September 22, 2021

Sea Of Grass

I was tired this morning and had a hard time getting started. I was awakened several times during the night by the really strong scent of skunk. It seemed like they were very close…but I didn’t get up to check!

It was a glorious autumn morning…perfect for a walk around the lake. The blue herons were “quarking” in their croaking prehistoric manner.

Along the roadside we passed these odd sculptures. We stopped to look and take pictures. The man who created these had very strong opinions! Some of his works of art are downright offensive!

We stopped in the town of Ensign outside the PrideAg grain elevator. We watched a steady stream of tractor trailers line up to offload their cargo of feed corn.

As we traveled along, we realized that there was at least one grain elevator in every town!

And we saw hundreds of wind turbines today.

We have learned that if a town has a gas station…it has a Dollar General Store. They are EVERYWHERE!

We drove through Dodge City and down to the most southwestern town in the corner of Kansas.

The campground, The Prairie RV Park and Carwash, is not much. However, this town, Elkhart, is adjacent to the Cimarron National Grassland. We started our adventure at the US Forest Service office in town. We got a map and were glad to have it as we made our way onto dirt and gravel roads.

Driving through the prairie, we were able to get a feeling for what this area might have been like in the 1800’s, before pioneers and settlers made their way west. In the early 1900’s the land was overgrazed and plowed for crops. The lack of rain and drought caused the dustbowl of the 1930’s. The government purchased land from settlers who wanted to leave. The area was allowed to heal and be restored to grassland. Along the Cimarron River, cottonwood trees grow. Some cottonwood trees were planted in the 1920’s and seedlings were carried downstream during heavy rain and flashfloods. Now trees line the banks of the river…a trickle really. This river runs mostly underground.

We explored the recreation areas and the scenic overlook.

What kind of bird makes this kind of nest?

We are seeing a change in vegetaion as the area is drier. There were prickly pear cacti, sagebrush, and soapwood yuccas growing amongst the long grasses.

It was fun to be out exploring…seeing things we haven’t seen before…learning new things about the land and the history of the country.