
The narrow fingers of the lake that extend inland along the rock cliff shoreline look like they would be fun to explore in a kayak or on a paddle board. It was a little cool for us to get out on the water and we did not bring our kayak with us this season. We often travel through Kansas since it is in between our home in Colorado and our relatives in Ohio. We’re sure we’ll be back.
Just like we planned the day before, we went north up to the town of Lucas. The small town was just as cute as the brochure made it sound. Lucas is known as the Grass Roots Art Capital of Kansas. It definitely lives up to its name.
The first attraction we visited was Bowl Plaza, right on Main Street. The building of the public restroom is shaped to look like a toilet, with a flusher in the upper corner of the facade, curved benches in front to look like a toilet seat, a glittery mosaic surrounding the entrance door that looks like the upright toilet lid, and a white sidewalk that ends in a roll to look like toilet paper. Inside, the walls are covered in eccentric mosaics. But yet, somehow, it all looks rather elegant and beautiful.
From there we walked down Main Street, past the interesting old store fronts, to the Grassroots Art Center. For a price of $9 each, we could wander around inside and in the courtyard in the back to look at all the different art on display. While we were there, one of the local artists, whose work was on display, came in. He gladly started telling interesting stories about his art.
Across the street is another museum, the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Version of the World’s Largest Things. It is a smaller collection of art than the Grassroots Art Center, but it is the collection of just one artist and there is no charge for admission, although donations are accepted. The hours that it is open are not posted, so it is hit or miss whether you will get to see it.
Not far from Main Street, down 2nd Street, is S. P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden. The garden is filled with Dinsmoor’s concrete sculptures that he created in the early 1900’s. There are tours of his stone log cabin home and mausoleum in the afternoon. Since it was still morning, we just wandered around the garden. Right next door to the Garden of Eden is Millers Park. The park contains miniature sculptures of National Monuments, mountains, and local historic sites of Lucas.
On the way back to Main Street, we detoured a couple of houses down Fairview Avenue to check out Florence Deeble’s Rock Garden. Florence was inspired by S. P. Dinsmoor. She created concrete postcards in her backyard using rocks she brought back from her travels. The rock garden was left to disrepair after 1999. The historical society is in the process of repairing and restoring the art. While we were there, a person from the historical society was talking about the history and how they are trying to restore Florence Deeble’s work.
For lunch, we purchased bologna and smoky cheddar cheese from Brant’s Market on Main Street which we ate in our van. The bologna was not the bland stuff Ann remembers eating in her youth. This bologna was more like a summer sausage, with plenty of wonderful flavor. Of course we used the public restroom in Bowl Plaza after lunch before leaving town.
Our destination for the day was Sand Hills State Park in Hutchinson. Naturally we took the scenic route to get there, following the Post Rock Scenic Byway part of the way. The byway is named for the stone fence posts in the area. Lumber is in short supply out on the plains so the pioneers shaped their posts out of the plentiful limestone rock. Our next stop was the small town of Wilson. Wilson is the Czech Capital of Kansas, as many Czech immigrants settled there. In Ed and LaVange Shiroky Park stands the world’s largest hand painted Czech egg, 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide. As we walked around the small, historic downtown area, we noticed quite a few smaller Czech eggs along the sidewalk.
On 26th Street, we admired the old architecture of the Midland Railroad Hotel & Restaurant. However, most of the other historical buildings looked like they need a lot of repair. There appeared to be a major restoration effort going on. We wish them the best in their efforts because we could see the potential of the historical area becoming a wonderful place with a lot of character.
The next small town we stopped and strolled around was Ellsworth. Ellsworth is larger than both Lucas and Wilson. Its historical downtown area was well kept up and lively. We enjoyed walking up and down Douglas Avenue, staring at the interesting store fronts.
The last town we drove through was Lyons. By this time, it was raining, so we didn’t stop. However, we did drive around the impressive Rice County Courthouse. The rest of the buildings around the square did not seem as interesting as the other three towns we had visited that day, so we didn’t feel like we missed much.
It was dinner time by the time we reached Sand Hills State Park. We thoroughly enjoyed the day. Season Four is off to a good start.
Check out our related video: Kansas Backroads
(Ann)