Big Kansas Road Trip 2023

 

Each May, the Big Kansas Road Trip (BKRT) highlights the tourist attractions in three adjacent Kansas counties. This year the lucky counties were Republic, Jewell, and Smith, located in the center of the top tier of Kansas counties along the Nebraska border. The largest town in the three counties is Belleville with a population of 2,007, so this really is rural tourism. My mom and I took a day trip on Friday to enjoy the sights.

Our first destination was the town of Agenda (yes, that is its name), population 48. A retired lady Glenda Trecek returned to her hometown of Agenda about 20 years ago and decided that she didn’t want it to become a ghost town, so she bought all the buildings on the one-block downtown and set about restoring them. She enlisted community help and created a town museum, community hall, coffee shop and cafe, library, shop that sells tourist items, and playground. My mom loved the flowers she had planted in front of each shop, and we enjoyed a chicken salad croissant and coffee for lunch. So far, she has succeeded in keeping the town alive, but she doubts that anyone will take it over when she retires a second time because of the work involved and the little income it yields.

Geographic center of the Lower 48.

Another highlight was visiting three countries in one day. The town of Cuba, KS, (pop. 140) was founded in 1868. It boasts a restored blacksmith shop. Next was the community of Norway, settled by Norwegians in 1870. Finally, we visited Lebanon (pop. 178), named after Lebanon, KY. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is located three miles northwest of the town, where a community group set up a monument, a chapel, and a park with a shelter house and barbecue grills. Unless you participate in BKRT, I doubt you could visit Cuba, Norway, and Lebanon in one day.

Clock tower covered bridge.

Next on our itinerary was a covered bridge with a clock tower near Courtland. There are a lot of covered bridges preserved throughout America, but how many of them have a clock tower? The builder of the covered bridge wanted a unique entry to his guest hunting lodge, so he built a covered bridge over a draw on the road to the lodge and added a clock tower. The owner of the hunting lodge stood at the entrance to the bridge all day visiting with the tourists and invited us to drive through the bridge up to the lodge and take a photo from outlook over the wildlife preserve.

Finally, we viewed the beautiful homes in Millionaires’ Row in Smith Center (pop. 1,571). The Relihan family owned a prosperous local bank a century ago and built a half-dozen fabulous Queen Anne and Edwardian homes along Third Street. A couple are rather dilapidated, but most are still beautiful today.

It was late and my 89-year-old mom was getting tired, so we decided to skip the last attraction on our list, the cabin where Dr. Brewster Higly composed “Home on the Range,” the state song of Kansas, in about 1872. The cabin is located eight miles north of the town of Athol (pop. 41) in a beautiful valley. The BKRT organizers urged all road-trippers to sing “Home on the Range” at sunset at 8:34 p.m. Since my mom and I were alone in the car on the road home at sunset, we decided to listen to the song on my cell phone instead of inflicting our singing voices on each other. You can enjoy a rendition of the song by the Sons of the Pioneers.

For me, the highlight of the day was the Republic County courthouse in Belleville. The courthouse boasts an immaculate green lawn, and the residents have surrounded it with waving American flags. My heart thrilled to be reminded that the heartland of America still loves our great country.

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  1. Chris Williamson Member
    Chris Williamson
    @ChrisWilliamson

    Thanks for this report.  There’s nothing like reading and seeing a part of America and its history that I may never get to see. This really is an amazing nation to live in….

    • #1
  2. Quintus Sertorius Coolidge
    Quintus Sertorius
    @BillGollier

    This is great!! Thanks for sharing and hello from Lawrence Kansas….home of the University of Kansas and site of the infamous Quantrill raid August 1863!!

    • #2
  3. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    I happen to pass through Belleville several times a year…not sure how you forgot to mention your exciting visit to the High Banks Hall of Fame (and how much your mother loved that too).

