Road Trip, Day 17 - Dodge City, Kansas

On the third week of our road trip, we wanted to go from Kansas City, Missouri to Taos, New Mexico.  However, the drive would have been over 11 hours long.  That's way to much for one stretch.  There isn't much in the way of cities or towns in the middle of those two places.  Dodge City, Kansas was just about our only and best choice.  We weren't looking forward to that stop much at all until my daughter found a bed and breakfast that sounded good.  It had really good reviews and sounded nice.  We reserved a room and we were set.  It seemed like it would be a nice stop.

We left fairly early in the morning from Kansas City.  The drive seemed long because of the miles and miles and hours and hours of flat prairies.  It was nice though in that we had some rain along the way to make it interesting and the clouds made it cooler.  We pulled into Dodge City in the early afternoon.  We stopped for lunch and went to check into the Boot Hill Bed and Breakfast.

Right away we were a bit concerned about this choice as it didn't look much like the photos at all.  The planters and yard were overgrown and it just didn't look as nice.  We took a deep breath and said, "sense of adventure", turned the knob on the front door, and walked in.  A very nice woman greeted us but quickly figured out that the room we'd reserved with the private bath had been given to someone else.  Weird!  She took us upstairs to show us what else was available and gave us a choice.  One possibility was on the third level but it was a little creepy and we didn't want to carry our luggage up two flights of stairs.  The other choice was less creepy but we had to walk across the hall to "our" private bathroom.  We took that room but weren't thrilled.  We weren't sure there was anything else we could have done.  Although, now, after thinking about it, I think I would ask to cancel our reservation without any penalty charges and headed over to the nearest chain hotel to try and get a room.  Oh well.  Live and learn, right?

The inn looked like someones home, which it is, complete with LOTS of family photos, clutter, worn out furnishings, and hodge-podge decor.  We even discovered long hair from a previous guest on the walls of the shower/tub.  Gross!  The tub had rust stains and the shower was held up by the shower curtain rod (the oval kind that goes around a claw foot tub...but this wasn't one) and a strap of plastic.  And, the bathroom window only had a lace panel on it for privacy.  Eeek!  I tried to cover the window with a towel but the towel was too small.  Then, there were the linens.  My daughter was especially bothered by the pink and green towels.  She likes them to be white so you can see that they're clean.  And, the bed linens?...the pillows on top of everything smelled kind of dirty.  The sheets smelled strong of very scented laundry detergent.  Aaaachooo!

With each stop of our trip, we would always focus on our destination, the things we'd planned to see and tried to keep a positive "sense of adventure" and fun.  So...after checking in, we brought some things to the room, freshened up, and headed out to see the "Boot Hill Museum".  It's right across the street and walking felt nice after sitting in the car for so long.  

The sidewalks and streets in that part of town are made of bricks.

The Boot Hill Museum looked more like a ghost town with not much to see.

So, we just walked around their gift shop and looked around.

There's an old steam train engine in the parking lot.

Right behind it is a little train station.

I took some photos through the windows.

The information about the train is interesting.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it and make it readable.

Those wheels are HUGE!  They're about as tall as my daughter!

There's an even larger train station down the street but

it was hot and we decided not to walk over to see it.

We walked around a couple of the old downtown streets.  It might not have been the best idea.  As we walked around we started to wonder if it was safe.  So, we started heading back.  We took a few photos along the way though.  The shape of the "Carnegie Art Center" building is interesting and it has stained glass windows across the top.

My dear hubby is a fan of western movies, books, etc.

I just had to take this picture for him...

This was on the side of one of the old buildings...

 I liked the western painting on the side of this old building...

It was pretty hot that day.  So, after our walk, we went back to the inn to take showers and change.  Then, it was time for dinner.  There didn't seem to be a lot of choices in town and we didn't want fast food.  So, we decided to give Applebee's a try.  I'm not sure if we'd ever eaten at an Applebee's but we were glad we'd chosen to that night.  The food was very good.  The waiter was very nice.  And, the drinks hit the spot!  We joked and called them our "lodging improvement juice".

We went back to the inn and loaded everything into the car except what we needed for the night.  That way, we could make a quick and quiet get-away in the morning.  We ended up not even changing....we slept in our clothes.  That made it even easier to "get the heck outta Dodge"!  That's just what we did...before the sun even came up!  Off to Taos, New Mexico!  Whoohooo!  :-D