Another great breakfast, and stomping on Kansas dirt to say we'd been there

Thursday, March 31

Having learned the lesson of “ask the locals,” we returned to the library to review an atlas for, of all the AAA maps we picked up before we left home and on the road, we don't have maps for where we're going today. Woodward has no AAA office. Once again, helpful librarians met our needs, plus directed us to Polyanna's, a café about as old as the Route 66 Restaurant in Santa Rosa, but with much better food. However, before directing us to Polyanna's the obvious favorite breakfast places of the majority of the library staff, amazingly, were Subway and McDonald's.

We chose the good home cooking at Polyanna's and were not disappointed. Besides, lots of locals were coming and going there. While the furniture had not fully stood the test of time, it was clear that duct tape was the patch material of choice. Every stool at the counter and every booth seat were patched with multiple strips of silver duct tape. There was no attempt to be clever and creative with it; the tape had just been slapped on. Originally, the upholstery material was a red vinyl, and what remained was still red where tape did not cover the gaps. The flooring was that tiny hexagonal tile of 1950s bathroom floors – about the right vintage. However, this was a family owned eatery, and the food was quite good. I actually had a Western omelet made with American cheese. I can't believe I'm saying it was good. I haven't eaten American cheese in years, not since the boys, now men, were at home and our typical Sunday lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches. So, fortified with protein, veggies and carbs, we hit the road.

There was no need to enter Kansas, but we thought it would be fun to say we'd been there. The eastern end of the Oklahoma panhandle and SW Colorado all look a lot like the SW corner of Kansas. We missed the turn for Liberal, Kansas, so we drove most of the Oklahoma panhandle to highway 95, where we turned north to Elkhart, Kansas deep enough in the south west corner that it was nearly in Oklahoma. No roadside rests appeared, so we created our own, got out, and stomped in dusty Kansas dirt.

That's it for Kansas. On to Colorado. We called it a night in La Junta at the KOA. I don't recall that we unhooked the trailer, not completely because we were too tired to do so, but partly because our intention was to get out of town early in the morning. A New-Mexican style dinner at Felice's and we turned in for the night. And, I'm almost ashamed to say another stop at the local Walmart for groceries and incidentals – just about the only store guaranteed to be in nearly every small town.

A day of driving, followed by another one tomorrow.

Until next time,

Pam