Did we mention about the cornfields – well they have not abated!!!!
We were on the road about mid morning on our way to Wichita. Distance to cover today is 385 miles (620k) and all on very good highways. One of the roads is the I335 (35) and referred to as a turnpike which means it is a tollway. We were on it for about two hours. They don’t tell you how much you pay per mile and payment is via one of those tags, which of course we do not have. If you don’t have a tag they post you an invoice according to your number plate. We tried to get online to pay the toll, and they did have Alberta in Canada, but they didn’t recognise our numberplate. Also, in Alberta we do not have numberplates on the front of our vehicle, which is STUPID, but maybe in this case it might save us some money. How damn archaic to be posting you an invoice. Also, Canada Post is on strike (who knows for how long) and we are away for the next five months!! We are curious to see how all this pans out.
Our first piece of geographical excitement was crossing the Missouri River. The Missouri River runs into the Mississippi River in St Louis, Missouri but won’t be ticking that one off our list this trip.
Another tick.
Time to come clean about us travelling through Nebraska. It is not on the direct route down to Houston from Rochester. In fact, now this is very SAD, we went out of our way by 100k to clip the southeast corner of Nebraska to be able to earn another tick.
Legitimately we were going to go through Kansas so this is a true bone fide tick.
A little on the city of Wichita where we have stopped for the evening. Wichita is the most populous city in the state of Kansas with a population of 650,000 as of a 2020 census. It is known as a “Cowtown”, just like Calgary but is also known for being a very large aeronautical hub in development and production including Beechcraft, Cessna and Boeing. The city experienced a population explosion during the war when it became a major manufacturing center for the Boeing B-29 bomber.
Claimed first by France as part of Louisiana and later acquired by the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it became part of Kansas Territory in 1854 and then the state of Kansas in 1861.
Thanks to the early 20th-century oil boom in neighboring Butler County, Kansas, Wichita became a major oil town, with dozens of oil-exploration companies and support enterprises. Think Trump might be referring to Kansas as one of the “drill, baby drill” states.
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