After our excellent brunch in OKC, we got on the road to our next “destination,” Oakley, Kansas. William found a route that would take us through Dodge City, Kansas so that we could live “getting the hell out of Dodge”. En route, we listened to a podcast series centered on life in Dodge City in the late 1800s- Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday and the like. We think that perhaps it was more interesting in their time and people are getting out of Dodge for different reasons these days. 

Here we are passing by the Coronado Cross, marking the location where Francisco Vazquez cross the Arkansas River in search of cities of gold in the 16th century. 

This is the “Old Stone Home” in Dodge, the oldest property on its original location, bult from Limestone. 

A few spots in the center of Dodge where we briefly stopped to see if we wanted to spend some time. We did not. 

On the outside of Dodge, we walked along a path to reach a spot where supposedly you can see the most prominent wagon wheel markings from the Santa Fe trail. 

From Dodge City, we drove towards Oakley, aiming to visit Monument Rocks. Following 20 miles on an unpaved road, we found this interesting terrain that looked out of a Star Wars movie. 104 degrees, no humidity and wind off the plains was a new environment for us and surprisingly felt more pleasant than that type of heat with our FL humidity. 

We then found our place for the night, an 1886 loft built into an old factory space and what has to be the nicest place to stay in the area- everyone gets a king bed! 

The day ended at Tres Hermanos, a “fine” meal. The alternate option was a place called the Bluff, featuring legit Rocky Mountain Oysters. Truly a missed opportunity for the boys, but they passed on the option. Onto Nebraska this morning- seeking a hike in the Nebraska National forest.