No idea why the song from the early 1900’s sprung to mind but I think it found fame with Judy Garland in a film of the same name. Still I had an urge to visit the famous city mentioned in the song as it is also home to the smallest national park in the USA as I understand it.
Within the park is the awesome Gateway Arch which is an impressive structure that we went inside to explore & was rewarded with amazing views of the city below.
Tickets purchased, a quick bite to eat & we were ready to be whisked skyward in a pod that spirits you up the inside leg of the arch to reach a platform at the top. From here you can peer out the various windows & note various landmarks on the skyline.
We were driving a ‘chevvy’ & due to the height of the van had to find alternative parking which turned out to be on the ‘levy’! This ‘taking the chevvy to the levy’ appealed to our sense of humour & remarkably we could actually see the van from the top of the Arch.
Home for the night was a spot in the Finger lakes State Park so the next day we could head for Topeka,Kanas & more specifically the Expocentre. Here we got to wander about the Evil Kinevel exhibition which included various memorabilia, his motorbikes & even the tour bus.
The museum is located in the Harley Davidson dealership building where you could treat your self to buying a bike or something to eat. As we from the UK it had to be lunch as I think the airport staff might consider a Harley as part of your normal luggage allowance!!
The next day saw us trundling through miles of countryside that was largely open & flat until we happened on Hutchinson.
Impromptu stop to investigate a salt mine. The Strataca experience took as about the same distance underground as we had risen above ground in St Louis.
The atmosphere is very quiet & the geology quite fascinating. The trip involves a mixture of walking & short train ride to see the various tunnels & find out about salt mining.
The place is also home to a storage facility as the atmosphere makes is a suitable stable environment was such purposes.
Our visit over lunch was the next priority & we found ourselves eating at a small cafe run by the Menoite community. They were really lovely people & the food was possibly the nicest we had on the road.
As the sun began to set we arrived in Dodge City where we booked in so we could take a look around the following day.