Serpent a good trip

If you enjoy a little history, you'll like the serpent. If you don't like history, well, you'll just see an indention in the grass.

But I like history. I found the story is interesting -- the shadow of a serpent eating an egg, art developed by Native Americans several centaries ago.

There probably other intaglios once, before farming and other practices covered them up.

While some see a serpent, I actually think, from Stan Herd's painting, that it looks more like a spirit rising.

Snake in the grass

Earth depression a remnant of American-Indian civilization

Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

LYONS - On a hill amid the pasture, something mysterious emerges from the mixed-grass prairie. Just off U.S. 56 near the Rice County seat of Lyons is a flowing earth depression that's 160 feet long.

It's smaller than one would think, but delicate. It stands out distinctly - tightly bunched buffalo grass in the middle of knee-high prairie. Moreover, it curves in a way that at first makes one think it's just a wallow.

No, this isn't a crop circle. Aliens didn't form it.

This manmade curiosity represents an enormous serpent in the act of swallowing an egg. It is one of the best-preserved Indian carvings still around.

In Kansas, there are only two, said Janel Cook, the director of Lyons' Coronado Quivira Museum.
They call it Serpent Intaglio.

Rice County has long been known for its American-Indian artifacts. A trip to the museum shows countless arrowheads, pottery and tools from centuries ago. Several archaeological digs have occurred over the years, uncovering many of the objects.

However, the serpentine marvel might be one of the oddest finds.

Go back to a warm October day in 1917, when Miss Faye McGuire, a teacher at a one-room Rice County school, led her young students on a field trip. A boy had earlier reported finding a strange concentration of buffalo grass amid the pasture on his walk to school.

They concluded it was an upland creek. However, what they found was the remnants of another society's beliefs.

Then the indention was forgotten.

It would be 20 years later, when Robert Higgins, a Rice County farm boy, would notice the depression while working cattle. He was convinced it wasn't natural.

He pressed for answers.

Clark Mallam, a college professor, researched it in 1982 and 1983. He died of a brain tumor a few years later, Cook said.

That's just one more quirk some folks attribute to the serpent, Cook said.

What is generally accepted fact is that Wichita Indians dug the serpent around the year 1200,
Cook said. They removed the topsoil, which is why buffalo grass grows prolifically instead of the mixed grasses of the county.

She said there were probably some religious ceremonies associated with the earthwork. Three sites of villages lie northward, and oddly enough, line up with the serpent's outline.

The serpent image had some significance to the people, maybe representing the renewal of life, she said. The serpent could be a calendar, as well as an instrument for determining seasonal cycles.

Cook makes the trip to the site several times a year with visitors. The tour includes nearby Indian petroglyphs, then the Serpent Intaglio.

The scene from the top of the hill is beautiful, Cook notes.

The mystery might never be fully known.

There is one thing Cook does know.

"It's survived centuries," she said. Copyright (c) 2008, The Hutchinson Publishing Co.

If you haven’t been to Beal Orchard in Harper County, you should go.

If only for nostalgia purposes.

The trip was great. The peaches were wonderful. There is even a little place in Harper where they serve the best shakes.

Called the Country Creamery, owner Jim said a couple families have come by on a cross country journey in search for the best shake.

He said a few months later, he received a letter, saying after the vote, Country Creamery was the winner.

I had a shake here, and I’ll admit it was great. Thick and creamy!

Going to the country, going to eat a lot of peaches

HARPER - A cardboard box in hand and sweat beading from her brow on this 100-degree day, Lesley Wedman plucked crisp peaches from the rows of trees drooping from the weight of the succulent fruit. Sure, a trip to the grocery store would have been quicker and cooler, she said.

However, Wedman wants an experience.

"You don't get the full experience at the grocery store," she said as she stood in flip-flops and a tank top amid a grove of the Crest Haven variety. "You earn your peach out here. It makes you appreciate it."

Wedman is part of a burgeoning trend among Kansans wanting to see firsthand where their food is grown and meet the people who grow it.

So, for about two months every year, hundreds of people from as far away as Wichita and Hutchinson walk through the Beal Orchard in Harper County searching for the plumpest, best-tasting peaches they can find. They bring their kids. They bring their wallets. They roam amid 25 acres of fruit trees in the middle of nowhere.

The closest town is Harper, Kan., population 1,400 - a town with a big red fish atop its water tower; a town that has declined by more than 100 people in the past six years.
Steve Beal knows this fact all too well. It's part of his goal - to revitalize the place he calls home.

"We are all awfully aware of the decline of these rural areas," he said as he drove a golf cart through a grove of nectarine trees. "We want to get people out here."

This is part of the reason his little business has magnified from 250 trees 10 years ago to nearly 3,000 these days. There are 35 varieties of peaches and three varieties of nectarines.

"It's kind of like a 4-H project that got out of control," Beal said with a laugh.
Beal, a wheat and cattle farmer by trade, retired, selling the machinery a decade ago and planting peach trees.

"Now I'm busier than I was when I was farming," he said.
Beal, however, doesn't mind the few thousand people who swarm into his farm each year. He doesn't mind the fact that he spends countless days mowing, pruning and picking fruit.

