ROAMING AROUND KANSAS

This is the tenth in a series of articles about touring the state of Kansas

ON TO KANSAS CITY

By Charles N. Stevens

Photos by Dolores Seidman

We wake up to brilliant sunlight this morning, the air warm and somewhat muggy. Dew is thick on parked cars and lawns, the sun making it glow like frost. We see many people here in Lawrence wearing Jayhawk shirts as the University of Kansas has a football game with Central Michigan later in the day.

Our bus rolls out at about 9:30, headed for the small town of Baldwin City. We are quickly out of Lawrence and among cornfields as we travel out into rural Kansas again. Soon we arrive in Baldwin City, a quaint town with many “ancient” brick streets. Pulling up to an old railroad station formerly owned by the Santa Fe Railway, we are about to take a ride on a tourist train owned by the Midland Railroad. After waiting for a half hour we board an open car with a roof on top for shade.

With two brassy blasts from the diesel locomotive horn, we are on our way. We roll by the Baldwin Feed Company and the towering concrete silos of the Baldwin Grain Company. But soon we are out of town and traveling through a forest, the sound of our wheels rolling on the rails and the squeaking of the swaying cars echoing into the trees. The ride is faster and rougher than most tourist train rides, but we enjoy the scenery along the way—cornfield tassels forming acres of shimmering beige, as well as small forests, waving grain fields and old bridges over muddy creeks. Our train stops at a yellowing soy bean field on the outskirts of Ottawa, Kansas where the locomotive transfers to the other end of the train for the return trip back to Baldwin City.

Our bus is soon speeding along I-35 on the way to our final destination, the great metropolis of Kansas City. It is different to be in a real urban setting after spending so much time in rural areas. Our first stop is at the Steamship Arabia Museum, the highlight of our trip and a museum that everyone should see.

In 1856 the steamship Arabia was on its way up the Missouri River, bound for Omaha, Nebraska and Sioux City, Iowa when it struck a tree snag about six miles from Kansas City. All of the passengers were rescued, but the ship sunk with its two hundred tons of cargo. It settled into the silt and over the years was covered by more silt. Years later the river changed course, leaving the sunken ship in an area that was now land. In fact, when a group located it in 1988 using metal detectors and old maps, it was buried under 45 feet of earth in a farmer’s cornfield. Then came the painstaking job of digging down and recovering what was left of the ship and its cargo. Since its contents had been away from light and oxygen for 132 years they found that every item, although covered with silt, was in pristine condition.

In 1991 all the objects recovered from the ship were cleaned, sorted and displayed in this special museum for all to see. It was breathtaking for me to stroll through the museum looking at the well-exhibited items and gazing back into over a hundred years of time. All were the common items that would be used so long ago, the kind that would be for sale in general and hardware stores in the 1850s. There were dishes, tools, pickles still in jars, knives, barrels, guns, shoes and boots, wearing apparel, hats, candles, jewelry, buttons, knobs, cabinet handles, combs, keys, bottles, nails and pots and pans and more—all displayed artistically with great care. I wish we could have stayed longer in this wonderful museum.

Once again on the bus, we cruise through the city, passing the Plaza Area where crowds of strolling young people seem to having a good time visiting the shops and restaurants or just being with each other. Baskets of flowers hang on the lamp posts and a fountain reaches skyward in a nearby park.

Our final stop for the day is Jack’s Stack BBQ, a restaurant specializing in ribs that everyone in Kansas City must know about. There is a long wait before we are able to get a table. The scent of barbequing meat is tantalizingly heavy in the air.  Finally some of us sit down at a table outside with an excellent view of the railroads. This was heaven for a train buff. Freight trains from the Union Pacific, Burlington Santa Fe, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern formed a constant parade. I order baby back ribs, Cole slaw and French fries while Dolores had chicken, Cole slaw and creamed corn. We splurged for dessert, both of us ordering crème Brule.

This was a perfect end to a perfect tour of Kansas. We had enjoyed it all and had learned so much about the state that we never knew before. After a night’s rest at our motel, we’ll fly back to California.

The locomotive will connect to our tourist train to take us back to Baldwin City.

In the Steamship Arabia Museum we see pots, pans and bottles recovered from the ship.

These beautiful dishes were also retrieved from the hold of the sunken ship.

A close up of buttons found in the Arabia

Young people seemed to be having a good time in the plaza area of Kansas City.

MONTEREY PARK AUTHOR PUBLISHES 4th BOOK – Seeking More of the Sky: Growing Up in the 1930’s:

Charles “Norm” Stevens, a 43 year resident of Monterey Park has recently published his 4^th book: Seeking More of the Sky: Growing Up in the 1930’s. This is the story of a young boy growing up in Inglewood, California in the l930’s. This was a time during the depression when unemployment was affecting many and the banks were closed, while the clouds of war were gathering in Europe. But he was lucky enough to be raised in a loving family, the power of that love reflected throughout his stories.

Stevens is the author of three previous books about his experiences during WWII:

An Innocent at Polebrook: A Memoir of an 8th Air Force Bombardier (Story of his 34 bombing missions from his base at Polebrook, England over Germany and France)

The Innocent Cadet: Becoming A World War II Bombardier (A prequel to the first, telling of his training in the U.S. before going overseas into combat.)

Back from Combat: A WWII Bombardier Faces His Military Future from Combat: (This book details the time from when he returned from combat in England until the end of the war.)

He is known to the readers of The Citizen’s Voice as the author of Travel Log Articles including “Cruising the Rhine and Mosel”,” Best of the West”, “In Search of Snow” ,  “From Paris to Normandy on the Seine”, and “Exploring New York”.  He is retired, having taught for 32 years, primarily in the Montebello Unified School District.

Those interested in purchasing an autographed copy of any of his books, may contact the author at 323-721-8230 or  Normstevens24@gmail.com.