After a brief detour into panhandle country, Texas and Oklahoma, I've returned to western Kansas. The green grass of the Flint Hills are hundreds of miles in my rear view mirror at this point.
Both of these photographs were taken near the town of Lakin in Kearney County, about 40 miles from the Colorado border. That's the Arkansas River on the right. As the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails roughly parallel the Platte River in Nebraska, the Santa Fe Trail meanders along the Arkansas River. Horses and people need a reliable supply of water for cross country wagon trips. Although that requirement is no longer a pressing need.
Until the Mexican War, the Arkansas River was the border between the United States and Mexico.
Between Lakin and Garden City is the town of Holcomb, the site of the infamous In Cold Blood
murders Truman Capote wrote about in 1966.Driving through the area last month, I found the area to be peaceful and pleasant, not at all unhappy and violent.
On a lighter note, to the west of this area is Coolidge, home of the fictional Cousin Eddie of the National Lampoon's Vacation
film, where the doomed Aunt Edna and her dog began their final ride.Next post: Garden City, Kansas' Third Beef Kingdom.
Related posts:
My Kansas Kronikles: Dodge City, Beef Kingdom
My Kansas Kronikles: Gray County Wind Farm
My Kansas Kronikles: Wagon ruts
My Kansas Kronikles: An overview
My Kansas Kronikles: Chase County Courthouse
My Kansas Kronikles: Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church
My Kansas Kronikles: This has to stop
My Kansas Kronikles: The Sunflower State
My Kansas Kronikles: The Flint Hills
My Kansas Kronikles: Alan Clark's filling station in Eskridge
My Kansas Kronikles: A taste of home
My Kansas Kronikles: Kingman
My Kansas Kronikles: Western Holiday Motel in Wichita
My Kansas Kronikles: The Prairie Chicken Capital of the World
My Kansas Kronikles: The Texas panhandle
My Kansas Kronikles: Oklahoma's strange panhandle
Greenburg posts:
My Kansas Kronikles: Greensburg, the fall and rise, part one
My Kansas Kronikles: Greensburg, the fall and rise, part two
My Kansas Kronikles: Greensburg, the fall and rise, part three
My Kansas Kronikles: Greensburg, the fall and rise, part four
My Kansas Kronikles: Greensburg, the fall and rise, part five
My Kansas Kronikles: Greensburg, the fall and rise, part six
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