"We like to eat peaches," his granddaughter Hannah Moss said, noting that the best part is driving the cart.

Beal loves the people.

They want a peek into the past - young and old, rural and urban, Beal said.

"The only thing that has changed is we are using golf carts instead of tractors and wagons to haul people around," he said, then smiled.

"It's peaceful, you know."

He also knows he is helping the little town of Harper.

After a few hours of picking, Beal tells his customers to go to town to The Country Creamery for home-cooked food and ice cream and a little nostalgia - the restaurant is in an old gas station.

"It's amazing how many people come to Harper because of the peaches," said owner Jim Konkel.

Some come with their children or grandchildren. Some are from out of state, some from urban areas like Wichita. Others are locals.

And they keep coming - despite the temperatures soaring on a sticky August day, or the drive.

"It's family time," Darla Schreck, of Wichita, said as she gripped the hand of 16-month-old Noah.

Her two older children, Elliott, 7, and Drew, 4, had run ahead with their father and their grandparents. "It's a fun thing for the whole family to do."

Plus, there are plenty of things one can make out of peaches.

"I might make a six-peach tart when I get home," she said.

If you go
What: Beal Orchard
Where: About a mile north of Harper on Road 100.
Miles from Hutchinson: 65
Miles from Dodge City: 140
What it includes: A fruit stand of apples and peaches, pick-your-own peaches. There are 35 peach varieties, including standards like Red Havens, Little Havens and Crest Havens; heirlooms like Lorings and Red Skins, and new varieties such as Saturns.
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week until mid-September.
Other activities around Harper County: At Harper, see the red fish on top of the 1886 stand-pipe water tower. For food or treats, stop at The Country Creamery.
At Anthony, visit Irwin-Potter Drug for a soda at its 1950s fountain, or eat at Ken's Diner, a 10-stool Valentine diner.
At Attica, one tombstone in the cemetery states a Republican message against the Democratic Party. Copyright (c) 2008, The Hutchinson Publishing Co.

Eisenhower still making town proud

Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

ABILENE - At age 8, Nick Brummer was in awe as he stared down at the marble slab marking the remains of a former president.

"Is this really where he's buried?" the Rossville boy asked his grandmother, Laura Lohmeyer, who nodded quietly.

Although the generation that knew Dwight D. Eisenhower as a victorious general and likable president is aging, the place that bears his name is seeing a revival of interest.

One of the greatest sources of pride for Abilene - which also enjoys a place in history as a cattle-trail town of the Old West and the first stop for Wild Bill Hickok as a lawman - is that Eisenhower never forgot his hometown, and that he chose it for the site of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.

It's here, amid 22 acres on the southern edge of Abilene, that a collection of buildings surround his boyhood white-frame home.

This includes the library, which houses the presidential papers and other research resources, a museum, a visitors' center and the meditation chapel where the former president and his wife, Mamie, and their 3-year-old son, Doud, are buried.

Today, the Old West town in central Kansas with a population of 6,543 serves as a commercial and agricultural trade center where visitors can taste chocolate at a Russell Stover's factory or see the birthplace of Duckwall-ALCO retail stores. It's like any small Kansas community, where freshly cut wheat fields surround the outskirts, and grain elevators are the tallest buildings.

Abilene might seem like the most unlikely place for a presidential library, but still no one can forget Ike.

"This presidential library is located in Ike's hometown, and to me that is so important because when you come here to the museum or you come here to do research, you also need to take into account this is Abilene, Kan.," said Karl Weissenbach, the center's director. "No one else can claim a five-star general who led a national force in a world war, was a world hero by 1945 - a man with worldwide name recognition who became a two-term president."

Like every presidential library, Eisenhower's depicts pictures of a great man. Here he is as a boy, playing baseball for Abilene High School. Another is of a kid in overalls, posing with his elementary school class. Years later, he waves to a crowd of Abilene residents in the wee hours of the morning of June 24, 1945, not long after the war ended.

The museum is a time capsule. A few of the items include:

* A high-security letter written by Eisenhower marking the end of World War II.

* Notes from his diary in which he wrote on Jan. 4, 1942, "Tempers are short. There are lots of amateur strategists on the job and prima donnas everywhere. I'd give anything to be back in the field."

* The Plaza Theater marquee, where Eisenhower announced in 1952 that he would run for president, as well as a 1950s living room, campaign signs and a video of Eisenhower in action.

* The suit he wore when he took his oath of office, as well as Mamie's second inaugural gown.

* His golf clubs and a scorecard showing Eisenhower shooting an 84.

Those are just a few of the thousands of relics. Even Mamie's wedding dress from their 1916 wedding is on display, as well as a piece of the couple's wedding cake.

Besides the museum, there is the library and a statute of Ike in his military uniform standing in front of five pillars depicting his five-star ranking.

Abilene is Eisenhower, and Eisenhower is Abilene, Weissenbach said.

"His legacy here continues," he said. "Not just here at the library, but throughout the community of Abilene."

