Cheyenne Bottoms, Great Bend Kansas

Hwy 4 is very scenic with farms dotting the horizon and some have seen better days... I think of a tornado when I see this type scene, wonder how this small structure is still standing, and the windmill is still in operation. 

If you stop at one of the information centers in Kansas you might learn about the Post Rocks.  There is actually a Post Rock Scenic Byway...but you can see post rock almost anywhere in Kansas...

...and it is exactly what you think it is, rock cut to become fence posts...they are not tall...

I think in the beginning it was just land boundary markers, then later wire was added...

Limestone post last for years...and faced with no trees to cut for wood post the rock served it's purpose..

I have driven on I-70 across Kansas SOOOO many times over the years on trips to visit my sis, so this time I did NOT want to see one single mile of Kansas via I-70.  So taking back roads across was my plan and never going near St Louis Missouri was another part of my plan.  So I studied the map to see what else I might find interesting on the back roads of Kansas.  I saw a little blurb called "Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area" right off hwy 4 just a little bit south...so made a bee line for that.  Awesome huge place!! Amazing amount of wading birds, some waterfowl, and white pelicans.   The dirt roads were very rough other than that it was a good auto tour of about 8 miles.  I drove slow and saw what I could from the van,  the reeds were tall and made it a little hard to view the birds...I entered via Great Bend side and exited the tour on the Education Center side...

Hundreds of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and some Little Blue Herons were spotted, as well as Great Blue Herons, Ibis Glossy and White Faced...

Glossy Ibis

Snowy Egrets 

the water level in the canals can be raised and lowered by a series of dykes...

wood duck 

Waterfowl I spotted included Cinnamon Teal, Wood Duck, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Mottled Duck, Canada Goose, Pied Billed Grebe, American Coot., Double Crested Cormorant, to name a few..

Cinnamon Teal

 Ruddy Duck

...and way up high lots of white pelican coming in for landings...the shoreline of the lake was 50 ft deep with white pelicans..I estimated 2,000 but I think that is way short of the reality. 

white Pelicans line the shoreline Thousands of them,

sooo many, awesome to see... also in great numbers were tree swallows & mixed flocks of blackbirds...and lots of Franklin's Gulls. 

Imm Red winged Blackbird 

A flock of Brown Headed Cowbird, and I see at least one Yellow Headed Blackbird in the mix..

So pretty here!

Franklin's Gull

and I spotted this Peregrine who at first I thought was a Prairie Falcon, but the marks under the eye the dark lines going down are in the wrong place and too heavy for Prairie, so I think Immature Peregrine...with a kill, unfortunately a truck pulling a boat passed by so fast it scared the bird and he took off and dropped his kill...hope he was able to retrieve it..

If you happen to be in this area in April they have good Prairie Chicken Lek tours so says the website...

Reservations ONLY so plan early, you can get the info on that link. 

I wasn't as enthusiastic about taking photos on this day I had some problems with my camera, and the day was HOT cruising on those dirt roads with windows down was hard and the dogs were panting so I finally just gave up rolled up the windows put on the AC and left...this would be a great spot to hit about the 3rd week of October!    

I think the miles were catching up with me, so I  traveled only another 40 miles and stopped for the night...found a really great quiet spot...at the Kanopolis Lake Army COE Riverside Park campground a great deal with an electric site costing me only $4. I used the electric to run the fans Kansas was HOT!  The big lake was across the road with a a larger campground, but I just needed a quiet spot to spend the evening and walk the dogs,  a good trail took us down to the Smokey Hill  River, and it had a little waterfall...only about 3 ft high but still it was nice the sound of falling water...

Smokey Hill River

Another cool thing in this campground was all these trees had painted lady butterflies all over the trunks!  Thousands of them..in fact I moved to a site away a  bit to get away from them cause they were getting into the van and everything...

Never seen anything like this...and down along the river, I saw a lot of monarch butterflies fluttering by...Really awesome experience!

In the morning I drove over the dam to see the lake...and saw TONS more Franklin's Gulls...

chattering Franklin's Gulls

we don't see these back east..

Then continued  East to the Flint Hills Region of Kansas. 

More on that next post....

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Nebraska to Home!

I'm ready to wrap up these posts and this one will do that! I have enjoyed reporting back what I found OUT THERE in NC, VA, W.VA, and PA in my 2 weeks prior to Annie's Surgery then back to TN, KY, IN, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Northern Lake Superior area of Ontario Canada, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and now a quick ride through Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, TN, NC and back Home in SC!!! 

