My Monday this week was a long 12 hour round trip thru the rural countryside of NW Kansas. The weatherman kept warning his call of impending doom as he repeated his message of "do not travel" or "travel at risk of losing your life" and so forth. So, in spite of his advice and the depressing dark clouds that were my constant companion I kept moving further and further away from my home and for the most part I stayed out of harm's way until dark when I finally hit slick roads. The last 50-60 miles were snow packed slushy roads with several vehicles in the ditches and by then I was very tired. But made it home safely and got all my work done. I also managed to take quite a few photos during the day and will share some with you here including this old stone country schoolhouse that has been converted to farm storage.
A few more miles of driving brought me to my all time favorite gas station in Kansas or at least my favorite so far. The "Castle". I have pictured it before but got some better shots today. It is lovingly owned by a couple who rent it for a guest cottage for hunters.
The same town on the highway (Glen Elder) has this old gas station. I wish they would move all the clutter away just for me to take a better photo! I also came by later that night and it has Christmas lights along the roof and looks much better in the dark.
Yes, I like old gas stations for sure and here is one not far up the road at Cawker City, KS that I saw a short time later.....
Next town along the way and one where I had some deliveries to makes was Downs where I saw this old hamburger-ice cream diner that is long closed and sitting empty.
Across the street from there was this beautiful restored RR depot. In spite of the cold high winds from the north I even got out of my truck to take these photos....
Same town yielded this old school motel with individual cabins and these sort of places are disappearing from our world as they are considered obsolete. I had a hard time getting the shot I wanted because of alot of construction equipment parked there but you get the idea I'm sure.
And speaking of rooms for rent....I saw this old abandoned "Sunflower Hotel" while making a delivery in Osborne, KS which is not far down the road from Downs.
And hiding right behind it in plain sight (even though I had never noticed it before) was this abandoned modern motel that was very cool.
Before leaving town I took this photo of their old depot just to please my friend Duane from NM who likes this kind of stuff as much as I like old gas stations.
By now the cold north wind was hurricane force and in spite of that I stopped at a farm house to ask permission to take a photo of this old beater 1960 Ford truck. The farmer seemed to think I was crazy for even being interested but gave me permission with a smile. Oddly I was to see several 59-60 Ford trucks throughout the day of various sizes.
And then a couple of quick ghost town photos from the comfort of my truck cab...
Another ghost town up the road was Gaylord where I took these photos of a buggy shop I have visited before. The big draft horses reminded me of Christmas. I think they are Belgian crossbreds and not as magnificent as the famed Budweiser Clydesdales but were still impressive in their own way. I couldn't get one of the horses to cooperate and pose for me but they were a matched pair and were no doubt siblings.
I guess I have reached the limit for photos on this blog so will go to part two. Thanks for reading part one.
In regards to the Sunflower Hotel in Osborne, when I was growing up there was a giant meteor like rock that was next to the hotel. In the picture, it would have been on the left side. The legend I was told was that a meteor fell there and no one ever moved it or even tried to move it. I see it's not in the picture so I guess someone thought it necessary to rectify that. :)
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