After all, Abilene couldn't be prouder of its native son, Weissenbach said.

More than 20,000 people turned out to welcome Ike home June 24, 1945. There was a parade through town and a rally at the city park, now named Eisenhower Park.
Ike told his townsfolk, "The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene."

Fast facts

Eisenhower graduated from Abilene High School in 1909.
In 1955, Eisenhower signed the presidential library act that established the current Presidential Library System.
The Eisenhower Presidential Library contains 26 million manuscripts, most of which reflect his life and presidency.
It is the only presidential library with five buildings. Most have just one or two.
The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum is one of the "8 Wonders of Kansas."
Displays at the museum
Through Thursday: "School House to the White House: The Education of the Presidents." The display shows the original grade cards, pictures and other school memorabilia of Presidents Hoover through Clinton.
Through Oct. 15: "Ike and Baseball" includes the original correspondence between Eisenhower and famous major league players, photographs and recently released Secret Service reports.
7:30 p.m. Sept 9: A lecture by Marlin Fitzwater titled "Growing Up in Abilene and White House Stories I Tell my Friends."
Sept. 16: Jay Hakes, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, delivering a lecture for his new book, "A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy and the Environment."

If you go

What: The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum
Where: Abilene
Miles from Hutchinson: 91
Cost: Adults 16 to 61, $8; Adults 62 and older, $6; children 8 to 15 years, $1; children 7 and under, free.
Eisenhower sites: Mr. K's Farmhouse, formally known as Lena's the hilltop restaurant hosted President Eisenhower; Eisenhower's parents, David and Ida, are buried in Abilene Cemetery; a statue of "little Ike" accents the corner of Northwest Third and Spruce in downtown Abilene; Union Pacific Station, where visitors can sample sugar cookies made form Mamie Eisenhower's recipe.
Other sites in Abilene: Old Abilene town, Russell Stover; Seelye Mansion, Lebold Mansion, Greyhound Hall of Fame, Brookville Hotel.

Go Ike!

I'd like to think I'm six degrees removed from a president.

My grandpa had an old truck with an "I like Ike sticker on it."

My grandmother graduated from Abilene High School about 20 years after the famed president.

So, the one-tank trip to Eisenhower's native Abilene was a great experience. I had no idea how much this little Dickinson County town has to offer.

There's a library and a great museum. There's the home he grew up in and a chapel where he is buried.

The museum tells of his life, from birth to death. Even his golf clubs are on display.

I figure it could take at least a half day to get through the museum and everything. But there's more to see in Abilene than Eisenhower's Presidential Library.


Go to the Kirby House for a nice meal. Stop by downtown Abilene for some shopping. There's old Abilene town, gunfighting and all. A train will take you on a trip to Enterprise and back.

This town has a chocolate factory, is home to Duckwall-Alco, has a big Pizza Hut.

Oh, and there are a couple of mansions, which gets me back to the six-degrees of separation.

My grandfather ran a store in Kipp, Kan. He said Seeyle, the former owner of the Seeyle Mansion, would sell him medicine. He even had some of the old bottles. I bet Seeyle knew Eisenhower or someone in the Eisenhower line.

Or my grandmother might have known someone who knew someone.

Should you go? Yes.

I grew up in Gypsum, population around 400 people. The tiny Saline County town doesn't have much -- a hardware, a gun store and a part-time gas station.

We do have a red sign on the edge of town proclaiming our only claim to fame: Steve Fritz.

I don't personally know Steve. I know his dad, Pee Wee, who runs the part-time gas station and who fixed my green Ford pickup numerous times. Faded, on the side of the old Phillip's 66 station, is a tribute to his son and the town's people who supported him in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Steve competed in the Dan O'Brien era -- you know, the guy in the Dave and Dan commercials. He narrowly missed an Olympic bronze, instead finishing fourth.

No medal, but still, how cool is that.

So earlier this week, when I took a one-tank trip to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, I wasn't surprised to see Steve's Olympic warm up, or pictures of him on display. He's just one of Kansas' athletic greats -- along with Barry Sanders, Lynette Woodard, Wes Santee and Thane Baker.

On a side note, I was so excited to get to interview two Olympic greats, Thane and Wes were overly nice. And to reiterate what they told me, they recommend a trip to the hall of fame.

So do I.

Day trip will transport you to a people's past

Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

COUNCIL GROVE - Take a walk along the Kanza Heritage Trail, past a monument, ruins of huts and a reconstructed earth lodge.

It's here the Kaw Indians lived for more than 25 years, as well as a vice president.

The monument is visible from the paved county road - sitting high on a hill in the middle of a stretch of tallgrass prairie that waves with the stiff Kansas breeze.

Underneath lie the remains of an unknown Indian, a warrior who died before his tribe's forced migration to Oklahoma - a tribe that once existed on this parcel of land in the state that bears their name.

Yet the story lives on here amid the flint rock and blooming wildflowers.

It's the story of how a tribe reclaimed a parcel of land - 158 acres of it - in an effort to preserve and educate others about their trials, tribulations - their heritage.

