Road Trip to California: Day 2-Kansas and Colorado

Be Sure to Check Out My Previous Post: Road Trip to California:Day 1- St. Louis!

I got spotted in Kansas

When Dorothy said "there's no place like home", I wonder where in Kansas she must have been referring to, because besides Wichita and Kansas City, there's not much there. Day 2 included about 700 miles of driving, with a total of around 11 hours on the road. And until you hit Colorado, there's not much to see besides plains and farmhouses, so really anything on the side of the road that looks semi-exciting is worth a stop.

The Roadside Zoo

About 30 miles outside of Oakley, KS, I started to see hand painted wood signs for a roadside zoo that included: like rattle snakes, skunks, fox's, and the world's largest Prairie dog. And these signs happened about every 5 miles, so by the time I was an exit away, I was pretty excited.

The attraction was called Prairie Dog Town, and inside the main building was a single cash register, and 2 nice ladies, peddling their exciting zoo for only $8. For a lone weary traveler, its small price to pay for 20 minutes of

Rattlesnakes

entertainment. After walking through the "gate" (she raised a broomstick that crossed over the two counters), I found myself looking into a large wooden box filled with about 10 rattlesnakes. The rattle sat quiet, but they would surely strike at a meal if it came close enough.

I then stepped outside into the large fenced farm, to find prairie dogs, and their holes, everywhere! They're quite cute the way they

Prairie Dog and his holes

sit upright with their paws in front of them looking at you curiously. Past the wild cute rodents, are several large cages containing various wildlife, ranging from pigeons, to Russian boars. Walking around on a hot day, most of these animals were staying in the shade just to stay cool. However when passing the goats, they were

Roscoe the Miniature Donkey

jumping all over each other to get as close to you as possible, because I might have had some food pellets. The miniature donkey, Roscoe, was one of my favorite animals, as he was very docile and loved to be pet. His big ears were so soft, and would have stayed there all day if I continued to scratch them.

On the stranger side, there were disfigured cows with 5 and 6 legs each. Apparently, some of the past cows that had been there, were purchased by Ripleys, Believe it or Not! museums to be put on display.

Worlds Largest Prairie Dog

And the World's Largest Prairie dog, he was just a 17' tall sculpture, hidden from the highway by  a wall behind him. They never promised a real Prairie dog, so no sense to be disappointed.

On my way out I visited the gift shop to pick up a few postcards, and check out the odd collection of taxidermed animals, and other knick knacks. So overall was it worth it? Yes. Would I stop again? Sure. There's not much else to do anywhere around, and I would love to give Roscoe some more loving.

Driving through the Rockies

About 4 hours down the road, I finally hit Denver, or as I referred it to as "civilization". Denver is a pretty big city, but is spread out north and south and not so much east and west. The downtown is quite pretty and with the Rockies as the background, it makes for great pictures. However I still had about 5 hours on the road, so there was no stopping for me. As soon as you get out of the city, you immediately head up a steep grade and are heading through the picturesque Colorado Rockies. The mountainsides and cliffs line the freeway as it winds through following the river. Small mountain towns are spread out, and are filled with expensive ski resorts.

My favorite spot along the route was in a placed called "No Name", I would have take a photo of the sign, but it was only on the side of the highway, and I couldn't stop there. But the rest area was along the side of the river and had a beautiful green hillside all around. There is a camping area next to it,

The "No Name" rest area

and someday I would like to return to camp there.

The end of my drive was all at night, and there wasn't much to see when I arrived in Grand Junction.

Didn't get enough photos here? Then check out all the photos from the 3 day drive in the #LyfInFocus-Indiana To California Album!

Be sure to check out my next post:
Road Trip to California: Day 3- Colorado to California!