Wichita to Topeka, Kansas

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We both woke naturally a little before 7 am. I think we slept better than the previous night with the dripping and trains. Breakfast was a little more varied. Scrambled eggs and sausage links. I think the Crock-Pot today had oatmeal in it. We both finally succumbed to the siren call of the fresh malted waffles today and had one each. Sadly, no maple syrup. Also no hot chocolate mix out for the 1st time this trip. All in all, still can't give this Comfort Inn high marks.

We checked out a little before 9:30am. We found our way to the Frank Lloyd Wright's Allen House for our 10 am tour. The gift shop opened at 9:30 am so we had it to ourselves to browse and take exterior photos. No interior photos allowed. It was a 2-story 4000 square foot house. Our thinking was correct, there was no way 2 hours was needed. We're interested in this kinds of things and architectural history and details, but this was overkill even for us. It didn't help that we didn't even see inside beyond the foyer until after the 2nd hour had begun. It was a lot of standing outside to start. Too much in our opinion. A walk around the other street front (it was on a corner lot) would have helped break things up and given us more of an exterior overview rather than focusing at the porte cochere. Anyway. Glad we did it.

The tour ended at noon and we headed to lunch. Clay went for the Dog N Shake. It was a light, quick lunch and just what we needed. I ordered a chocolate malt that we shared and it was super thick, cold and malty. Yum. We had about as far to drive today as yesterday, but it was about half the time on a 75-mph freeway so it took a bit less time.

The views were almost identical to yesterday's as we drove north and east today all in Kansas. The weather was even similar. The big difference weatherwise is we didn't run into an afternoon rain storm, so the temperature according to the car thermometer reached over 100 F today.

We arrived in Topeka just before 4 pm. Topeka is the capital of Kansas, so we went straight to their capitol building. It has been renovated and modernized and the design was reminiscent of Richmond, Virginia's work with the underground parking and visitor's center. It was a beautiful building. We feel sad for Raleigh's old capitol building every time we see how well another state has handled their historic capitol. We arrived too late for any of their guided tours but they had a self-guided tour brochure and we took a quick look at the highlights. Well done, Kansas!

We are in the Quality Inn at I-70 and Wanamaker tonight. It is only about $4 less than last night's motel and while it has a fridge, it is not nice. It isn't clean, our room is only about 20 feet from the front desk but our door latches are broken. It is an adjoining room and the door between rooms is not sound proof. Now we guess we know why the Sleep Inn 2 blocks away is $20 a night more!

Clay's dinner pick was right downtown and I saw it as we drove from the capitol to the motel so we backtracked again for a meal. About 16 miles round trip. Anyway, it was HHB BBQ. It was really good. In my opinion, the best BBQ of the trip. We ate light again. Today's special was a half-chicken with one side and a beverage. Clay ordered it and gave me half the breast. He got smoked corn on the side. I ordered a side of smoked macaroni & cheese. It was all very tasty and a perfect portion. After eating, Clay realized he'd missed a $4 pint of local beer on tap and wanted to try the ribs because the chicken was so good. He went back through the self-service line. Baby back ribs were $1 each and he got 2. He said they weren't his favorite. The Dunkel beer was good and a great value.

We can sleep in again tomorrow though breakfast ends at 9am. We have to drive to Lincoln, Nebraska tomorrow. Chosen because it is the state's capital again. Where all we have scheduled to do is visit the capitol building there. Plus eat lunch and dinner! It should be another nearly 4 hour driving day tomorrow. We are averaging about 40 mpg on the Corolla so that is good.

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