Trip report(long) - Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice earlier in the year for our trip. My husband and I had such a good time it%26#39;s looking like we will be returning to some of the same areas in 2009.

Apologies for the delay in posting the trip report (I%26#39;m still working on some reviews also), I really should have donme this sooner.

Day 1 (Spet 12th) - Flight from Scotland to Newark, delayed 2 hours on the runway before finally arriving into Chicago 75 minutes later than planned. Usual issues at Dollar Car Rental - dispute over what we had prepaid (seems what%26#39;s written on the voucher is open to interpretation!), amazingly no cars of the class we booked etc etc.

Overnight Holiday Inn, Morris - easy to get to and 1st class accomodation.

Day 2 - early breakfast and off on our way. Spectacular rain along the way to Davenport, Iowa but we made it safely and checked into the Staybridge Suites - wow!

Day 3 - Off to the John Deere pavilion and then onto their HQ. Had a fantastic time, spent most of the day between the 2 locations and discovered they have a plant at Waterloo where you can have a factory tour (guess what%26#39;s on the list for next year!). Spent the eveining playing the slots at the Isle of Capri- broke even.

Day 4 - Heading south now however decide to go west first and stop off in Des Moines to visit Urbandale living history farms, sadly it%26#39;s closed on Monday but the staff are lovely and give us loads of info to plan the next trip. South towards Kansas City - beautiful scenery and deserted roads. Stop off at Jesse James homestead in Kearney en route - very interesting. Finally arrive in Overland Park and check at our hotel.

Day 5 - Trip to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame and Museum at Bonner Springs, then a visit to the Kansas Speedway (didn%26#39;t realise it%26#39;s not open to the public so no joy there. Spent late sfternoon at the Shawnee Mission park.

Day 6 - headed tp Atchison to see where AMelia Earhart came from, visited the railroad depot and the International Friendship Forest. Had fabulous ice cream in dowtown Atchison before finishing the afternoon at Overland Park arboretum - well worth the visit.

Day 7 - heading south for Wichita, deviated slightly to Topeka where we made a trip to the Air Combat Museum and National Guard museum - both outstanding and choc full of things to see. Drove south on the 35 and stopped a few times to marvel at the vast open spaces.

Day 8 - Spent much longer than planned at Cowtown, Wichita - thought it was really neat, before visiting Botanica and having a realxing stroll.

Day 9 - planned to go to Dodge City then decided it was for the next trip - headed to Cheney State park and reservoir instead. (good choice)

Day 10 - set off South bound for Oklahoma City - this was the infamous detour to the Tallgrass prairie preserve at Pawhuska to see the Bison - we did see them but I was looking at the info for another Tallgrass prairie preservce slightly further north west so it was good luck rather than design! Arrived late afternoon in Shawnee Oklahoma.

Day 11 - off to the OKC stockyards (my plan was 2/3 hours reality was 6 hours and a very happy husband!) - now late afternoon so we made a stop at Bricktown and had a drink at Toby Keith%26#39;s bar before paying our respects at the Oklahoma City Memorial.

Day 12 - Off to the National Cowboy and American West museum - again had planned a couple of hours- were there most of the day and would go back tomorrow if I could - excellent. Spent the evening gambling at the Firelake Casino near Shawnee (very nice, guessing it%26#39;s fairly new)

Day 13 - heading south to Dallas today we made our detour to Duncan to visit the Chisholm Trail Museum where we met the nicest staff ever and we got wet during the movie! Dropped into downtown Duncan for a soda and had the most devine banana pudding. (you can tell food%26#39;s important to me- I often remember places by things I ate there!!)Arrived safely in Addison - it has grown a little since we last visited in 2005!

Day 14 - Morning visit to Grapevine to have a stroll around and then an afternoon lazing at the hotel pool.

Day 15 - off to the Texas State Fair - parked close by, no hassle, easy access and a very enjoyable day. Watched the bull riding, piglet racing, dog agility and lots more and ate way too much food!

Day 16 - some last minute shopping and lazing by the pool as reality dawned that a return to cold, wet Scotland was fast approaching.

Day 17 - Off to the airport to drop off the rental car (and another 30 minutes wasted with the rental co proving what we had paid for at Chicago - took 2 calls to Dollar at Chaicago to get confirmation before we could finally go!). Back to Newark uneventfully and onward to Scotland.

Sorry it%26#39;s so long but we had such a good time - as I said didn%26#39;t see half of what we had planned and decided there was so much we hadn%26#39;t known about but would like to come back and do next year. Maybe not flying into Chicago or home from Dallas - looking at into Minneapolis and home from somewhere else - who knows.

Anyway, thanks for all your help and many suggestions - it made things so much easier!

Gillian

Trip report(long) - Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma

Gillian:

Thanks for the great post. It%26#39;s good to find someone who sees the central part of the US as something more than ';flyover country';. I%26#39;ve always said that anyone who is willing to get on the ground there and really look, can find a lot of interesting things. As a native ';Okie'; who has traveled the world, I realize that part of the US is not as obviously intriguing as either of the coasts, with their beautiful coastlines and great cities, but there is still a rich heritage, and some of the finest people you will ever meet anywhere. There is a stark beauty to the plains, if you can get yourself off the interstate long enough to explore. It sounds like that%26#39;s exactly what you did, and I%26#39;m glad you enjoyed your trip. The last time I was in Scotland, we did a similar, although shorter, thing there. We flew into Edinburgh and traveled around by car, ending up in Oban. What a great trip! A cold and beautiful place, filled with warm hearts.

Trip report(long) - Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma

Sounds like you had a great trip! What a wonderful way to holiday.

Just out of curiosity - in a previous post you had shown an interest in bluegrass music and a desire to possibly attend a bluegrass event/concert. From your schedule above it appears you were in the area for the Winfield festival near Wichita, but there is no mention of it in your post. Did the flooding dampen your enthusiasm for bluegrass music or did you get too busy with all the other things you wanted to do? :)

Modcon

We got so busy we simply didn%26#39;t get round to it however we made the decision having pretty much agreed that we were likely to be back in a similar area next year so it%26#39;s high on the list of things to do which we didn%26#39;t get to this time. We simply loved the area - maybe because we%26#39;re from rural backgrounds we get more excited over this kind of holiday. It just amazes me that lots more people don%26#39;t visit the Midwest and Plains area- they don%26#39;t know what they are missing!