    Also, I know it isn’t in one of the three counties of interest but, if I was that close I would have definitely detoured 20 miles south to Taco John’s in Concordia. A Taco Bravo and Potato Oles with Cheese  would have capped off the day quite nicely. The alternative is a 50 mile detour north into Nebraska to the nearest Runza Restaurant…a longer drive for an even bigger reward. (Yes, either one destroys my diet for the day but either – or both! – are guilty pleasures whenever I’m on that drive…)

    Taco John's's Menu: Prices and Deliver - Doordash

    Runza Delivery Menu | 815 2nd Avenue East Kearney - DoorDash

    • #3
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Cool!

    • #4
  5. GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms Reagan
    GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms
    @GLDIII

    You haven’t experienced those flat middle states until you eat at a Runza!

    • #5
  6. jzdro Member
    jzdro
    @jzdro

    Thanks; this is great.

    Are those elm trees on the courthouse lawn? Actual living elm trees?

    • #6
  7. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    How wonderful. I hadn’t heard of this event. I’m from Cuba and it’s nice to see it mentioned. The story with Agenda I was told was that they had a town meeting. First item on the agenda was to pick a name. Nothing was working and someone suggested Agenda. It ended up winning. Cuba’s story is that one of the settlers was from Cuba. 

    • #7
  8. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    I haven’t made it to the geographic center but have enjoyed the Pawnee Indian Museum. We had a number of fields trips there in grade school. 

    • #8
  9. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Ma… (View Comment):

    You haven’t experienced those flat middle states until you eat at a Runza!

    Curiously, I didn’t see anything about runzas yesterday. Maybe they are not a Czech thing? Most of the settlers in that area were Czechs and Swedes. It’s weird how you can go a few miles and the ethnic food is totally different because of the settlement patterns.

    • #9
  10. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    How wonderful. I hadn’t heard of this event. I’m from Cuba and it’s nice to see it mentioned. The story with Agenda I was told was that they had a town meeting. First item on the agenda was to pick a name. Nothing was working and someone suggested Agenda. It ended up winning. Cuba’s story is that one of the settlers was from Cuba.

    You’re from Cuba, Kansas; and you know about Agenda! What a small world! Cuba has a restored blacksmith shop where they did demonstrations, although we weren’t there at the right time. Did Dr. McClatchy deliver you? We saw his office where he was town doctor from 1929 to 1981. And there was a picture of all the babies (now adults) that he had delivered when retired. And I bought a delicious apricot kolache there. Usually I’m not a fan of kolaches because they seem dry and doughy, but this one was moist and had the perfect ratio of fruit to bread.

    • #10
  11. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    I haven’t made it to the geographic center but have enjoyed the Pawnee Indian Museum. We had a number of fields trips there in grade school.

    We missed the Pawnee museum – I heard it was good, but there were so many things to see, and we just had one day. Most people would say there is nothing to do there, but we had to skip stuff that looked interesting because we didn’t have time.

    • #11
  12. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    Quintus Sertorius (View Comment):

    This is great!! Thanks for sharing and hello from Lawrence Kansas….home of the University of Kansas and site of the infamous Quantrill raid August 1863!!

    Nice to see there are a few of us Kansas Ricochetti!

    • #12
  13. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Steve Fast (View Comment):

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    How wonderful. I hadn’t heard of this event. I’m from Cuba and it’s nice to see it mentioned. The story with Agenda I was told was that they had a town meeting. First item on the agenda was to pick a name. Nothing was working and someone suggested Agenda. It ended up winning. Cuba’s story is that one of the settlers was from Cuba.

    You’re from Cuba, Kansas; and you know about Agenda! What a small world! Cuba has a restored blacksmith shop where they did demonstrations, although we weren’t there at the right time. Did Dr. McClatchy deliver you? We saw his office where he was town doctor from 1929 to 1981. And there was a picture of all the babies (now adults) that he had delivered when retired. And I bought a delicious apricot kolache there. Usually I’m not a fan of kolaches because they seem dry and doughy, but this one was moist and had the perfect ratio of fruit to bread.