Kaw history

At one time, the Kaw Nation stretched over 20 million acres across northern Kansas into Nebraska and Missouri.

In 1825, the Kaw signed a treaty to move to a reservation near present-day Topeka. In 1846, the Kaw signed another treaty and moved to the Council Grove area, selling their 2 million-acre reservation for a little more than 10 cents an acre.

They lived in the Council Grove area for 25 years before the government decided to move them again, said Linda Poston, with Council Grove's Kaw Mission State Historic Site.

On June 4, 1873, the Kaw's last forced migration began and was completed 17 days later. What was once a tribe plentiful in number had dwindled to 600 when it finally moved to its present-day reservation in Oklahoma.

Then, about 130 years later, in 2000, the Kaw returned to Kansas, back to their homeland, purchasing 158 acres they turned into Allegawaho Heritage Memorial Park.

"It can be a rather spiritual experience when you go out there usually - hawks flying overhead and a few miles of trail and not many people," said Ken McClintock, a local historian who runs the Trail Days Bakery and Cafe.

Indian skeleton

Those who make the trip to the heritage park can see the remains of a Kaw Agency and ruins of three of the 138 stone huts the federal government built for the Kaw, although they never lived in the huts, he said.

Visitors also can travel a two-mile Kanza Heritage Trail around the former reservation.

The trail winds around the Flint Hills, past Little John Creek and eventually around the monument.

During the summer of 1924, a group of Boy Scouts discovered the skeleton of the Kaw warrior, McClintock said. The Smithsonian wanted the find, but landowner Frank Haucke told officials the Indian belonged at the site.

The Haucke family gave money for the construction of the monument, which was dedicated by the Kaw during a weeklong ceremony in 1925.

In 1929 or 1930, Vice President Charles Curtis, the most famous member of the Kaw tribe who lived on the reservation for a time with his grandparents, laid a wreath at the site, McClintock said.

Good day trip

About 90 minutes southwest of Topeka in Morris County, Council Grove makes a great day-trip destination.

Once a bustling rendezvous point on the Santa Fe Trail, Council Grove today attracts those of a different sort - tourists eager to relive the trail days' spirit.

"We have more Santa Fe Trail historic sites than any other town along it," McClintock boasts.
Visitors can see Council Oak, where, in 1825, a treaty was signed with the Osage Indians, ensuring safe travel for white settlers.

The Hays House, built in 1857, is the oldest continuously operated restaurant west of the Mississippi River.

Fading Santa Fe Trail ruts are still visible. Other sites include the trail's Neosho River crossing and the Post Oak, the unofficial post office for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail from 1825 to 1947.
Council Grove makes a good one-day trip, or even two, said Jeanine Bacon, who helps run Aldrich Apothecary, a full-service pharmacy with an early 1920s soda fountain.

"With the Kaw, with the trail, there's a lot of history here," she said. "It's a good trip for one tank of gas."

I have a passion for ghost towns and cemeteries. 

I've traveled to many in my short time on Earth. Dunlap's black settlement and its cemetery may be my favorite.

I first went to Dunlap in 2001 0r 2002 for another newspaper to write a story of its history. Once there, I visited with a couple of residents, who knew the history of this former exoduster settlement.

Dunlap was started as a primarily white community in the 1870s. Pap Singleton found land cheap in the area, and started his colony only a few years later.

All that remains in the broken-down Baptist Church and the cemetery -- which is located about a half-mile down the road from the "white" cemetery. 

Instead the church is the remains of a pew and a piano. A sign does say posted, keep out. I assume it is on private property. 

The cemetery, however, is public. Someone keeps it well maintained, and a few of the graves still had fresh flowers from Memorial Day. 

The other ghost towns are also intriguing, and many include cemeteries. Diamond Creek road, which leads to the Santa Fe Trail stop of Diamond Springs, as a few dilapidated buildings and a cemetery. The road itself is a scenic drive, and those who know a little of its history will pass two ghost town sites before hitting Diamond Springs. A sign marks the former town of Hymer.

The Kaw of Council Grove

About a half decade ago, I met with the Kaw on the hill where the monument to an unnamed Indian sits.

Their idea was intriguing-- to turn their former home into a historic place -- a learning center and nature trail that could be a potential draw for the Council Grove area.

It's here the Kaw Indians lived for more than 25 years, as well as a vice president. The monument is visible from the paved county road - sitting high on a hill in the middle of a stretch of tallgrass prairie that waves with the stiff Kansas breeze.

Council Grove already is deep in Native American history. Each year, they have a festival honoring the last Kaw Indian chief. A trail and heritage park on an old reservation would just add to the town's story.

About a year later, I attended their ceremony, dedicating the Allegawaho Heritage Memorial Park and the future site of the Kanza Heritage Trail.

I hadn't been back since until I went for a one-tank trip. I figured it would be more developed, but to my surprise, not much had changed.

There were no signs leading to the site. I found it easily, although I stopped at the gas station to see which road to take, and then had to look for the monument, which sticks out fairly well on the hill.

