The boys and I got hitched!

[91W350]

I took the boys out for another scoping rural Kansas trip today. In old Ellsworth town, we found this cool old hitching post. A concrete lion's head hitching post, I have seen a lot of hitching posts, but never another like this one. While the dogs were running around looking for something to chase...

Ellsworth County, KS, Museums

I had to do it, I use a hore lead as a dog leash as it helps take the shock out when they hit the end of that inch+ rope.... anyway, I snapped the lead on the hitching post and tied the lead to the left front bumper shackle.... I am surprised somebody did not call the police reporting that I was trying to steal the hitching post.

Speaking of getting hitched, that young couple has been pondering over those flowers for several years now.

Ellsworth was a violent place to be when the cattle trail head moved here from Abilene as the UP moved west. This was also along the BOD line, which meant regular stage coach and freight traffic. A cool place in history... more to follow....

 

[91W350]

I jumped ahead of myself a little.. we are under a winter storm warning today, their forecast of 5 to 7" of snow was grossly overstated. We might have 2" of snow on the ground. Anyway, we fired up the M1009 and headed west.

I planned to stop at the CK Ranch and take some photo of their huge cattle and horse barns. I was ready to pull in the driveway when I noticed three dogs. Buddy would have played nicely, but Sir would have gone ballistic. I will have to return for the barn photos.

The CK Ranch is a huge business. They used to have huge Hereford breeding bulls out on display in the pastures along the highway. Some senseless idiot shot several of them with a high power rifle. Since then, the ranch has really slowed down on the display of animals and do not dominate the local fair like they used to. The do still operate a huge ranching business in Saline, Ellsworth and Chase Counties here in Kansas. I probably only know the tip of the land ownership. Anyway, the boys were pretty excited, so I stopped to grab a couple of photos of their sign and to let the boys burn off some energy. The CK Ranch also als a couple of ghost towns within its pastures, I would love to get permission to go visit.

Kansas Business Hall of Fame: Profile Detail

Cattle Ranch Of The Week: CK Ranch | Cattle Network

 

[91W350]

Farris or Faris???

I always thought they were the Farris Caves, but I see them listed the other way as well. A hand dug cave, in the face of a rock wall, two rooms are connected and a third is off to the north. The hand pick marks are pretty obvious. In drought, the floors are pretty much dry. We have been getting quite a bit of moisture this last year, so the spring level is filling the caves with water. Home, school, church or ranch office, they are an interesting visit....


faris

kansasprairie.net » FARIS CAVES

 

[srodocker]

thats awesome!

 

[91W350]

Thanks Man!!!

We visited Fort Harker, it is another hidden sweetheart. When you take the tour, they tell you Chief Santanta escaped out the back of the guardhouse. He dropped from the second story to the ground and fled during the night.

Some of the officer's quarters also still exist. One has now been blessed with a second floor and one is a residence. I see that they now have been working on extending the museum to the building behind my M1009.

Fort Ellsworth/Harker, Kansas History

The Fort had a pretty colorful history.... Glen

 

[TyJustice]

 

[91W350]

We motored west to Ellsworth, which I already posted, then on to the Wilson Kansas area. I had not been to Wilson for some time. I found a couple of telephone booths! Since the cell phone, finding an outside phone is rare, we have no phone booths in Salina.... at least not for public use.

I found a nice Coca Cola mural and we paid the Midland Hotel a visit. The Hotel is closed again after the Historical Preservation spent almost a million dollars assisting in the restoration. Neat old building, too bad there is not enough population to draw from to support it. Wilson is a step back on history. A lot of limestone eye candy, but if you were there 30 years ago, you saw all it has to offer.

We also visited the jail, now that's cool. A round jail... and we found a deuce that had been serving as a tanker. The winch has been cut off with a torch. 8(

 

[91W350]

From Wilson we went north and then headed back east through the back roads. I found some killer roads! On one hill, the M1009 would not climb any farther, it was spinning away and eventually lost ground. I had to get out and lock in the hubs. The boys had to play... It was a neat hill, a pretty place... once run and sniff was over, we got in, pulled the lever and over the hill we chugged. That 4wd option sure is sweet!

 

[91W350]

We found some more rough road, thankfully I had the hubs locked in. As we were rolling east, I noticed a row of grey columns appearing out of the haze. We had rolled into the Smoky Hills Wind Farm Project! I had never run onto them from the northwest before and definitely never in a foggy/hazy condition. It did not take long to figure out what they were. On a clear day, you can see these 30 miles away. Today we were within a mile of them before we saw them. While driving through the wind farm, I found this roadside marker, kind of cool. I had never seen it before either.

Finally, headed home, Sir showed me what his job of the day is.... Glen

 

[Sgt Hulka]

Awesome! Keep 'em coming!

 

[surewriting]

Sounds like a successful adventure! Love the pics

 

[Matt65]

Great Pics! Thanks for posting them.