    He did not. I was born in Belleville but remember being in that office once or twice as a kid. My grandma made the best kolaches, of course. Mom has picked up the torch quite well though. Poppy seed ones are the best.

    • #13
  14. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Steve Fast (View Comment):

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    I haven’t made it to the geographic center but have enjoyed the Pawnee Indian Museum. We had a number of fields trips there in grade school.

    We missed the Pawnee museum – I heard it was good, but there were so many things to see, and we just had one day. Most people would say there is nothing to do there, but we had to skip stuff that looked interesting because we didn’t have time.

    There were a few things on that site I hadn’t heard about and want to try them out when I get home to visit. 

    • #14
  15. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Steve Fast: A retired lady Glenda Trecek returned to her hometown of Agenda about 20 years ago and decided that she didn’t want it to become a ghost town, so she bought all the buildings on the one-block downtown and set about restoring them. She enlisted community help and created a town museum, community hall, coffee shop and cafe, library, shop that sells tourist items, and playground. My mom loved the flowers she had planted in front of each shop, and we enjoyed a chicken salad croissant and coffee for lunch. So far she has succeeded in keeping the town alive, but she doubts that anyone will take it over when she retires a second time because of the work involved and the little income it yields.

    I would stop to see that.  Maybe sometime on our way back home from the southwest. 

    Last June we stopped in the World’s Only Winnetoon in northeast Nebraska where Gayle Neuhaus has done something similar.  Back in the 50s when I was attending a rural school a few miles to the east, we boys decided that Winnetoon, with a population of about 100, could be classified as a small town because some of us knew everyone there.  A town where you couldn’t know everyone was classified as a big town.  The population is down to 60-70 now. 

    When I got in touch with Gayle to contribute a photo from my father’s collection to her facebook page, she said she remembered me and my family.   We both remembered the 1959 75th anniversary of the “big town” of Creighton (population about 1100) when Michael Landon of Bonanza came to be the grand marshall of the parade.  Gayle’s brother had been in our cub scout pack in the parade with us.  I have probably told the story of how I was dressed as a bearded prospector leading our burro, Judy, loaded with a few prospector tools, but things didn’t go according to plan when Judy stepped on a manhole cover and spooked.  Gayle’s version of the story was a little different, but as we put our stories together we figured out they complemented each other and filled in some important missing details of each!  We each had photos of the event to share. 

    Gayle gets a few tour groups, including one big bus tour group in the three days we spent in the area.  But she is in her 80s and it is getting harder for her to keep it all up. 

    I did learn that the farm of one family that everyone remembered well is now an Amish farm, which maybe accounts for the Amish buggy in the photo on the Visit Nebraska page linked above.

    Back in the late 50s and early 60s nobody had heard of Runza, but one of our friends whose connection with Nebraska is more recent than mine recommended them. We went through Norfolk on our way and ate at the Runza there. I don’t remember exactly what we had even though Google remembers that we were there. I would stop there again.

     

     

    • #15
  16. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    The Wichita Model A club even joined the Big Kansas Road Trip. What a fun way to do touring!

    • #16
  17. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    My brother and I spent a great day in Dodge City not too long ago. Fantastic museum, and some wild buffalo reserves nearby. Or bison.

    • #17
  18. Quintus Sertorius Coolidge
    Quintus Sertorius
    @BillGollier

    I was thinking of maybe hosting an event in 2024….I’m just about 10 miles SW of Lawrence and maybe 45 min from the Kansas City airport….any thoughts?? Maybe in October??

    • #18
  19. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    Quintus Sertorius (View Comment):

    I was thinking of maybe hosting an event in 2024….I’m just about 10 miles SW of Lawrence and maybe 45 min from the Kansas City airport….any thoughts?? Maybe in October??

    That would be fun. I would be glad to help. I’m between Wichita and Salina.

    • #19
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