Pulling up to it, you might think you are going to wander on private property. And there isn't much parking. I recommend parking at the stone house then walking down the dirt road to the entrance.

I didn't walk far on the trail, although I'd like to go back and do so someday. Storm clouds darkened the sky. For some reason, I feared being alone, and being bit by a snake hiding under one of those flint rocks.

And no cars drove by this patch of Flint Hills. I was in the middle of nowhere.

Still, it is a good trip. I recommend taking a walk along the Kanza Heritage Trail, past the monument, ruins of huts and a reconstructed earth lodge.

Rocks, Rocks and more rocks

Rock City is just that, a bunch of rocks.

I'll admit I probably wouldn't make the trip without the one-tank trip series. And I definitely won't make it twice.

I'm just not that into rocks.

It costs $3 to see a bunch of rocks, if you're an adult. It's 50 cents for children.
They say the money goes to upkeep and the wages of an employee.

But I wouldn't pay $3 to do this. I felt kind of bad for the girl who was there at the same time I was. She was traveling to Los Angeles to make a living, and shelled out $3 to see the rocks she thought were shaped like little houses.

If you're into climbing rocks, or reading the names on the rocks, well, it might be up your alley. There are more than 200 spherical oddities across the area of two football fields. You can climb on them, picnic on them and even carve a profession of love to your significant other on them.

I don't want to bash rock city. It's just not for me.

Zoo story

June 1, 2008

Here, the rarest of animals do dwell
But you can find them, including an orangutan and exotic rhinos, with little effort.

Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

SALINA - Robbie likes women. Especially blondes. Sometimes he's shy around them. Other times, he shows off a bit.

And if the more than 160-pound orangutan could talk, he'd tell you it is human-watching season at the Rolling Hills Zoo.

Other animals, too, have come to expect that each year, with the end of the slow winter season at the zoo, humans will come in big quantities, just like the tulips that are blooming. They come to see Robbie, along with the more than 100 species that live on this 65-acre facility.

Drive a few miles west of Salina on Interstate 70. Turn off onto a county road that takes you through the small ghost town of Hedville. Here, among all places, a zoo is located amid a parcel of Kansas prairie.

It's here that Robbie lives, as well as some of the rarest animals of the world. Two white rhinos and an Indian rhino are the only ones in Kansas, and while both are endangered, only a few thousand Indian rhinos survive in the wild. Meanwhile, fewer than 5,000 snow leopards and just 500 to 1,500 Bactrian camels remain in their native range.

Robbie, too, is endangered, with less than 5,000 of his kind remaining in the wild, said Vickee Spicer, director of development and marketing at Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure.

How it started

The zoo opened in 1999, thanks to a donation by Salina businessman Charlie Walker.

In the 1980s, Walker would invite children to his nearby ranch to see the animals, which included llamas, black bear cubs and a lioness. The zoo grew out of his collection.

"It was so popular, he realized there was a need in this area for a zoo," Spicer said.

He donated the land and some buildings for a park. The Rolling Hills Zoo officially opened in 1999.

Since then, the zoo has grown tremendously. Officials added a 64,000-square-foot museum a few years ago, which allows visitors to journey around the world within the museum, viewing exhibits portraying Africa, North America, the rainforest, the Far East and the Middle East.

The museum includes more than 500 full-mount taxidermy animals, as well as movable lifelike animals.

Lots to do, see

On this day, it's the animals that most are out to see. A lion prowls around its cage and black swans bask by the waters. A tiger curls up on a platform and kangaroos rest in tall grass.

Monkeys play on islands, and a pregnant llama will soon give birth.

But it was a black bear that fascinated 9-year-old Addelin. She crawled up through a pop-up display in the middle of the bear pen to get a closer look at the timid creature.

Her grandfather, Jim Smith of Hesston, had taken Addelin, her brother and sister to the zoo, along with Mary Lee Wiens, also of Hesston, and her two grandchildren. They wanted to do something with their grandchildren before the summer became too busy, Smith said.

"We've just gotten started," Smith said, although noting their next stop would be the zoo restaurant.

A gas tank away

An exotic trip to Africa might be a little too expensive this year, and high gasoline prices make a quick excursion to the see wildlife in Colorado, Wyoming or other nearby states more expensive.

So Spicer and others are hoping residents instead will turn to their own backyards. Put the Rolling Hills Zoo on a list of one-day excursions, she said. A day at the zoo seems to make everyone happy, even the animals. It's a first-rate place to commune with critters, she said.

"We're all crossing our fingers, hoping more people will take trips that are just a gas tank away," she said.

The first trip of 2008: Rolling Hills Zoo

Call it an exotic trip close to home.

That's the point of the one-tank trip - to find the unique of Kansas and explore. So, if you haven't been to Salina, then you should plan day out.

It helps the zoo was built a decade ago, making it one of the most up-to-date zoos around. The animal exhibits are visitor friendly. There's no big chunk of concrete barrier like at some zoos. Aside from the infrastructure, the animals are great, and there is plenty of variety.

My only disappointment: No penguins.

A few points of interest includes the building/ticket booth. It used to be the Tescott Depot. The Museum also has a conference center. The museum also has a cool theater.

