We're in Kansas!

Photos

We didn't sleep too well last night. The AC unit dripped water in the room all night and the carpet was wet by morning. Then there were the freight trains going past all night! I know I heard at least 6, Clay says more. I must have been soundly asleep at some point because Clay says I woke him by saying in a clear, conversational voice, asshole. I have no idea what that was about! Hot Continental breakfast buffet actually meant access to a toaster, a waffle iron and a Crock-Pot of sausage gravy. We had cold breakfasts but no cereal because they ran out of milk. This was our cheapest night's stay!

We started in Claremore at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum at 10am when it opened. It was less expensive that the last museum we visited but only about 1 man! Both museums had a 62 age for senior discounts so I've been paying full fare. This was interesting and a large impressive building and grounds. He and his family are interred there. After we got there, we decided to visit the Birthplace Ranch too. It was about 15 miles away, but we had all day so we went. That was just as interesting and a beautiful location since the dam was built and the house moved uphill. Since Clay had picked Hammett House right next door to the memorial museum for lunch, it meant we backtracked again. It was a very popular spot with the locals and we ate a big lunch that we both enjoyed.

We set out for possibly our longest driving stretch of this trip to Wichita. We still have the problem with setting Clay's phone to no toll roads and got off to a miss start. It turns out we had to drive way out of our way instead of directly either her preferred toll route or the route we actually took because of a big empty space that I researched and turns out to be the Osage Reservation. So we drove about 4 hours. As we neared Kansas, the forests thinned and the hills flattened. By 2:30pm or so when we crossed the state line we drove through miles of cornfields. When we stopped going north and turned left to Wichita, we drove through more hills but were in cattle pasture lands for hours. Eventually we drove by a huge wind farm in the distance. We arrived in what must be a suburban area of Wichita where our Comfort Inn is located during rush hour! We'd been in clear blue cloudless skies driving until a big dark area appeared on the horizon. It turned out to be Wichita! The last hour or more of driving was in the rain, in gridlocked traffic. Not fun.

The Comfort Inn is surrounded by at least 4 other motels, so this must be some kind of major intersection. It is much nicer than the Microtel, but not perfect. At $86 for tonight it is our most expensive so far and so far the only room without a fridge. The other downside is that it is posted as a smoke free facility but as soon as we opened our door to room 306, it reeked and clearly the past occupant smoked in here.

After we got settled in the room, we left again for dinner. Fortunately, rush hour traffic was brief and had cleared. Dinner was maybe 4 miles away at Jimmie's Diner. It was fine but Clay voted it worst meal so far. It wasn't great or special other than huge servings for the price. Neither of us could finish and we had to pass on the soda fountain offerings. I was impressed that they had fried cornmeal mush on the breakfast menu and I wish I'd ordered it. But this was the place we'd chosen for me to have chicken fried steak so I stayed with it.

Hopefully we'll sleep better tonight. There is another complimentary breakfast buffet here from 6 to 9 am. We have already got our tickets for a 10 to noon guided tour of a Frank Lloyd Wright house here in Wichita. Our interest is more peaked than usual because we have never spent anywhere close to 2 hours in any FLW house before (other than the Usonian we slept in!).

Photos