September 24, 2010 Centers and Twine

Kansas is one beautiful state especially when the skies are blue.  Between the fall colors of the fields and the farmstead, I could spend years just taking pictures.

As you can see from the pictures, we woke to a beautiful day with very little wind so decided to so some exploring.

This is Wilson Lake:

And the Dam:

We are parked on the other side of the dam (hope it doesn’t flood):

This area of Kansas is known for their stone Fence posts.  Here is some info about them:

And the posts:

 

 

We saw many of the posts in use in our travels today.  They are still marking boundaries – neat!

One of our many scenes from the road.  The plants in the background are actually a beautiful brown/rust color.  We are seeing fields of them and do not know what they are.

Another neat farmhouse – sorry to say but it was abandoned.

 

This was our first stop in Osborne.  We could not get to the actual spot due to the center being on private property.  But in Osborne, Kansas they have a replica marker and a little bit about the Geodetic Center of North America.   I had never heard of this but in doing research to find the Geographical Center, I came upon this – who knew!

  

Those of you who know my Andy, know this is his favorite sights… and now he is even taking pictures of them.  (Gas station prices – LOL!):

And here we are near the Geographical Center of the Contiguous United States:

The actual site is near here but again it was on private property.

There was a cute little church by the marker:

    

There was also the start of a little museum at the spot that listed the different centers of North America and the US.  Did you know that there is a Google Center from where Google starts their maps?  There is even a population center for the U.S.   More locations to visit for us – LOL!

In 2007, we visited Belle Fourche, South Dakota, to see the geographical center of the United States (all 50 states).  At their visitor center, we were able to get the exact location of the marker and off we went to find it.  It was in the middle of a cow pasture but exciting to stand by that marker.  Here is from the blog: http://thehitzels.blogspot.com/search?q=geographical+center

We were hoping to do the same with this but alas the exact locations were not given out.  We did try locating it with the GPS numbers that were listed on the plaques but that brought us to the replicas above…  Oh well!

And this was our next stop:

Here it is – WOW!

And here is the story behind it: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8543

The town, Cawker City – cute little place:

At the edge of town, a great little chicken place where we had lunch.  The fried chicken was GREAT!!

As we made our way back to the motor home, we took some back roads.  Notice the stone fence posts – these are the post rocks:

Another farmhouse:

Some of the unpaved roads are in great condition:

And more of those plants.  If anyone knows what they are, please let me know:

We enjoyed a great campfire night.  Dusty also enjoyed the outdoors with us, especially catching (or trying to catch) the grasshoppers.

Tomorrow we will be back on the road to New Mexico.

September 17, 2007 – The Black Hills and the Geographical Center of the 50 United States

Today was sightseeing day.

Our first stop was in Lead (pronounced leed) to see the Homestake Gold Mine. This started as an open pit mine and then went under ground. It was in operation from 1876 to 1998. Here is a picture of the open pit – it is ~1000’ deep and ½ mile wide. The underground shafts and tunnels go down 9000'. Here is a picture of the open pit:

The museum and video about the mine and the town was quite interesting.

From there we went through Spearfish Canyon – a scenic byway. Some pictures:

The fall is here. Fall is one of my favorite seasons with all of its colors. (So hopefully we will be able to follow it across the country and be in PA when all the leaves are peaking in color.

As we left the canyon, we headed towards the geographical center of the 50 states. It was amazing that in the space of 30 miles, we left the hills/canyons and were on the high plains. We saw many more antelope. How about this guy:

We got directions for the center from the visitor information bureau a few days ago. So we traveled 13 miles north of Belle Fourche then turned onto a gravel road for 7.8 miles.

And this is the first thing we saw:

Then we saw this:

Only it was in a field surrounded by barbed wire. As we looked around, we found an area of barbed wire that was open and a path to the center. So off we went.

Here I am at the center:

Here is the plate:

Here is the area surrounding the center:

Here is the road:

Just a little background: This is the center of the 50 states not to be confused with the center of the 48 states (near Lebanon, Kansas) nor the center of North America (near Rugby, North Dakota). It gets a little confusing on how it is determined but if you are interested in the methods, the internet has lots of information.

And back at camp another wonderful campfire!!!

Just as the sun was going down, we started to hear howling just like last night. We are not sure if it is dogs, coyotes, or wolves – I do not know what is native to the Black Hills. It is really eerie since it is so quiet here and the sound just carries… (Maybe I can find out more tomorrow.)

July 5, 2013 Travel to Minnesota

We woke this morning and our refrigerator was still working on electric - .  We decided to move on and do more research on why it only works on electric and does not on gas.

We headed east on US-2 and once we got about 20 miles east of Minot, the countryside changed.  No oil rigs, nor construction, and very little traffic.

An old church along the way:

We made a stop in Rugby because that is the geographical center of North America:

Here it is:

We also stopped in town at the Post Office.  Everyone we met smiled and said hello. 

Rugby is a cute little town and some day we will be back.  The International Peace Gardens are not too far away (another bucket list place), plus there is a neat museum in town. So, yes, we will be back!

We continued on and saw water, water, everywhere:

Flooding???  Not sure.

The greenery was wonderful to see:

We continued thru many small towns and then into Minnesota:

We stopped in Crookston at their City Park and fell in love so decided to stay a few days.  Their sites are huge and they have 30 amp service, showers, and water.  So we are all set!  I will get pictures tomorrow.

After setting up, turning on the AC and putting the refrigerator on electric, we took a little road trip around town and made a few stops to pick up some things.  I love these small towns - everyone is so friendly and, yes, they know you are not from around here. 

At 6 PM, the ranger came around to collect the fee ($15.00/night); stayed for a while and chatted about the area; and the cats fell in love with him - it was so funny!

Enjoy today!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 240 Miles

Routes Traveled:

North Dakota: US-2;

Minnesota: US-2