If you go, be sure to stop at Salina and eat a "Cozy burger" at the Cozy Inn. The nearly 90-some-old burger joint is a Salina staple. If you walk in, you're sure to smell like the burgers on the grill. In the recent past, however, owners added an outside walk-up window.

These hamburgers are so thin, you can almost see through them. But boy, are they good. And, by the way, you can't order a Cozy without onions. I pick mine off.

A little personal history on the Cozy. My grandfather, Harold Cooley, supposedly ate the first Cozy off the grill when it opened in 1922. At least, that is what he always claimed. I'm fairly certain that even if it wasn't the first one served, he ate a Cozy the day it opened.

Sometimes things don't work out

I had heard about NASCAR's first winner being a native of Halstead. Coincidentally, there was a NASCAR-themed restaurant in this little Harvey County town that had some relics of the guy whose name is often forgotten by even the biggest NASCAR fan.

With all the racing fans we have in Kansas, I thought it would be a great story. However, sometimes stories just don't work out.

Halstead native Jim Roper heard about the first NASCAR race at a three-quarter mile dirt track in Charlotte, NC, by reading a note about it in a comic strip in his local newspaper.

Roper convinced a local care dealer to drive two of his Lincolns more than 1,000 miles to Charlotte, N.C. to complete in the June 19, 1949 race.

It would be the first NASCAR "Strictly Stock" race ever -- now known as the Sprint Cup. Roper actually came in second to Glenn Dunnaway, but Dunnaway was disqualified after it was discovered that his rear springs were altered.

Roper raced one more NASCAR race. He was 16th overall in the 1949 standings.

According to a local guy, he died in 2000 and is buried in the local Halstead cemetery.

I thought Roper's successes would make an interesting story and one-tank trip, tied in with this popular bar and grill with the NASCAR theme.

The story, however, dissolved before my eyes when during the interview, the restaurant unexpectedly shut down and has yet to reopen.

Sometimes things just don't work out, but I have to admit it was the strangest experience I've encountered. While Halstead has plenty of interesting attributes, it doesn't fit the criteria of a one-tank trip.

There are a few stores open on Main Street. One woman moved to town about six months ago and opened a coffee shop and sundry store. She sells everything from candy and coffee to gifts, bulk foods and quilts. She also plans to have concerts, as well as open a pottery painting studio.

The Old Hardware Store on the southern edge of Main also is interesting -- especially if you are looking for hard-to-find items. Except for a few items, including electricity, the store represents an early 1900s hardware.

Other stops are the Kansas Health Museum, and Halstead has a great river walk and park, which was featured in the movie "Picnic."

Exploring the hidden glory of the Gyp Hills

This was my favorite one-tank trip of 2007. But then again, I'm a little biased when it comes to Barber County. It has to be one of the most beautiful parts of Kansas.

For this story, I interviewed Elmer Angell. I had seen his seed sign during my travels along the scenic roadway. He wasn't home, so I looked his number up and called him when I got back to work.

Before making the call, I didn't know about his passion for the area, his work to establish the scenic roadway or anything else. I called him by chance, and he was a great source.

He grew up in this area, and his dedication to the Gyp Hills runs deep in his blood. He talked about how he worked hard to promote the area, as well as made calls to the Kansas Sampler Foundation in an effort to get the Gyp Hills chosen as one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas.

It was a finalist. But sadly, especially for Elmer, it wasn't chosen.

If you go, stop by Buster's. Then take the road through Lake City, which is pretty much a ghost town. The school is dilapidated. Most of main street is, as well. An old-style phone booth still stands. I think it even still had a dial tone.

August 12, 2007

Exploring the hidden glory of the Gyp Hills

By Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

MEDICINE LODGE - As you travel the back roads of Barber County, the sky expands across red hills that rise and fall like waves across a sea of grass.

And these rugged Gyp Hills are far from the supposed flat Kansas landscape.

It's where cattle roam in the summer until herded by cowboys, where good roads mean taking a path through a fence and crossing a grate into an open cattle range. Green cedars dot the butte-like terrain, where the windswept grasses give way to prairie flowers.

"It's beautiful, it's unique, it's a spectacular exhibit of what our creator did," said 87-year-old Elmer Angell, who lives and farms deep in the hills. "There is nothing like them in the world, and they cannot be copied."

Back road tour The Gyp Hills are part of an official Kansas scenic byway, which runs along a 40-mile stretch of Highway 160 from Medicine Lodge to Coldwater. But most won't see the area's true beauty unless they wander onto a back road.

Angell, who operates a seed farm, has lived amid the hills all his life. He helped establish a 22-mile route by his home that winds through the open range, putting up green markers that designate it as the Gyp Hills Scenic Drive. It cuts through some of the county's most dramatic scenery. The route takes unpaved roads through the rolling hills and red mesas, past Flower Pot Mound and other landmarks. Sunflowers line roadways, and the surroundings are seemingly quiet, except for the sounds of the wind and oil wells pumping.

It's just one of several roads amid the Gyp Hills that folks can travel.

