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Published: September 22nd 2013
Trish in front of Wilder homestead
This entire building was built by Almanzo over the years. As time and money permitted, he would add more rooms. Unfortunately, they do not allow photos inside the building.It’s been in our thoughts for years, but we finally put it in play after discussing it for month or so; we are now headed out for a grand tour of the Southwest. Our ultimate goal is to visit John’s aunt in Phoenix and her long time friend, Greta. Recently Greta has been having some health issues and we want to see her and Dosia when we can get there in decent weather and driving. So we plotted out a trip that will allow us to visit friends in Colorado, Nevada, and then on to Arizona. It promises to be a long but fun filled trip.
Promising Trish to take time and smell the roses (coffee for me) and not hurry, we left early the first morning with a destination of Jonesboro, Arkansas. We traversed northern Alabama and Mississippi (first time for John in this state) and then around Memphis and up to Jonesboro. It was a pleasant drive, warm, with not a lot of interesting scenery, mostly flat farms fields and cotton fields. Jonesboro offered good camping and after a good shower and relaxing meal, we went to bed, ready for the next day.
Second day we crossed
Kitchen bump-out for refirgerator
In this photo, you can see the bump-out Almanzo built so Laura could have a refrigerator fit in the kitchen. It is just before the porch. into Missouri and stopped to pick up a state map. Trish quickly noticed that on our route is the Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum. “Well, that sounds like fun and interesting.” Who am I to disagree. (Stayed married for 42 years by not making dumb answers.) So prior to lunch we pulled off at Mansfield, MO and drove to the homestead. First a small museum, then a film, followed by a tour of the home. Guess what…it WAS fun and very interesting! (I know, wives are always right.) This was where Almanzo and Laura lived for over 40 years, on a 200+ acre farm, raising apples, livestock, and produce. But the really neat part (to me) was seeing the child’s school paper tablet that Laura used to hand write the Little House books on. They had one of the tablets on display in her handwriting. And they had Pa’s fiddle that he gave to Laura and is still brought out to play on occasion. The house was built by Almanzo and is amazing! We both said we would move in and live there in a heartbeat. The rooms were small, but well designed. When Laura finally got an electric
John at the Rock Ledge house
This is actually a Sears house built by daughter Rose for her parents. But Rose had money and made many changes to the house. She wanted her parents to be comfortable, but, once she left the old farm house, Laura and Almanzo moved back. refrigerator, it wouldn’t fit in the kitchen, so Almanzo cut a hole in the wall of the kitchen, built an enclosure outside the house to accommodate it, and then put clapboards on out side so it looked nice. Now there is a little bump-out so that the refrigerator will fit in the kitchen and not stick out. The next stop was a stone house built for them by their daughter so they would have central heat, electricity, and plenty of room. This was the house where Laura started her books. (When daughter Rose moved out of the original house and went to New York about 8 years later, Laura and Almanzo moved back to their original farm house.) All in all, a great stop and well worth the time. That night we camped near Joplin, Missouri.
Third day was to have been a trip across Kansas, but by good luck, I saw on Facebook that a friend from Fredericksburg had very recently moved to Wichita, Kansas. Sort of tongue in cheek, I asked if she would be ready to have us visit. She replied she would love to see us. So we arranged to meet at a central point
Sara Tate Merrill and her mother
We knew Sara from water aerobics in Fredericksburg. She recently married and has just moved to Wichita, KS. We were able to stop and have lunch with them before moving on. They are a beautiful mother/daughter combo and fine people; we are glad we have gotten to know them. and have lunch together. (Having moved recently ourselves, I would never expect nor want to go to her house; we know how hectic and nerve racking that can be.) So we met at a large mall where there was good parking and then went with Sara and her mother (who was helping her move) and had a great lunch and shared wedding pictures. After hugs all around, we headed west and made it to Pratt, KS, where we found an older motel with RV sites in the back.
The RV site we got was quite narrow, but they had a heated pool so after a relaxing swim, we had a nice dinner and relaxed watching cable TV. One interesting aspect of the RV park was the large community storm shelter sitting in the shadow of a large wind turbine (which had the tip of one blade broken.) Hmmm, must be windy here. (Yes, Dorothy, we
are in Kansas.) In the morning, we decided to try the small restaurant next to the motel and walked over. Wow!! It was great. We both had pancakes and they were fresh, hot and huge. Lots of truckers pulled in so we knew we
Campground in Pratt, KS
Note the community storm shelter to the right of the RV. This area is prone to tornadoes and the shelter provides safety not only to campers, but anyone else in the area who needs it. had come to the right spot. Good coffee, great meal and we were ready to roll.
