Wandering Retirees

Dodge City, KS was our goal today. Made it, too! A shortish run of 240 miles on mostly secondary roads. The terrain is striking on these rolling plains. After the densely populated area we’re from, it still surprises how open it is. Homesteads are sometimes miles apart amid vast fields of corn, soy, alfalfa and wheat. Rest stops, convenience stores and gas stations are always farther away than you think. Ask us how we know. Hard to cross your legs on a bike.

And Big Sky. It’s hard to describe the immensity of the open sky here with no mountains or hills to limit your view. Today, Connie remarked when looking at the clouds she had the feeling the clouds were physically heavy and weighing down on us. We feel a change in perspective under the pressure of so much space.

On the way we saw hundreds of huge wind turbines generating power for the state. The Spearville Wind Farm alone is listed as having 99 turbines. Considering the constant, often forceful wind on the plains, this seems an awesome way to utilize a vast energy resource.

Dodge City is a neat place in our history. Remember Gunsmoke? Frontier justice with characters played by James Arness (extra credit if you know the name of his famous brother), Amanda Blake, Ken Curtis and Dennis Weaver.

If you do you’re old. If you don’t, you still might be old.

I remember coming here on a family vacation in the 60’s and seeing Boot Hill, and reenactments of famous shootouts with Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, where desperados were shot and expired while falling dramatically from roof tops and storefronts. Very exciting for an eight-year-old at the time. You can still see it at the Boot Hill Museum.

Dodge City was also a hub for massive cattle drives out of Texas in the late 1800’s. Ranching is still big here.

Tomorrow we head into Colorado and then a day of rest. And laundry. Maybe a nap.

Hope you enjoy your night. Maybe stream an episode of Gunsmoke or whatever. Talk to you tomorrow.

PS. The famous brother was Peter Graves who starred in Mission Impossible.