A cold one at Buster's

Buster's at Sun City has long been known for its beer in a fishbowl, served up for 60-plus years.

It's the only business in the town of 77 - which sits beside the boarded up bank and across the street from dilapidated storefronts along Barber County's River Road. that folks can travel.

Yet the business lives on, serving hamburgers, steaks and smoked meats six days a week to the sound of spurs that clang regularly on the bar's hardwood floor.

"I hope it never gets to a place that I take the sound of those spurs jingling on the floor for granted," said owner Katt Kerns, who admits she didn't realize real-life cowboys still existed until she purchased the business in February.

The big-city girl confesses she hadn't heard of Sun City or Buster's until she was browsing eBay. She figured she'd stop by on her way to Oklahoma, where she was looking at another business venture. She never made it farther south.

For the past several months, she's been running the more than 60-year-old business started by a guy named Buster.

Buster Hathaway opened Hathaway's Tavern in 1946, and it was eventually dubbed Buster's. He ran it until he died in 1996, and he is buried in the cemetery on the east edge of town.

Buster's was the first bar in the state to serve draft beer, Kerns said, noting that Buster preferred Coors. It was also the last business in the state to have outhouses as bathrooms. Another owner added bathroom facilities after Buster died.

The restaurant and bar draws folks from all over, not just Barber County, she said. For the past several months, she and her family have been restoring the building, which also is the oldest in Sun City.

"Buster's is an icon in itself," she said. "But it also is an icon that was kind of run into the ground, and my job is to get it back up from the ground."

Promoting the Gyp Hills

Kerns said she likes to travel up the dirt road south of town into the Gyp Hills and look down at Sun City in the valley. The white church steeple peeks out above trees that envelop the town.

"Kansas is supposed to be flat, but this is so awesome," she said of the hills that surround her home.

But the area isn't familiar to some tourists, who have heard of the state's Flint Hills but not necessarily the Gyp Hills, Angell said. Where else would folks see those distinctive red hills, Angell asks.

Rocks are stained red by iron oxide. Water once covered the area, he said. Erosion sculpted the hills people see today. He wants others to take in the red hills he calls home.

"Folks come from other parts of Kansas or other states and are so amazed at the unique setting and the beauty of the Gyp Hills," he said. "I'm sure it is the most scenic areas of the state of Kansas."

If you go:

What: Barber County Gyp Hills
Miles from Hutchinson: 87 (about 1.5 hours)
Miles from Dodge City: 105
Gyp Hills Scenic Drive: About 3 miles west of Medicine Lodge on Highway 160. Turn left at the sign that says Gyp Hills Scenic Drive. Head south on Gyp Hills Road, then west on Scenic Drive Road. Watch for the small green signs. The route brings you back to 160 on Lake City Road. The 22-mile trip also is one of 24 finalists in the 8 Wonders of Kansas promotion.
Sun City: Take Sun City Road north from Highway 160.
Buster's hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday; noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, visit: http://www.8wonders.org/

Marquette legend's career on display

Stan Engdahl died last year. He was a great tour guide when I went to Marquette for a one-tank trip in July 2007. His legacy, however, lives on through the Kansas Motorcycle Museum, and it still is very interesting if you enjoy racing sports and motorcycles. The museum added an addition this year to display more items. Stan's wife still is a curator.

What I enjoyed the most was the Indian motorcycle and seeing the old pictures on the wall. I also was amazed that Stan won a race at Sturgis. Most of his trophies are on display.

If you go, be sure to stop by the cafe, which is run by a British woman. I have a passion for soda fountains. City Sundries on Main Street probably doesn't rank up as one of the top fountains I've stopped at, but it's worth walking in the door.

About 10 miles to the west is Kanopolis Lake, and 10 miles to the east is Lindsborg.

July 22, 2007

Marquette legend's career on display

By Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

MARQUETTE - In a storefront on Main Street in this tiny town of 600, a white-haired man sits behind a desk, waiting.

He waits for the next person to open the door, the next person to tell the story of Stan the Man and the story of why the townspeople of Marquette turned a dilapidated old building into a motorcycle museum in honor of the local celebrity.

A fearless racer, they called him. A guy whose trophies number more than 600 and who five times won enough titles in a year to reign as national racing champion. He also has 16 state championships.

That's why they dubbed him Stan the Man.

"That's what they called me," the white-haired man named Stan Engdahl said of his motorcycle-racing career that spans a half-century.

A Kansas racing legend, Engdahl retired from racing in 1997. It didn't take long for townspeople in his McPherson County hometown to decided to renovate his former television repair shop and turn it into the Kansas Motorcycle Museum. It opened in 2003.

Evidence of Engdahl's career spans the building, everything from photos and trophies to his custom-built racing Harley. More than 100 donated motorcycles fill the museum. That includes a 1916 Harley Davidson, a 1958 Cushman Scooter, a 1922 Indian, a 1928 Cleveland and a 1994 Russian Ural. But Engdahl might be the biggest draw.

