Trip through Kansas and Oklahoma - need advice please

Hi

My husband and I will be visiting Kansas in September - we are starting off our trip in Chicago and ending up Dallas. I%26#39;m quite happy with our plans at the beginning and end however need soem advice on the central portion please.

We will be staying in the Davenport/Moline area before heading south to Kansas and Oklahoma. We have approx 5/6 nights to get from Moline area to OKC (we have separate time allocated to OKC). We would like to spend some time in Kansas City, we also like more rural areas and wide open space.

Which towns would be good to stay in or base ourselves in along the way? I%26#39;d rather stay in perhaps 2 locations maximum as I don%26#39;t want to keep checking in and out and unpacking/repacking etc.

Any advice welcome - I%26#39;ve also posted this in the Oklahoma forum to see if there are any views from there.

Thanks

Gill

Trip through Kansas and Oklahoma - need advice please

To start with, what dates are you traveling? There are some big seasonal events in September that might be of interest.

Trip through Kansas and Oklahoma - need advice please

Hi

We%26#39;re arriving in Chicago on 12th, plan to be in Moline for a couple of days leaving there on Monday 15th - we would like to be in Oklahoma City around 21st as we believe the cattle auctions are Monday/Tuesday then we will be in Dallas from 24th Sept until we fly home on 28th.

I had a quick scan through ticketmaster for events but didn%26#39;t come up with anything much so would be interested in anything, even at a more local level.

Thanks

Gill, Try Kansasflinthills.travel/sites. This will give you a lot of information about the area mainly surrounding Emporia and El Dorado,also do a search for ';Teter Rock';. This is a nice about 25 mile round trip East from the small town of Cassoday, which is on highway I-35 ,through mostly treeless pasture land on a gravel road. Chances are you will not meet another vehicle the whole trip. The cowboys here still ride horses. The Flint Hills pasture about one million head of cattle during the summer grazing season,

If you are interested in this or other side trips send me a private message and I can send you detailed directions as well as some photos.

Pat

Gill,---make that www.kansasflinthills.travel/sites

That helps. You will not be in the KC area on the weekend, so the Renaissance Festival is out. And you will be too late for the Kansas State Fair.

You _will_ be getting to the southern part of Kansas in the later part of the week so the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield is possible. The national bluegrass and acoustic music festival will be September 17-21, 2008. Walnut Valley hosts international acts, championships for instrumental performance such as bluegrass banjo %26amp; old time fiddle, and over 100 food, crafts and music venders.

There is a surprising amount to do in Kansas, so settling on an area depends on what you enjoy. I am going to suggest basing yourself in Salina for part of the trip. It is a nice regional center with some interesting attractions (Smoky Hill Museum, Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure, others) and restaurants. Plus it makes a good base for seeing that part of the state.

One of the nearby communities worth visiting is Lindsborg with its art galleries, 100 year old flour mill %26amp; museum, and the Swedish influenced shops, restaurants %26amp; architecture.

If you have any interest in folk art, Lucas is a must visit, Designated by the state as the Grassroots Art Capitol of Kansas, the tiny town has the Garden of Eden, Grassroots Art Center and other quirky places - all within walking distance of each other. I did a Go List for Lucas last year: tripadvisor.com/GoListDetail-i10929-Lucas_Ka…

Other interesting places include Rock City with its field of huge Dakota sandstone concretions, Mushroom Rock State Park which also has concretions (some of them shaped like enormous mushrooms), or even the World%26#39;s Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City. It is actually much more interesting that it sounds:-)

But many communities in the north east part of the state could easily fill and interesting day. Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan or Abeline for example.

In the south central part of the state, I usually use Wichita as a base. The community has attractions such as the Guardian of the Plains and its night time ring of fire, Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita Art Museum, and Botanica - to name only a few.

And from that base you can easily visit Hutchinson with the Kansas Cosmosphere (world class space %26amp; aviation museum) %26amp; Salt Mine Museum, Yoder with its shops %26amp; restaurants selling products from the local Mennonite %26amp; Amish families, or the Walnut Valley Festival.

