It's been a great weekend on the Plains

It has been a good weekend in more ways than one. Spring is coming soon as the last days of winter seem to be losing their grip. Warmer temps and longer days are becoming the norm now at least part of the time...
Things got started on Friday morning as Mrs. PF asked me to go with her to see her sick cousin whose birthday it was that day. We made the trip because she calls everyday asking us to come see her but sadly she was not having a good day when we got there.  She suffers from dementia and other health problems and after we arrived from our 4 hour trip to see her she promptly told us to go home. Ha ha---oh well...we kind of expected something like that and didn't let it bother us too much and began the long drive home. By then it was afternoon and good picture taking weather....
I soon saw an old gas station that is mostly yard art at a home in Parsons, KS in the SE part of our large state.

and after driving an hour or so I saw one of those little green signs with an arrow pointing down a gravel road that suggested a town was only 4 miles to my left on a gravel road so I turned to see what lay ahead....
It was a tiny ghost town near a creek surrounded by flat and fertile farm ground with a few modest homes and only one old building left standing plus a small abandoned school building. Right away I saw 3 old trucks that I liked and all were 46 Chevys or thereabouts...

and not far from town was an old abandoned railroad bridge that still spanned the distance over the water and seemed to be a "bridge to nowhere" so I left the car for a short hike in the woods. The water was flowing slowly thru the gravel bottom washing itself clean and pooling in some deeper areas along some sandbars. I climbed up and stood on the bridge.....

 It was fun to stand on the sturdy bridge of 4 huge steel beams that were forged long ago and left here to spend what must seem like an eternity...

I took some photos showing the nice stone work from perhaps a century ago and also enjoyed the clear water and had there been any fish nearby I would have been able to see every one of them. 

 Then it was time to get back on the road but not too far along the journey I saw yet another green sign telling me to turn left again....so I did.
This was a bigger town and had a few stores downtown that were open and a post office too. I saw 2 old gas stations which are always interesting to me since I am an old car guy...

and an old garage that may have sold Model T Fords nearly a century ago....

and this town was on a small river with an old bridge and was just a pleasant place to explore and I am glad we took the time...
Not far away I saw a couple of old gas pumps standing proudly to mark their place in transportation history....

then it was time to get down the road as we were a long ways from home but did take time to explore a bigger town nearer to Wichita named Augusta where I saw this nice old family owned drive in diner. It wasn't quite time to eat yet but maybe next time thru I will try a hamburger and shake....

We did eat supper later and had a Friday night fish fry and that was good. 
Saturday was not as busy for me but was a nice day to run errands and have lunch in town with my pal Ron as well as get some things done before the big basketball game of the year between our #4 ranked Kansas Jayhawks and the #3 Missouri Tigers. It went to overtime and happily our team won. 
In case you didn't know, basketball is king in Kansas and is  great winter entertainment. 
Then on Sunday...we hosted a few friends for coffee after they left the Catholic church across the street from our home in our small town...
They delivered the "gospel" to me as they knew it and we all had a good time. 

 then Mrs. PF donned her apron and commenced to preparing a simple and traditional Sunday dinner that has become normal around here on most weekends. She set the table for 5 as we had some guests...

It was a real feast of roasted pork loin, mashed potatoes and gravy, real Iowa sweet corn from our trip last summer, apple salad, and homemade biscuits with honey. We told our guests to arrive at noon and they did....my wife's son Jerry and our grandaughter Abbey and my pal Chad from Oklahoma who had driven 5 hours that morning to come here...

We enjoyed the meal and conversation and soon it was time for dessert of made from scratch apple pie and ice cream which sadly was not homemade but that will come soon as the season changes....and it too was good...

It was good to see my buddy Chad who had brought me 3 antique car engines and like a true friend he offered me a handwritten lifetime warranty with no questions asked....

and then we went outside to inspect the old engines that will be restored and placed into old cars and trucks and return to the open road where they will once again cruise the happy highways of life's never ending journeys....

