Kansas Plains

Eads to Scott City

New State: Kansas!

Since Austin’s recovery time depends on his wounds staying clean and free of infection, his mom has been generous enough to get us hotels for last night and tonight.  When Austin spoke with her on the phone before we arrived in Eads, she told him to apologize to me about last night’s hotel.  When we got there I understood what she meant: the was a hole in the wall, the rusty bathtub didn’t drain, the parking lot hadn’t been paved since the 70’s, and Dave stumbled upon several cockroaches in the bathroom in the middle of the night.  All of us, however, were unfazed.  As long as we’re not sleeping on dirt I’m completely satisfied.  This summer is about being away from the comforts of home, so showering in a tub that doesn’t drain (right after Dave’s post 115 mile bike ride) is completely okay with me.

This morning, I chatted with a few people in Eads.  It turns out that they do have a recycling program, but the residents are required to take their recyclables to the collection bins in town.  There’s no compost program, and the people at K & M Ranch House Restaurant don’t compost either—they toss their food scraps.  In the garbage.

Entering the Central Time Zone...AKA time traveling

On the way to Scott City, we passed through Leoti, the county seat of Wichita County.  The county is known for its outmigration status, high infant mortality rate, and lack of educated residents (28.3% of the area population has less than a high school education), according to this website.

Downtown Leoti

As part of Wichita County's community development plans, they have recently implemented a recycling program, where county residents drop off their recyclables at a collection center in Leoti.  Additionally, they built a wind farm in 2008, called the Central Plains Wind Farm, which harnesses one of Kansas’s most well-known natural resources to generate power.  I’ve never really thought of Kansas as a leader in the environmental movement, but it has a high ratio of renewable energy per customer. 

There are a lot of cows and feedlots in Kansas, so that’s what we had for dinner in Scott City: Kansas City strip steaks.