The weather was pleasant today!  Unfortunately the traffic was heavy, making noticing stuff hard for me as I was always watching behind me to figure out if I needed to find a place for cars to pass.  I have noticed when a car gets behind Dianne she get nervous and slows down causing more cars to pile up behind her.  At one point there were 15 cars behind her.  Not sure it was her fault I think we just hit the magic hour when all the high school kid started out.  It was hilly winding road with no shoulder and limited spots to pull over.  It was only 2 minutes after the last stop so they arrived at the same time.   Later one of the cars that I had tried to get to pass me three times with open passing lanes finally passed us he beeped his displeasure.   I therefore returned the feelings.  


The basic problem was were trapped between something called the Smithfield Reservoir and Kanas city.  In fact we did pass through the north end of Kanas City.  This resulted in most of the ride being on 4 lane roads with stoplights at regular intervals.  This we can handle as the traffic lights break up the traffic and the extra lane makes passing. easy for most cars.  



After arriving in Lexington a total ride of 71 miles we did the historic tour of the town. The town was founded in 1819.  It rapidly became the jumping off point for the west as for many years it was as far as the boats could come.  Note this claim is made by many towns as the river opened up and further west ports were opened.  Then the agricultural industry took off and hemp became one of the major crops just like in Weston.  This made slavery here a requirement so the area was largely southern leaning.  We did the historic tour  it included:

  • The 1861 battle of Lexington where the confederates surrounded, the town and put it under siege using Hemp bails as cover.
  • The Modena of the trail, a statue to the pioneer mothers that hiked to west with their families.
  • The courthouse. with a cannon ball in the column from 1861 battle
  • A glimpse inside the military school and historic society buildings. 
  • This was as far west as they could carry the Potawatomi Natives from Indiana in 1838 during the forced relocation program.  From here they were then forced walk the Northeast corner of Kanas and march that the Potawatomi call a march of death.   


Other Notes

  • Santa Fey trail signs are now as common as the Lewis and Clark signs are
  • Civil war History has exceeded Lewis and Clark history markers
  • Casino and gambling is very common here even this small hotel has about 10 machines to play on.
  • There are still a lot of grain trucks running the roads still














  

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