Traveling on in Kansas and Nebraska

Our next stop was almost straight east to Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in eastern Kansas. This is pretty much the last Tallgrass Prairie in the country as compared to its natural state when the prairie covered 1/3 of North America. At almost 11,000 acres, this preserve protects the last of the great grass land as well as ranch buildings built between 1880 and 1882. We didn’t choose a very good

Tallgrass Prairie NP - ranch house

time of year to visit as the grass was just getting started after the winter, and to add to that, we arrived after a day of pounding rain that would smash any grass patch. We were still able to learn about the prairie in the visitor center and we were able to tour the grand ranch house and buildings.

Tallgrass Prairie NP - ranch stone barn

We traveled up the Flint Hills Scenic Byway (KS 177) to Council Grove. This little community on the Santa Fe Trail is steeped in history. The name stems from a meeting in an oak grove between a US Commissioner and Osage chiefs where a treaty was signed granting passage through Osage territory on the Santa Fe Trail. Follow the link above to find more historic sites in the area. If I would have known there was this much to see I would have planned to spend a day or more here. As it was, we saw the remains of the Council Oak and Post Office Oak and then had lunch at Trail Days Café &Museum which was a great, unique experience. 

Remains of Council Oak

This is a museum that serves food and you get a history lesson from the owner as his time allows (we were the only ones in there at 2:15 so we got his full attention and story). He is passionate about his restored building and history, not only of Council Grove, but any history. We got a kick out of his enthusiasm and the food was good too. The history of the building was very interesting (follow the link above).

Trail Days House - 1861

The visit to Council Grove wrapped up our travel along the Santa Fe Trail. We started in Santa Fe, of all places, and followed the trail's mountain route over the Raton Pass to Trinidad, CO. As we drove northeast from Trinidad on US 350 and then east on US 50 over the next week, it follows the trail very closely and there are interpretive signs and visitor's centers to learn from as you go. Of course the forts we visited were the highlights. I just love traveling over the routes of the historic trails to see the type of travel they endured without the comforts that we enjoy. FYI - back a few years ago we had stopped at Fort Union National Monument in New Mexico, just north of Las Vegas, which was on the Santa Fe Trail and another excellent site to see. You can see trail ruts when driving to Fort Union from I-25. We could have seen trail ruts in a couple places this past week as well but they all required driving down dirt roads which seemed too risky with all of the rain and flooding everywhere.

We dodged a tornado (I actually saw it as we were driving) and spent the night in Junction City before heading north into Nebraska where we went to the Homestead National Monument of America near Beatrice. This is on the site of the very first Homestead claim, filed on the first day the Homestead Act of 1862 went into effect on January 1, 1863. They don’t cover just Nebraska or plains homesteading, but the entire homesteading story including the last approved homestead in Alaska in 1979 (deed received in 1988). There is a homestead cabin on site and a little patch of prairie but the main attractions are the film and exhibits. Click here for the Wiki link to the Homestead Act.