For me one of the highlights was the 3 days I got to spend with my sister in TN at our family cemetery decoration! There is no place on Earth more special to me than where my family is...and that is what makes me turn around and come back home.  I sure miss her now she is back at her home and we await the next time we get to be together.

roadside NE

The morning spent in Valentine, NE was chilly at 38 degrees,  I was only one mile out of town so made the decision to do a coffee and  biscuit at McDonald's!  

 I stopped to have a tire looked at in a Mr Tyre shop it was locally owned and operated and they suggested I put my spare on as the belt had broken in one of my front tires.  I had already purchased one new tire back in Williston, ND, wonder why they didn't catch that broken belt? SO the vibration I had been feeling was immediately gone when they switched the tire...SO Happy as I could not stand that vibration for 1700 miles!! 

 After my early Mr Tyre visit, and back on the road I spotted Valentine National Wildlife Refuge! OH have to at least make a quick stop.  So U-Turn!

took a short hike up this path armed on both sides with prickly things!

the white crowned sparrows were loving it..

I took a drive down one of the dirt roads in the refuge across a cattle gate to a few ponds..



some pied billed grebe, mallard, and red winged black bird was around, but not interested in my camera however these cows liked it a lot!

some Euro Starlings taking a ride on the windmill...

while these northern rough winged swallows were totally interested in this digger!

And a Great Blue Heron was almost hidden the grass

flushed mallards

It was close to lunch time so we had it here and then split! 

3 wood ducks for our lunch viewing pleasure

I stayed on Hwy 83 south down to 92/2 then onto I-80 East and exited onto Hwy 14 

Here I stopped for the night just shy of the Kansas line in Superior, NE and stayed in their Municipal park free! There was electric and water! Big mature trees each site paved really nice, all you have to do is put your name in a registry book...There is a train right beside the park...so be prepared. 

Superior NE Municipal  Park 

On the morning of Sept. 27th  it was back on 14 South into Kansas  I thought of driving the 35 miles to Smith Center since I had read about it in Belle Fourche, as being the original center of the USA, but that would mean a round trip of 66 miles...so maybe some other time?

So kept going on hwy 14 S....and then onto I-70 East bound.

Right thru the heartlands.....It was harvest time in NE and Kansas...

the dusty combines were hard at work and the trucks full of grain made tracks to the bins...I could feel the urgency as the wind chilled the air telling me to go home and telling them to get that crop in!

I stopped alongside a sunflower field full of Red Winged Blackbirds...

It was a hard day of driving!! I stopped only for gas, restroom and to eat and ended up in Columbia Missouri at a state park called Graham Cave for my second day of heading home.  $12, it had a nice shower house...and that night I blew up my DVD player! I think it was one of those issues of over charging the battery...2 loud pops some yukky electrical burn smell and it was toast! I tossed it in the trash can--I'm still looking for the perfect replacement. They now make a 10" screen on portable DVD players with a 5 hrs on one charge

Back on I-70 I breezed thru Kansas City...and it took me for ever to get through St. Louis, its a solid 60 mins of heavy traffic 

with Wilma keeping me straight I remembered why I had stopped using I-70 as an East/West route! So in the city I have to get on I-55 S for a short while then I-64 E, then South on I-57 to I-24 East

I did snap this one of the St Louis Gateway Arch!

 then Finally onto I-40 East at Nashville.  Seemed like I finally took a long breath once Nashville was in my rear view.  I always just want to get through Nashville and have never wanted to stop and see the sites in ...small towns ...YES!

After another hard day of driving I stopped in Crossville, TN, 

Crossville mural

not far from where I was born, appropriately since the next day was my birthday! 

Crossville Theatre

I stayed in the Cumberland Mtn State park, had electric, showers and all $18 kind of high...if it hadnt been so cool I'd have done the Walmart, but I sure needed that little electric heater to keep me warm all night.

Next day by 4 pm I was at Home!! Mom recalled how she had paid Dr Rhinehart $30 to deliver me 63 yrs ago on this day..I  photographed the Dr's grave when my sis and I were near here just a few weeks back when I started my solo journey...my circle was complete! 

I had a fantastic journey! I added 7 new birds to my life list, I forgot to mention the Merlin I saw on my way to the Writing Rock, I got one fuzzy shot if it..add to that the Ruffed Grouse, Swainson's Thrush, Franklin's Gull, Black Backed Woodpecker, Vesper Sparrow, Yellow Headed Blackbird, and actually the Green Pheasant makes 8 as I'm counting it as separate from the ring neck since it has NO rings!  

My list is my just for me list I'm not necessarily PC so I count it. 

                    Soon I will be back to posting in real time, I hope! My next post is about our Beach Trip!

 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.