Saturday, August 31 – Jefferson City, Missouri to Hays, Kansas

We left the motel in Jefferson City about 7:25 am. It was still cool and overcast, but by the time we reached Kansas City (above) the skies had cleared and the temperatures were in the mid-seventies.

We began seeing lots of small sunflowers along the road.

I learned that they are called Maximilian’s sunflower and that they are probably native to midcontinental prairies, but have spread along roads and railways all over North America. The are about 3″ across.

Maximilian’s sunflower is named after Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782 – 1867), who journeyed in the Great Plains and studied their natural history and anthropology. He published the two-volume “Travels in the Interior of North America” in 1839-41.

I told Cerwin that I would like to get a closeup of the flower – and to keep his eyes out for a place to pull off.

Since Cerwin planned this trip to Bryce Canyon and chose I-70 for most of drive, we saw these signs many times every day.

There was a sign along the road that said this was the first section of interstate opened in the USA.

From the internet: Kansas opened the first section of Interstate in the nation on I-70 just west of Topeka on November 14, 1956. The event marked the beginning of the largest public works project in modern U.S. history. The general route of I-70 was laid out during the early months after the Federal-Aid Highway Act was enacted in 1956.

This yellow-leafed tree looked pretty in the morning sunshine.

We pulled off at a rest stop – and to my delight there were Maximilian’s sunflowers next to the driveway.

This turned out to be an interesting and informative rest stop, due to this being the first section of interstate opened.

I also enjoyed reading these large signs.

While taking these pictures a dog came up to me and licked my camera lens. 🙂 His owner was embarrassed. I said, “Your dog probably thought I came to see him.” The owner replied, “He thinks everyone comes to see him.” During our conversation we learned that he was headed to California to see a new grandchild.

We were on the road again – enjoying the Kansas scenery.

Before long the man and his dog – and interesting camper passed us.

By the time we finished our drive through Kansas we saw thousands of windmills.

The old and new: notice the old windmill on the left.

The landscape changed to rolling hills with grazing cattle.

We saw thousands of acres of sorghum – some in yellow flower, some young plants and others brown and dried – ready for harvest.

Working oil pumps were active in many fields.

From the internet: The visible parts of an oil field pump can range in size from small enough to fit in the bed of a pickup truck to structures the size of a house. As a general rule, the larger the pumpjack, the deeper the reservoir. The typical pump comprises an A-shaped frame topped by a long bar or beam. One end of the beam is connected to a motor.

After getting to our Super 8 in Hays, we looked for a local steakhouse. When traveling, we love restaurants that are not part of a chain where we can eat locally in Pennsylvania. We found one close to our motel that was called Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill. That sounded old west, so we tried it and were very pleased.

The warm bread was a combination of wheat and pumpernickel.

Cerwin ordered a buffalo burger that he said was incredibly delicious.

I ordered Tootsie Rolls. They were filled with shrimp and cream cheese.

The menu described the appetizer this way: Shrimp, cream cheese and special ingredients all twisted into a crispy eggroll and served with whiskey creeks own chipotle lime BBQ sauce.

Oh, they were delicious. I am glad that I like to try unusual food items.