Oakley

My re-entry back into Kansas Friday was perfect. I left Castle Rock mid-morning after a nice breakfast headed for the plains. I had in mind to make it to Monument, just west of Oakley, in time to get some delicious enchiladas at El Ranchito. I called Della, the proprietor of El Ranchito to make sure that they were open and found out that I had to be there by 3:00 if I wanted lunch. That made things a little tight since I really wanted to stop by Mount Sunflower on the way, but it worked out. Mount Sunflower has always intrigued me as the highest point in Kansas staring from the Rand McNally atlas at over 4,000 feet elevation. As expected, it was no more a mountain than a bare field, but it had a pretty cool little monument display there. I rushed from Mt Sunflower to El Ranchito and made it with 15 minutes to spare for lunch. Della and her husband Frank served up a good lunch and some friendly conversation about mutual friends and gas mileage.

After lunch I went in to Oakley to visit the Buffalo Bill statue. I first visited Oakley and its many attractions with Celia who grew up there, and whose mom Bonnie (“mombon”) lived there until a few years ago. Oakley is located in the middle of the high plains, which offers stunning views of some of the most stark landscapes on earth, not to mention amazing thunderstorms when they come by. After saying hi to Buffalo Bill I went over a few blocks to the newly renovated (since my last visit) Fick Fossil Museum where I saw the locally famous prehistoric shark skeleton found nearby. After filling up my gas tank, I went 25 miles outside of town to see the Monument Rocks. It was particularly interesting observing some of my favorite landscapes in Western Kansas having just traveled through the four corners region. It struck me how similar the high plains are to the high deserts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. It used to the ocean floor, and it may be just a matter of time before the high plains become the desert.