The Many Lives of Atchison, Kansas

Although we were now in Missouri, we decided to give Kansas one last hurrah and visit the historic town of Atchison.

Even though Atchison is only 33 miles from St. Joseph, Marlon had only driven through...he had never stopped.

Here Doug is standing at the official Atchison Visitor Center, Museum and Trolley Stop.

Being as Marlon had never been to Atchison, the teller at the bank didn't recognize him and refused to cash his check.

Atchison was made famous in several ways, one being because of the success of The Atchison, Topeka and The Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF).

In 1946, Judy Garland starred in the MGM musical "The Harvey Girls", which forever immortalized the ATSF in an Oscar Winning Song.

The Harvey Girls truly existed from 1883-1968 and worked in Fred Harvey's famous Harvey House restaurants. Extensive information about Fred Harvey and his Harvey Girls can be found on the internet.

The Atchison Museum is directly adjacent to the Atchison Rail Museum where many old railroad cars are on display.

Here is an actual railroad car from the ATSF Railroad.

This is a close up view of a United States Mail Railway Post Office train car. This particular car was #1604 Silver Pouch and was in service from 1953 to 1970 servicing Kansas City to Chicago as well as Denver. Railway Mail Service was discontinued in 1970.

Doug's dad, Bob, worked on the Railway Mail Service during the early years of his career with the USPS.

We found out that Atchison is the most haunted town in Kansas and has been featured on The Travel Channel.

This is the haunted Glick Mansion which now operates as a Bed and Breakfast.

This is the Gargoyle Home. You can read about its legend and the legends of many other haunted buildings in Atchison at http://www.legendsofamerica.com/OZ-HauntedAtchison.html .

Did we mention that Atchison lies on the Lewis and Clark Trail? They explored the Atchison area in 1804.

Another Atchison claim to fame is as The Birthplace of Amelia Earhart, the famed female aviator who disappeared at the age of 39 on a circumnavigational flight at the height of her international popularity.

Here's Marlon outside the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Musuem. He always seems to have a way with animals.

This is Amelia Earhart's order for the Lockheed Electra 10-E she was flying when she disappeared in 1937.

The International Forest of Friendship is located in Atchison. This arboretum and memorial forest was started in 1976 with the cooperation of the city of Atchison and The Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots.

It is a memorial to everyone involved in aviation and space exploration, including the crew of the ill-fated Shuttle Columbia.

This is the Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge, so named in 1997 upon the 100 year anniversary of Amelia Earhart's birth. The bridge, considered by KDOT to be "structurally deficient and functionally obsolete" will soon be replaced by a new bridge expected to be completed in 2009.

See you later, Kansas. Until the next time....

To view more pictures of the sites of Atchison, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/august/atchison-kansas/ .

To be continued...

Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure-Salina, Kansas

Today we ventured 38 miles west (yes back toward where we had already come from) to visit Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure.

Rolling Hills opened in 1999 with a zoo and then added a wildlife museum in 2005.

This Chilean Flamingo was searching for a feast.

Here are a couple of black tailed prairie dogs braving the heat.

I (Doug) crawled through a tunnel in order to enter this glass cube to view the American Black Bear (we think). The bear can be seen way back behind the glass cube on the left. We waited for him to come closer but he was otherwise involved.

It was too hot for Marlon, so he paid $3 to ride the train through the zoo all day long.

Actually, it was a great way to get the feel of the layout of the zoo. It also saved us a lot of reading as the driver of the tram told us pretty much everything we would ever want to know about every animal in the park.

This little guy is a capybara. Capybaras are the largest rodents in the world.

The giraffe catching us peeking through the trees.

Just like humans do, this orangutan fell asleep while reading.

This log must have been filled with a tasty treat as the chimpanzee would insert this stick in a hole in the log and then lick the stick. Yum!

When we got on the train to go to the Museum at Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure the driver told us it was so hot that there was only 2 other people in the zoo (this was at 3:00pm). Doug appears to be ready for some AC.

This is a "Lion King"-like exhibit in the museum.

Marlon tries to get a signal to make a phone call.

Marlon visited Rolling Hills Zoo and all he got was this picture of himself beside a sign that says "I visited Rolling Hills Zoo, Salina KS."

Now that our visit to Rolling Hills was over, it was time to head back to the RV and get ready for the next morning's journey on to St. Joseph, Missouri to visit Marlon's family and friends.

To see the rest of the pictures taken at Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/august/rolling-hills-wildl/ .

To be continued...

Wamego, Kansas-Population 4,246

While staying in Abilene, we decided to see a few of the sites nearby. On Saturday, we went to Wamego, Kansas to visit the Oz Museum.

While there we learned a lot about the history of the Frank Oz book and its sequels. We also watched a couple of videos on the making of the 1939 movie. We found out that Buddy Ebsen (aka Jed Clampett and Barnaby Jones) was originally cast as the Scarecrow. Ray Bolger had been cast as the Tin Man. Bolger persuaded Ebsen and the studio to switch the actors' roles. However, Ebsen had an allergic reaction to the aluminum dust used in the Tin Man's costume and was hospitalized for 2 weeks and replaced by Jack Haley.

The Deadly Poppy Fields proved tiring to Marlon...

Across the street from The Oz Museum we ate at The Friendly Cooker. This is the only restaurant we have eaten at so far that charges you 10 cents (!) when you ask for "everything" on your pork tenderloin sandwich. Apparently the price on the menu does not include "everything".

Then we headed over to see The Old Dutch Mill pictured on The Friendly Cooker's menu. This mill was built 12 miles outside of town by a Dutch immigrant in 1879 and moved to town in 1925 stone by stone. Each stone was numbered and the Mill was reassembled exactly like it had been originally. The Mill currently sits on the grounds of the Wamego Museum which consists of several old buildings from the 1800's.

The Old Dutch Mill and Museum are located on one end of the Wamego City Park.

Overall, Wamego was a nice little town. If we had gotten around a little earlier, we might have found some other things to see...maybe next time.

By the way, did we mention it was kind of hot here?

For more pictures of the Oz Museum, The Old Dutch Mill and Wamego City Park go to: http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/august/oz-museum-and-wameg/ .

To be continued...

Denver, Colorado to Abilene, Kansas

At 7:00 pm we were ready to head down the road. Marlon leaned back and took hold of the wheel...

and we all prepared ourselves for the first 200 mile leg of our journey across mind-numbing Kansas. Sammy attempted to relax...

and about 3 hours later, we pulled into our first RV Resort. They called it Walmart and it was located in Goodland, Kansas.

There were no amenities offered at this resort.

The lack of amenities depressed Chatfield and he contemplated jumping!

Boy, were we glad he changed his mind at the last minute!

The next day we finished the next 200 mile or so leg of our journey and ended up at 4 Seasons RV Park in Abilene, Kansas where it was only 102 degrees with humidity of about 90%. Here was our RV site.

We would be staying here 3 nights and planned on visiting The Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas and Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure in Salina, Kansas... For more pictures of this part of our travels, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/august/leaving-denver-colo/ .

To be continued...