Day 69 ~ Santa Fe Trail

Shari invited us into her beautiful home (in Osage City) for coffee and a shower.

Jeanne Riggs at the Santa Fe Cafe in Burlingame gets the award for biggest cinnamon roll yet!

We have a hotel in Burlingame?

Gregory "takes the stage" in Burlingame on the Santa Fe Trail.

The Santa Fe Trail Crossed Here

DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) marker is near the site of Baden Post Office which had intermittent existence between 1883 and 1891.

SIMMONS POINT a stagecoach relay station was 2 1/2 miles east on the Old Trail.

Santa Fe Trail Mural

Gregory counted 7 dogs in this truck and 6 of them were large standard poodles!

Guinea Hens

David gives Gregory his one and only Kansas plate.

David and Carla watch their grand kids and have lots of toys for Gregory to play with. Here he is with his marble tower.

Date: Sept. 26, 2009

From: Osage City, Kansas

To: Baldwin City, Kansas

Route: Hwy 56E

Passes:

Miles Today: 52 miles

TOTAL MILES: 2,053 MILES

Top Speed on this trip: 54.1 mph

Weather: High 70’s with light winds

License Plates Collected: 5 Montana plates, 8 Wyoming plates (2 motorcycle) and 1 Idaho plate (found in WY), 2 Colorado plates, 1 Kansas plate (gifted from David of Baldwin City)

The morning after our worst storm ever, Shari came over to the park from across the street and once again offered us showers and coffee. (She’d come over the evening before just as we were getting in the tent.) We visited with Shari well into the morning and admired her beautiful Victorian home and gardens.

It was a beautiful morning and a short ride to Burlingame where Gregory got to hop up inside a Santa Fe Stage coach that was in the center of the wide Main Street. We were told that this brick-surfaced street was so wide because as a main thoroughfare for the Santa Fe Trail the wagons would park on either side of the street and there would still be room for through traffic. We ate at the Santa Fe Café where owner Jeanne Riggs makes the biggest cinnamon roll we’ve found on this trip. Delicious!

We arrived at Baldwin City and stopped in at Gene’s Sport Cache Bait & Tackle, Inc. to get directions to the police station. Gene didn’t know if they’d let us camp in the park but thought we might try the fraternities or sororities on the Baker University Campus. It’s not likely that we’d do that with a 9-year old, especially on a Saturday night! Although we did see a tent on the front lawn of a sorority house as we rode by on our way to the police station. Mike said, “That’s where the freshman sleep.”

Corporal Mike Underwood of the Baldwin City Police informed us that there was a city ordinance against camping in the park but was very helpful in providing phone numbers for the one motel in town and the B&B and gave Gregory one of his uniform patches. As we left he said, “If you camped in the park no one would kick you out.” Well, of course we didn’t feel we really could do that after finding there was a law against it. We found the motel and B&B were both booked for a wedding leaving our only choice to ride 2 more miles out of town to a lake where we were told there “probably was a port-a-potty”. Ugh!

We decided to eat something and then at my urging we went back to the athletic club to ask for a shower before riding to the lake. We then found the athletic club closed at 3:00 P.M. on Saturdays! This just wasn’t our lucky day! Then, Gregory sees a couple people inside on stationary bikes and starts waving at them. Carla came to the door and explained that members had passkeys for after hours and invited us to come in for a shower. Hurray for Carla! While Mike finished, Gregory and I chatted with Carla and once she found out I was a teacher, (she’s a retired teacher) I think she made up her mind we were good people and invited us home. We had the most delightful stay with Carla and her husband David who live on a beautiful 15-acre property complete with a pond loaded with catfish. They treated us to their delicious homemade salsa, let us do laundry, gave us comfy beds to sleep in and best of all for Gregory, Carla broke out her school toys (Magnetics, marbles, blocks, etc.) and her grandchildren’s things for him to play with. Also, David went downstairs to his workshop (he is an amazing woodworker) and found a Kansas license plate for Gregory. The Kansas shoulders have all been neatly mowed and relatively litter free and we still hadn’t found one. Gregory was thrilled.