Just One Night In Kansas

Since we were speeding north across Kansas, we were just spending one night in this state. That night was in the parking lot of the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center in Oakley, Kansas. Right along Highway 83, they have a nice flat parking lot, and they gave us permission to stay overnight in the motor home. While they were closed by the time we arrived, we got to see the twice-life-sized statue of Buffalo Bill out front.

Standing in at 16-feet, it portrays Buffalo Bill Cody taking aim at one of the 4,282 bison he killed on the Kansas plains. During his early years, he was employed as a bison hunter to provide meat to the workers constructing the Kansas Pacific Railway that came through Logan County. While we were traveling in the east, we found that every state tried to claim Abraham Lincoln. In the Midwest we found the same to be true of Buffalo Bill. He was born in Iowa in 1846; but grew up on the plains of Kansas; had Cody, Wyoming named for him; retired in Nebraska; and Colorado paid his wife to bury him near Denver.

While huge in size, the statue includes tiny details. Denisa liked that the artist included the intricate leatherwork on Buffalo Bill's holster.

We had a cozy overnight spot behind the cultural center. You can just barely see the motor home on the left edge of the picture below. We were looking out over a wheat field, and far away from the noise of Highway 83. We were glad to be back in our own bed, and we should have slept so well . . . but . . about 3:00 a.m. Denisa was woke up by a loud noise overhead. It was made by something big enough to rock the motor home. What could that be? Then the noise stopped as quickly as it had started. We lost some sleep over this quandary on our one night in Kansas. We finally decided that a large bird--probably an owl--landed on our roof and walked around before it flew off again. Well, that's the first time that had ever happened to us.

The next morning, we drove around the little town of Oakley. We found the very interesting Fick Fossil and History Museum. Inside, they had the Buffalo Bill painting and the small brass statue that was the basis for the over-sized version we saw last night.

Denisa struggled with finding the best term for the painted boards that we often stand behind and stick our faces in the hole for a silly picture. She found that these might be called a "photo cut-out board," but her favorite was "face-in-the-hole board." We think that this is the best face-in-the-hole board that we have ever seen in our travels. Painted by a local artist with three-dimensional beard and bangs, we were suddenly Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill at the Fick Museum.

This local museum also houses this larger-than-life prehistoric fish discovered near Monument Rocks from the time it was covered by sea water.

The Ficks lived near Monument Rocks, and their hobby was finding fossils on their property. They especially enjoyed finding fossilized shark teeth in this now-landlocked state. They framed some of their collection, and sixteen frames like this are on display at the museum.

Mrs. Fick also used the fossils to create 3D pictures that were framed and hung in their home.

Now the collection hangs in the Fick Fossil and Historic Museum in Oakley. Wanderers can look at the detail of the fossilized snails and clams and oysters that are now flowers and leaves.

Lots of curious collections are included in this curious little museum. Don Hall's collection of "Advertising Pens and Pencils" was collected from all over the country in his travels in the mid-1900's. That collection now hangs in the Fick Museum.

We also drove by the veteran's memorial, where the doughboys of World War I were immortalized in the town square. The names of the local veterans from the first world war are inscribed on the base of the statue.

We lost a little sleep, but we feel like we know a little more about this state from our one night in Kansas.