#22 Kansas, Goodland and Hayes 8-26 thru 8-30-2008

When we left Denver we were told that there wasn't much to see in Kansas, but we have found a lot of wonderful things to see and do.

Our first stop was in Goodland, KS where there is a giant copy of Van Gogh's painting of sunflowers. The town is very small and the streets in downtown are paved with red bricks.

We spent a couple of nights in Goodland and then drove on to Hayes, KS. We went to Fort Hayes and toured what remains of the old fort.

This is an actual 36 star flag, such as those that flew over the old Fort when it was used by the Union Calvery. It is flown during the day and retired at night just like in the old days.

These are two of the Jr. Officer quarters. They were each shared with two families. Each family had two bedrooms and a sitting room. The kitchen and dining room were shared. The laundry was done by wives of the enlisted men and were paid about $1.00 per day.

This is the block house where the men who were sentenced to serve time were sent. It consisted of four solitary cells for violent offenders, and then one big room where the other prisoners slept.

I am standing in one of the solitary cells. Not much but a 4 x 6 room with stone floor and walls.

This is the round house, or blockade. There were gaps in the stone work fo the guns to point out that have been filled in. The windows were added later and it was used as a store house and commisary. All the buildings are being restored and the area is kept up very nicely. There is a little museum at the visitor center that has some of the artifacts that have been excavated during the restoration.