After we unloaded the engines and said goodbye I spent the warm afternoon power washing the grime and buildup of many years of motoring from them and then retired for the evening to write this blog. I sure have enjoyed the weekend and hope you have too. As for the rest of the evening?.....let's just say that there is more pie in the kitchen and I am getting hungry. See you later and let's do it again soon!

"The ghost park"

It sits a half mile north of Green, KS (pop. 147) and it is abandoned. But why?
I had driven past it many times over the years but on this late morning of Winter-Spring I finally stopped to explore.
It is a large park of a few acres with a dry creek running thru it and some nice shade trees. The entrance is large and grand...

the plaque says it was built by the WPA in 1938. This was Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration where the federal government became a big employer and hired workers to do a large number of services throughout the USA.
There really isn't much to see here....it is what it is....a vacant city park. But it remains a mystery to me.
I could see a stage or ampitheater near the trees--

As I walked around, I tried to get a feel for the place. I imagined it with families enjoying picnics, playing horseshoes, tennis, or maybe there was a skating rink area for winter use, or maybe young lovers would park there at night staring at the stars above while holding hands....

Then I saw a bridge big enough for cars to drive across...

and then one for pedestrian use only and it was a beauty if you like stone work like me...

Upon leaving the park I walked out the other side where the driveway exits....

and I admired the dry and dead native Kansas Bluestem prairie grass that bordered the park on the north side. It is a pleasure to behold in it's own right as this is how our state once looked from border to border with no trees. Just grass and wind with creeks and rivers and herds of buffalo that did roam.....

Sadly it was time to get back on the road less traveled---a county blacktop that was to take me some 20 miles north that day before I left it for yet another road.

I had time to reflect on the "ghost park" the rest of the afternoon. Why did it become abandoned? Was it too expensive to mow and keep up? Did everyone move away leaving too few people behind to care? Was it doomed to fail right from the start because of it's poor location?

Did the government build these proud Kansans something they did not need or want?

I still want to know.

But for now, I will keep on wondering what was and what will be......

Thanks for riding along.

--Not a ghost town !---

I was on the road again and it was a long drive. Another gray day of winter and after a couple hours I needed a break. Then, as I was going around a curve in the backroad I saw one of those little green signs that often call my name... and the arrow pointed to the left. Naturally I turned left too. I could not see any town at all at first but then after cresting the small hill there it was sitting in a low valley. I had found another ghost town and it looked cool.

I took a few photos without leaving my truck...

and then I saw a gal come outside what I thought was the post office (but there is no post office here anymore) and she was watching me. I drove up to her, rolled down my window and told her I like old ghost towns....her name was Connie.

She works in this office that houses an independent oil production company but used to be a bank. I stepped inside to meet her co-worker Jackie and they assured me this was NOT a ghost town...

I didn't argue with them since there are indeed a handful of folks who live here. But I did not see any other business in town that was open. Even the grain elevator looked abandoned and there was no longer any railroad either...

and they told me this old rr depot came from a nearby town and was used by the grain company as an office but looks abandoned now too...

This building used to house a grocery store and post office but is empty now...
and I could barely read the faded words "Post Office" on the old tin sign.

and the girls told me this old concrete building was formerly a hotel but sadly has no roof at all now...

and Connie said that this garage shop was built in the late 1800's 
so maybe it started out as a blacksmith shop then later turned to working on cars but I am just guessing here...

and there were two schools of good size the first one built as a WPA project in the 1930's according to Connie but abandoned now and the few kids they have are bussed away to another town...

and this smaller one may be the older school of the two and looks like someone might live in it....

and I guess the old yellow school bus is retired as well...

and some more old vehicles and things I found interesting

One more interesting fact here---the girls told me the town was hit by a tornado in three consecutive years from 1916-1917-1918. Wow, talk about bad luck!
And then after a few minutes my quick tour of this town was over and it was time to hit the road for more miles of looking to the future while pondering the past...
It's what I do everyday...
Thanks for riding along again.  :-)