That day the wind had increased to 25-30 mph and was gusting from the south. We fought the wind into Greensburg, where we paused to see the town that had been totally destroyed by an F5 tornado in 2007. They opted to rebuild using “green technology” and have some wonderful new buildings, loads of wind turbines in fields, solar panels, and energy saving construction. Trish picked up lots of literature on companies and technology in hopes we can find someone who will be able to answer the question of whether we can reasonably put up some wind turbines (even small ones) in Alabama. We left Greensburg for another 40 mile drive to Dodge City, intending to visit the historic town and see where Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Miss Kitty (of the Longbranch Salon) hung out. We pulled into a large parking area and went into a restored old hotel that was a large gift shop….and only entrance to the recreation. Yep…it’s a huge tourist trap. They wanted $10 to go in and see re-creations of the buildings and watch actors have mock
Silo House in Greensburg, KS
This house was built from the ground up after an F5 tornado leveled the town in 2007. They have incorporated green technology and the house meets LEED standards. The silo shape was inspired by the fact that one of the few structures left standing in 2007 was the grain silo in town. Round does deflect the wind some. gunfights, buy trinkets and food at the Longbranch, wander into other replicas with more trinkets, and all this behind a large wooden fence. Most disappointing was our inability to see Boot Hill. But we decided to save our money and headed on west.
The wind continued unabated and it was a tough drive. We came to one town I had pegged for a stop, but when we got to the campsite, found no one there, weeds grown up, and could not see a bath house nor any place to plug in and get electric. Maybe we missed something, but Trish quickly nixed the idea of staying so we drove on to Colorado. We found a place at another motel/RV park and parked in the dusty gravel lot, set up, then took showers in the singular bathroom/shower they had for RVers. This was the first time we had stayed where you had to pay for the water ($0.50 for 4 minutes) since we had tent camped long ago. But that evening the wind died down, the sky was beautiful, and we looked forward to the next day. I had called Julie Moss Herrera, a friend from high school and talked
Main Street, Greensburg, KS
Note the grain silo at the far end of town. All the other buildings seen here had to be built after the tornado. Business is slowly coming back, but more of the citizens need to make a commitment to return and build. The town has lost over half the population. with her about visiting while we were in Colorado. She recommended we stop at Bent’s Old Fort. She said we could easily spend a day there. It was on my list of places of interest, so with her endorsement, we were eager to head off and see it.
The fort was built for trade purposes, not military, but was constructed to be totally defensive if needed. It was located on the Santa Fe Trail (which we had been following) and was a major trading center in the 1833 for Indians, trappers, Mexicans and settlers heading west. The fort burned down 1849 and as buffalo trade was already diminishing and Indians were becoming less friendly, there was no effort to rebuild. In the 1950’s, local women built a memorial at the site and later, there were archeological efforts to trace it. And here, it gets really fascinating; they found journals in the records of an Army Lieutenant stationed there in the 1840s. He was ill and recovering so, as an engineer, he made extensive drawings and notes on the construction of the fort. These survived and were the basis for reconstructing the fort
EXACTLY as it was and precisely where
Miss Kitty's Longbranch
Taken over the fence surrounding the recreation of Dodge City. We refused to pay to go in. Sad that even the cemetery is closed off; but then, maybe it's not a "real" cemetery, so we didn't really miss anything. it had been.
After an introductory film on the history of the fort, we took our self-guided tour booklet and began wandering from room to room reading about the fort, seeing the rooms with appropriate furniture/decoration, and marveling at the workmanship and design. We have seen a number of recreations and this is one of the finest we have ever been in. For example, the “trade” room was loaded with trade goods: rifles, blankets, knives, hawks, food, clothing, etc. Not one or two items, but the shelves were packed, just as they would have been. In the “workers” quarters, the bedrolls were on the floor and saddles were hanging above them, ready for use the next day. Outside the fort were corrals with horses and oxen, peacocks and chickens. On the path in to the fort, we passed a small cemetery where 13 people were buried; the plot is still maintained and one original headstone stands.
What was initially going to be a short, maybe 1 hour stop turned to over 3. We had a chance to sit by the fire and chat with the ranger on items ranging from the food they cooked to current political battles
Syracuse???
I looked for signs of Otto or other remembrances of my time at SU. But to paraphrase Dorthy, "I think we ARE in Kansas, Toto." Thanks, I prefer Syracuse, NY. and the possibility that the park could be shut down to visitors if a budget is not passed. Finally, after going through the gift shop and getting things we wanted and Christmas presents for family, we headed off for Colorado Springs and the Air Force Academy. This is where we would be camping for 5 nights.
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Deborah Chamberlain
non-member comment
Hello
Well, once again some great storytelling and the bitvabout the Ingalks-Wilder stopoff was very interesting. Great photos too!