Once again, it’s time to hit the road and head for the Land of Enchantment to visit friends and former colleagues from a time that doesn’t seem so long ago, but was over two decades past. When I was on the faculty of New Mexico State University I had fully intended to retire to my adobe in romantic old Mesilla. Circumstances brought me back to my Wisconsin Swiss roots. But I still retain ties to and affection for New Mexico, and that lovely adobe now occupied by a great tenant who loves it.
I toss some gear into my pickup. Instead of heading west on Wisconsin State Route 11, I go to Rockford where I meet son Johnny who took the bus up from Chicago. We head for Dubuque on U.S. 20 across northern Illinois that parallels Hwy. 11 across southern Wisconsin.
The cornfields and grass of the rolling hills of the driftless area are a rich green in mid-July. We go through Galena, the historic home of Ulysses S. Grant. Galena, on the northwestern tip of Illinois, has enjoyed an amazing resurgence as a tourist mecca, especially for Chicagoland folks taking a weekend respite. The historic and well-maintained winding streets of downtown Galena sport art galleries and numerous upscale restaurants and coffee shops. That’s a remarkable resurgence from back in the 1950s when its major — perhaps only — attraction was the U.S. Grant home. I recall a day trip with my parents back then to visit that historic site. It was a place we could visit and still return in time for milking. That probably sounds quaint, but that was farm life in those days — travel limited to a distance from which you could get back in time for milking.
We cross the Mississippi at Dubuque, head south, then west on U.S. 151 through the small towns of Cascade, Monticello, and Anamosa. Instead of continuing through Cedar Rapids, we take Iowa Route 1 south through the scenic small town of Mt. Vernon, home of Cornell College. A few miles farther south we take I-80 through Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa. Then it’s another one hundred miles to Des Moines, where we take the major north-south route of I-35. We stay on I-35 south to Kansas City, then west in Kansas to Emporia where we spend the night.
The next day dawns warm and sunny, but not too hot. We leave I-35 to take Kansas Route 50 south, then Route 150 and U.S. 56 across the scenic Flint Hills. The lush grasses of the Flint Hills once fed buffalo that furnished food and clothing to Native Americans. That rich grass now nourishes herds of beef cattle. Those herds of beef cattle contentedly grazing on the hills are a welcome change from the massive feedlots with thousands of cattle, the source of most of our American beef.
Once past the Flint Hills it’s the flat land of corn and wheat. As it has been harvested, we missed those golden waves of wheat. But the corn and green grasslands are looking good. We pass through small towns of Lyons and McPherson, the latter of which recently made the list of best American small towns.
It’s now barely a footnote to history, but in 1541, Spanish conquistadores reached this area of Kansas in search of the seven cities of Cibola believed to hold immense riches. The only gold found by those explorers was native plants of pumpkins and squash.
With pleasant weather we push on through Great Bend toward Dodge City. Heavy dark clouds loomed toward the west and weather information indicated rain in Dodge City. But as we reached Dodge City, the storm had passed and we continued southwest on U.S. 56 through the small towns of Ensign, Montezuma, Copeland, Sublette, Satanta, and Moscow — each of them along railroad tracks with elevators on the west side and small business districts to the east. Near the Kansas/Oklahoma line we reach Hugoton where there is typically a taco truck located across the street from the high school. We have patronized this same truck several times before, and had to do it again.
We then head west to Elkhart on the southwest corner of Kansas and cross into the Oklahoma panhandle heading for Boise City. Traffic and people are sparse in that neck of the woods. A few miles short of Boise City is the small hamlet of Keyes. Out of curiosity, we explore a few of the vacant streets. The dilapidated “business district” exists no more; all the buildings are vacant and deteriorating. There are still a few residents in this essentially dead town. How they survive is a mystery.
We reach Boise City, county seat of Cimarron County, the westernmost county of the Oklahoma panhandle. We circle the courthouse and continue on U.S. 56 for a few miles and catch U.S. 385 south across the Texas line, across the Santa Rita National Grasslands, and on to Dalhart. After a short pause to gas up, we take U.S. 54 diagonally across the northwest corner of the Texas panhandle into New Mexico and on to Tucumcari, fabled stop along Historic Route 66, now replaced by I-40, where we spend the night.
Even in historic towns where old buildings and long-standing businesses remain, much changes. The Pow Wow Inn and restaurant where I often frequented when I lived in New Mexico, and never failed to stop when traveling through, is gone. That establishment served the best huevos rancheros ever. A few years ago, they stopped serving breakfast, so I switched to the Kix on 66, a restaurant that allegedly used the same recipe. Nothing seems to stay the same. The Pow Wow not only quit serving breakfast, but is now gone completely, converted to an American Legion post. And Kix on 66? They were recently shut down due to a disastrous fire. They do plan to reopen, but the huevos rancheros we had at yet another place just didn’t measure up.
After breakfast we take I-40 over to Santa Rosa, and then catch U.S. 54 south to Carrizozo. The old Outpost restaurant that served the best chile cheeseburgers ever has long been gone, as has Roy’s Ice Cream and Soda Fountain. Even the taco truck that I visited two years ago was gone.
Time passes and things change. But as this is written, I look forward to visiting friends in Las Cruces and old Mesilla. Fortunately, there are some things that remain.
— John Waelti of Monroe can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears monthly in the Monroe Times.
