Highway to Hays, Kansas

What a difference a good night's sleep makes. I hadn't got the best rest camped beside the Indy Interstate and was not functioning 100%. If I had, I would have been playing Stompin Tom Connors on the IPOD on July 1st...It's Canada Day, Up Canada Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGHMw_67fOk
So today, with Stompin Tom, we headed back down Interstate 70 to Hays, Kansas.
When I get in the car each morning I have two questions for Ed, What day is it? What's our distance?
The first part of our drive takes us along the Lewis and Clark Trail to Kansas City. Thomas Jefferson’s private secretary was a man named Meriwether Lewis, a Virginian, frontiersman, and soldier. He had served in the army in Ohio with a former Army captain and friend, William Clark. These two men would work together as partners for President Jefferson. The two were to share joint command as they explored, mapped, and studied a new route to the Pacific.
There are many historic points of interest across Missouri and Kansas and we could easily spend a week here visiting them all.
Our lunch stop for today was in Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence, and Topeka a little further down the highway, were known as abolition towns and were chief stations on the underground railroad from 1855-59. Lawrence is another university town. It also is well known its for main street. There are no shopping malls in Lawrence but they do have a Starbucks and even though the temperate was 32C, I couldn't resist.
Many famous folks are from from Kansas & Missouri, Mark Twain, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Amelia Earhart, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, to name just a few.
Local radio choices are Christian, classical Christian, classic country, Country Christian or NPR. We were listening to classical music about 150 miles outside of Hays. The song was Ave Maria and just as we rounded a bend in the road, on a ridge were dozens of wind turbines. The combination of the musical background and the impressive stature of the turbines was ethereal.
They went on for at least 25km. This part of the country is very windy. Semi trailers have been known to been blown over by the force of the wind here. We kept an eye on the horizon for any tornadoes. It would be easy to see them coming, as you can see for miles.
We are spending the night at the Tea Rose Inn B & B http://www.tearose.net/, Hays, Kansas. Hays dates back to the days of the wild west. Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody and George Custer lived in Hays. Hays is also home of the original Boot Hill cemetery, just down the street from our B+B. During the 19th century it was a common name for the burial grounds of gunfighters, or those who “died with their boots on” (i.e., violently) The house was built in 1909 and is near the historic part of town. Tonight is the start of Wild West Week in Hays and from our room we can hear the festivities taking place in the park nearby, including the fireworks. Fireworks are a really big deal for the fourth of July. PryoCity Fireworks temporary sales tents are all along the highway.
Today has also been a day of us saying I didn't know that. There is a town called Knob Noster. How would you like to say you were from Knob Noster? At Northwestern Missouri Univeristy, textbooks and a laptop are free with your tuition. We thought that a bus pass was a good deal. And, who knew that they had so many Adult XXX Outlet stores, open 24hours.
They say that travel broadens the mind. We are certainly getting an education. I am looking forward to what I will learn tomorrow on the way to Denver.