Engdahl and his wife, LaVona, are the curators, manning their posts seven days a week. Just pick a trophy, and he'll tell you the story. For instance, he won his first race in 1948 on a track near Salina. He became hooked. "My mother didn't like it," he admits. He won Sturgis' Jackpine Gypsies in 1968.

In 1962, he won the state championship with a broken leg. Engdahl broke two bones in his lower leg six weeks before the race. Organizers made him sign a release to participate. His doctor told him to be careful.

"I was," Engdahl said. "I never fell off."

Good day trip

Even Engdahl didn't know the effect his racing would eventually have on Marquette. While the neighboring town of Lindsborg capitalizes on its Swedish heritage, Marquette cashes in on motorcycle tourism, said Steve Piper, who owns the town grocery store and served as mayor 14 years.

Stephen McGee opened Steve's British Bike Museum - a hybrid museum and motorcycle shop - in 2005. In addition, a motorcycle rally in May brings 3,000 to 5,000 people to town and enough bikes to line both sides of Main Street.

"We built the museum for one reason, to help the town, to bring visitors to town," Piper said. "We've had thousands come through it."

It also makes a good day trip. Folks can go to downtown gift shops, have a soda at the sundries, visit the British bike museum and eat lunch at a local establishment.

"It's been a great boost for Marquette," Piper said. "It's helped some businesses in town. It's one of the best things we've done for Marquette, anyway."

Dead artist, his work still a big draw

Here's one of the first one-tank trips from the 2007 series. For those who haven't been to Lucas' Garden of Eden, I'd highly recommend it. My favorite part of this whole story was interviewing Dinsmoor's 79-year-old son, who is a successful professional and lives in Colorado.

For the most part, Lucas and the Garden's owners have kept the site up in good shape.

If you go, Lucas is known for its artists. There's plenty of sculptures and pieces around town, including the World's Largest Travel Plate, which welcomes you into town.

July 29, 2007

A century after it all began and 75 years after his death,
Lucas' Dinsmoor and his works of art are still on display.

By Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

LUCAS - You need a flashlight to see S.P. Dinsmoor.

"He's getting kind of moldy," admits tour guide Samantha Schneider as she shined her flashlight toward his head.

His body has shrunken and the black suit he was buried in is rotting. However, even 75 years after his death, folks can look through the glass-sided tomb and see the decomposing creator of Lucas' Garden of Eden.

He's a creator townsfolk heckled as he poured 113 tons of concrete to form one of Kansas' most famous works of art - one that surrounds a little limestone house in this town of 400.

At least, it is the most unusual.

A concrete Adam and Eve greet visitors. Above them, the devil, storks and frolicking children reside. Cain murders Abel, angels, serpents and a watchful eye of the all-seeing deity also are among the 150 sculptures in his garden. It still attracts the curious from around the globe, and Dinsmoor is still there, on display for the world to see if they choose.

Dinsmoor was a Civil War veteran, schoolteacher, farmer, Populist thinker and a forerunner in grassroots art. He started building the limestone cabin home in 1907 at the age of 64, working 22 years on his project until he could no longer see. He died July 21, 1932.

"Not only is it an impressive accomplishment for a retired man to put together, it also is an educational resource for those interested n the history of the Great Plains," said Jon Blumb, Lawrence photographer and president of the Garden of Eden Inc., a group of a dozen or so shareholders who purchased the garden in 1989.

Biblical scenes mingle with political messages. In the back yard, Labor is crucified while Banker, Lawyer, Preacher and Doctor give their approval. On another pillar, an octopus represents monopolies and grabs at the world while a soldier and child are trapped in two of its tentacles. Another concrete tree shows the Goddess of Liberty driving a spear through the head of another octopus and freeing citizens.

"The Goddess of Liberty, the octopus, they are like the typical political cartoons of the time period," Blumb said, adding that the message for America remains relevant today. "Our political situation nowadays could use him," he said. "I'd vote for him."

Today, the Garden of Eden draws thousands to this tiny Russell County town, including grassroots artists like Dinsmoor.

"He didn't even know what that was, but he has been an inspiration for a lot of people," Blumb said of the art movement. "But how could you live in Lucas and not be influenced by Dinsmoor?"

Yet, beyond the tons of concrete, political messages and oddities, the garden's finishing piece is Dinsmoor himself. He built a 40-foot-tall limestone log mausoleum for himself and his first wife. She died in 1917. He remarried a 20-year-old at age 81, had two children, and then died.

His second wife executed his final wishes - to be buried in the mausoleum, his body visible inside the glass-topped concrete coffin and to have visitors be charged at least $1 to see him, Blumb said. Today, the charge is $6 per adult.

An air leak discovered a few years ago has sped up the corpse's decomposing process, tour guide Schneider said.

Dinsmoor's son John, also the youngest living son of a Civil War veteran, said he makes the journey every few years to the garden and the tomb. His father died when he was 4. He lived there until he was 13, however, when his mother sold the property to pay back taxes.

Now 79, John Dinsmoor said he didn't mind seeing his father during his periodical visits.

"I get to look at him eyeball to eyeball," he said. "He's pretty well decomposing, and he's still making money."