A trip across Kansas

Sunday, we left Brush, CO at about 9a.m. or so, and headed for Kansas, going through a little corner of Nebraska and then down to U.S. 36, which we followed across much of Kansas. It was a very untraveled route, and there were long straight stretches where one could look to the horizon, and not see a single car. However, we were looking for a "place of interest" where we could stop, learn something new and maybe even find some postcards! Such a place was on a highway just 20 or so miles south of U.S. 36, in the town of Logan: The Dane H. Hansen Memorial Museum. It looked interesting, an unusual institution to find in a small, Kansas town. So we headed south to find it, but when we turned east to get to Logan, we found the highway was closed. There was no clear detour. So we just headed back up to U.S. 36, and gave up on the Hansen Museum. A bit further down the road we did stop at the Geographical Center of the Contiguous United States. We had been there once before, many years ago. It was essentially unchanged, with one exception. But we had it to ourselves for quite a while, and it was very quiet.

The Little Chapel at the Geographical Center

Standing at the lectern in the chapel. This chapel is not, I suspect, part of the original site. It seems to have been created and is now maintained by local evangelical groups.

The pyramid marker of the "Center." How this point was determined is not explained anywhere at the site.

A cedar tree brought from Lebanon and planted by a group of Lebanese men - see plaque below.

A plaque explaining the source of the cedar tree. This gift has something to do, I am sure, with the fact that the Geographical Center Monument is located in the town of Lebanon, Kansas. One can only hope the fragile little cedar tree will survive. I hope someone locally is watering it regularly. ***************************************** After that stop, we needed to get to our motel reservation in Holton. KS, and unfortunately we were running late. Ellen had to cope with nighttime driving conditions, which she finds very difficult because she often cannot really see the road very well, especially with oncoming cars with bright headlights. So the last hour was stressful. But we made it, and had a good night.