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We had originally planned to go to a Western square dance in Oklahoma City.
However we knew that such dances are rated and this was rated C2. A little
investigation suggested this was way out of our league. So we accepted an
invitation to a couple of local dances at 'mainstream' level on the Friday and Saturday nights before
we left on the Sunday, and were made really welcome.
We were invited to join several very experienced sets who pulled us through and
the caller looked after us well too. It is different to the squares we have
danced elsewhere but really only in the names of the calls. This caller has been
calling for about 25 years but is new to the area - he will prove a
great asset. |  |
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They also do round dances which are a bit like our old time sequence
dancing but with all the moves called in a monotone. It was deadly boring to
listen to but those who danced enjoyed it.
We noted that the dancers were generally older and both round and quare
styles suffer
the same problem as many English dance styles with a declining and ageing group of
participants. However age is not a bar to ability and enjoyment and they (and
we) certainly enjoyed their dancing. |
| We initially travelled north-west from Wichita to pass through
the small town of Hutchison whose principal claim to fame is that it
possesses the longest grain elevator in the world, over half a mile long.
Bizarre, I know, but it is significant in Kansas! |
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It also houses a very good space museum at the Cosmosphere. This also has an
IMAX theatre and a planetarium. I can't focus on the screen properly in an
IMAX so didn't
enjoy the experience.
But the associated museum was pretty comprehensive, with several famous experimental planes like the X1 and the SR71
spyplane as well as both a V1 and a rare V2 flying bomb. It even houses some
original artifacts from space exploration such as moon landers and rovers,
from both US and Soviet expeditions. In common with many
US museums it was very well set up as an educational tool for the kids,
somewhat at the expense of the adults' enjoyment sometimes.
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| From there it was westward on US50 (the Loneliest Road) which
follows the old Santa Fe trail from Missouri through Kansas and part
of Colorado. At a one horse town called Kinsley we found the "Sod
House Museum" which apart from anything else is exactly halfway
across the US. |  |
 | The Sod House was
interesting and the rest of the museum contained local artifacts from the
19th century, including this collection of barbed wire. (A bit further on
is a whole museum devoted to the stuff).
Obviously a day for the bizarre but this is America, or at least
Kansas. |
And so on to our campsite for the night at Dodge City. There is little left
of the old western town as portrayed in the films (which were not known for
their historical accuracy anyway) so we didn't visit
anything there but moved on westward the following morning. |