October 3-6, 2024
Continuing east on I-70 several hundred miles to the Flint Hills region of Kansas. I stayed a few nights at the Santa Fe Trail Campground in Council Grove.
Tallgrass Prairie
The main reason for stopping here was to visit the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
Tall grass prairie once covered 140 million acres of North America. After John Deere invented the steel plow that could cut tough prairie sod the praries were settled and cultivated. Now just 4% of the original tall grass prairie remain – mostly in the Flint Hills of Kansas. The Tall Grass Prairie Preserve is 11,000 acres created to preserve the tall grass. The park has over 40 miles of trails to hike plus a herd of bison.
Quite a change from the mountains.
Dwight D Eisenhower
This was a totally unexpected stop. While driving across Kansas on I-70 I saw signs for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum. It was about an hour drive from the campground.
It is actually museum, library, boyhood home, and final resting place. It was quite fascinating and I will make it a point to stop at other Presidential museums as I travel.
After a day hanging in Council Grove I moved east.