If there are more specific activities or types of attractions that interest you, I might suggest somewhere else. Or if you do settle on a location, there are many unique restaurants to try.

http://www.kansastravel.org may be helpful.

Gill,---The Kansas Cosmosphere and the Salt Mine Museum should most definitely be included in your plans. There is certainly more to do in this part of the state than most people realize.

Have you thought about going through St. Louis and following the historic route 66 down 44 it takes you straight to Oklahoma. You can take several exits off 44 that will put you on rte 66 that runs beside 44. On rte 3 (the last exit in Missouri before Oklahoma) about a 1/4 of a mile up is a gravel road that takes you to the corner of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma border. There isn%26#39;t much there except a rock monument. But it is kinda neat to say you stood in 3 states at once.

If you are a fan of Baseball and Mickey Mantle you can take the detour up rte 3 to Commerce, OK where Mickey Mantle lived and played baseball untill he was 14. He lived at 319 S. Quincy in Commerce, OK they are restoring his house. He also played baseball in Baxter Springs KS. Straight up rte 3 turns into a old mining town called Galena, Ks. This town is the town that expried Radiator Springs from The Movie Cars. On Main Street is a small shop that has the inspiration of ';tow Mater'; from the movie. Then you can drive on rte 66 a few miles and head back to 44 on your way to Oklahoma.

If you are interested in Rte 66 and Mickey Mantle you can schedule your rte to be very interesting down 44. You can always stop in St. Louis along the way there is always something to do there.

For %26#39;wide open spaces%26#39; in Kansas, you can%26#39;t beat the Flint Hills region, particularly in Morris and Chase County. You should base yourself at the Cottage House in Council Grove, which is loaded with Santa Fe Trail history, or at the Grand Central Hotel in Cottonwood Falls, which is the true heart of the Flint Hills and is near the Tallgrass Prairie National Monument and the marvelous Z-Bar Ranch. If you are a Bed %26amp; Breakfast lover, you might want to consider the Clover Cliff Ranch, just southwest of Cottonwood Falls on US 50 -- contact them in advance to arrange tours of the vast prairie ranch, and sleep in cowboy-era limestone buildings. I would go west from KC up the Kaw River Valley to Topeka, and on West. Take Kansas Hwy 177, %26#39;The Prairie Parkway%26#39;, south from the Manhattan exit to Council Grove, where you%26#39;ll want to check out the Santa Fe Trail history and definitely eat at the Hays House 1857 Restaurant and Tavern ... steak %26amp; quail is about as Kansas as food comes (steer clear of the seafood), and at lunch the beef brisket sandwich is great. If you don%26#39;t stay at the Cottage House in CG, then on south on K-177 to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, which is a little-known gem, and stay at the Grand Central or Clover Cliff. Chase County will put you within a 90-minute prairie drive from the cities ... Salina, Hutch, Wichita, etc., but it will feel a lot farther away. If you head to Lindsborg (which is a good idea), get on %26#39;Old US 56%26#39; through Marion and Hillsboro, and visit the Maxwell Game Preserve north of Canton, for a great view from the oberservation tower, a drive through their bison herd, and maybe a glimpse of an elk. There are a lot of good ideas for that area in that time of year. If you have particular interests, let us know and we can guide you better. Have a great trip!

ps ... patrick%26#39;s tip on Teter Rock is a very good one, as that is a really unique piece of Kansas. However, I would suggest a few caveats for anyone wandering off into the unmarked and unfenced territory of the Flint Hills, such as: * make sure you have tires that can stand up to the rock roads, and definitely make sure you have a spare tire. * Pay attention to the weather, as in September it could easily be over 100 degrees (F), or under 50 (F), and many of these roads are subject to flooding. * make sure your gas tank is full, because there%26#39;s no place to buy more. * Take water with you and snacks. This all might seem like a bit much for a little drive in the hills, but if it%26#39;s 100 (F) and you pop a tire, no one is likely to come by and help you, and there is nothing in walking distance. So, if you go, just be smart.

... and don%26#39;t get too lost.

RhiansDad, Don%26#39;t you think the restaurant situation in Cottonwood Falls is a little lean for using it as a base?