This is the official record of our Memorial Day road trip. Roundtrip 420 miles. Sunday, May 30, 2010: Started out at 10:20 am. At the end of this post is a map of our route.
Lunch in Medicine Lodge at picnic area off of Highway 160. Lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese, cool ranch Doritos, carrots, celery and apples. CapriSun for the boys, water for the adults.Medicine Lodge was named by the Kiowa Indians when they discovered healing qualities of the river and built "medicine lodges" nearby.
We arrived at the Stockade Museum at 12:35 pm. The door was locked, but an older lady who was a cross between Grandma Agnes, Grandma Mary, Aunt Pearl and Aunt Harriett informed us the museum didn't open until 1 pm, but she let us in anyway.She took our money and hand wrote the transaction in a three ring spiral notebook. Not a computer in sight, or a phone for that matter. She told us a little about the treasures inside the museum, artifacts that tell the historical story of Medicine Lodge and the surrounding area. We saw peace pipes, mammoth bones, teeth and husks, old typewriters and a manual dentist drill, clothing from the early 1900s, a collection of barbed wire and old tools, and much more. The museum is a replica of the 1874 frontier stockade. Inside the fence is The Smith Log Cabin and The Old Courthouse Jail.Does anyone else think the picture below looks like something that would have been in Grandpa Keller's garage?Outside we investigated the old courthouse jail,and the Smith Log Cabin from 1877.Do these dishes look familiar?I don't do laundry...oh, it's a Maytag!Next door we headed to Carry Nation's house, where we saw her antique pump organ, writing desk, bed and period furnishings and clothing donated by local residents.I don't think Carry and I would have been friends. Her choice of shoes is somewhat restrictive and conservative.And this? These girls probably didn't Spring Break at Padre Island.Next we took a Scenic Byways road through the Gypsum Hills. Not much going on here.All you could hear was the wind. I seem to remember a similar situation about 20 years ago when I forced to "listen to the silence" in the Flint Hills. The boys passed the time drawing on the magna doodle and writing in their notebooks.
The boys made the comment that we were the only car on the road. Yup... Next stop was Greensburg where we looked around the new Green Town. An F5 tornado destroyed the town in 2007, and although lots of buildings have been rebuilt, you can tell "something happened." For instance, we saw a set of stone steps that leads to nowhere, but we think it might have been a church. We stopped at the Big Well, the largest hand dug well. The picture below was taken in 1992, about the same spot as the one above. In the picture above you can see the foundation of that building. The only thing that remains is the stone wall surrounding the well.We ran off steam at the playground next door and then took a bathroom break at the "little" Dillons on the main drag.Once we arrived in Dodge City, we ate a diner that received a C from Scott...definitely not a five star restaurant. The Dodge House Hotel was a hit with the boys...indoor heated pool, basketball court, ping pong, pool and video games.We had big plans to tour Boot Hill on Monday, but Zach got sick that night. Scott took Adam on a trolley ride, then we decided to head home. Zach perked up on the way home, and there was a steady stream of conversation from the back.
Below is the route we took to Dodge City. I didn't include the return trip because we just drove west on Highway 54. If you place the cursor over the map you can zoom in and zoom out using the tools in the upper left corner.
Zach approached me this morning and said "Mom, you need to come to my office. We have some things to talk about. Your appointment is in five minutes.
Five minutes? Uh oh. I started to panic. Had I not been pulling my weight around the Dyer household? Were my peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches just not cutting it anymore? Did I need to learn new skills like mastering the Wii "I Spy" game or coloring with chalk? Was I being furloughed? Laid off? "Zach's office door. Only 1 visitor allowed. Everybody allowed except the people I do not want in my office door. Private door. Tomorrow's appointments: 5:58 --- 6:00 ?"Originally he spelled Office Door like this: "Office Dore."
I sat down at the table. He looked at me. He had a pencil and a blank piece of paper. Was he going to take notes? Make me take a test?
"Sign here." The paper was blank. What was I signing? Did I need a lawyer present?
"Mom, I want to talk about Sportsmanship."
Sportsmanship? My mind raced. Zach had his last soccer game on Saturday. Was I unsportsmanlike? I thought back to his game. I didn't think I did anything wrong. I took pictures, clapped at the appropriate time and high-fived him when he scored a goal.
"What is sportsmanship?" he asked. I gave him four concepts of what good sportsmanship meant to me. He wrote down all of them, occasionally asking for clarification and the spelling of words like "positive" and "attitude."
The meeting lasted about three minutes. He thanked me for my time and wrote "please come again." We shook hands. Not to be outdone, I saw this on Adam's door. Adam announced he was now taking appointments too. Grandma Agnes was first, then Oma. My turn next. I sat down at his desk, where everything was neatly in its place (eerily similar to that of Scott's desk at work). "Tell me why Legos are good toys."
A LEGO question? Didn't he know I wasn't versed in the science of Legos? Isn't this question more suited for Scott or Zach? I gave him several examples: they work your brain and teach you to follow directions. They are brightly colored and help with fine motor skills. He wrote all my answers in a Spiderman notebook labeled "meting" notebook. I could tell the notebook was important because he labeled a special place for it: "Meting notebook here" with an arrow. See picture above.
"Show me how to play with this Star Wars spaceship."
A presentation? I wasn't prepared for that! I just had to wing it, speak off the cuff. I started flying the ship around his room, making spaceship and explosion sounds, which is definitely not one of my talents.
"Uh mom?" He interrupted me. "You're flying it backwards."
I looked at the ship, and back at Adam. I'm sunk.
He burst out laughing. Whew! Glad to know he has a sense of humor. He let me start over.
After my demonstration he gave me a grade. C.
A "C"? Wow. Tough crowd. I know I got off to a bad start and my sound effects are not up to par, but I'm willing to practice. I wonder if he knew of any classes I could take about the subject? Or maybe professional development opportunities?
"Watch me. This is how it's done."
He proceeded to make all the cool sounds: rocker booster, machine gun, landing gear, explosions. And while my ship flied consistently at the same altitude, his flew high (jumping onto his bed, even) and really low so it was almost level with the floor. Then it even came in for a slow, steady landing.
I gave him an A.
His meetings with Oma, Grandma Agnes and Scott were quite interesting. He developed his topic based on each person's interest or world of knowledge. For example, he knew Oma preaches the importance of healthy eating habits so his topic for her was "how to eat healthy." Grandma Agnes is almost 98, so her topic? "How to stay alive." Papa didn't have time for his appointment, but I found out it was "how to do the news."
For your viewing pleasure. The first song is "Elephants Have Wrinkles." Zach is wearing jeans (!) in the front. The next song is "Party Animals" and he is on the end in the front row.
You may wonder why I even mention that Zach is wearing jeans...it's a music miracle. I had to remind every day for about three weeks that he would HAVE to wear jeans during his music program. He did, but then said he's never wearing them again. Sigh. I could write an entire blog posts about Zach's clothing dilemmas.
Oh, and this video is not they way I wanted it done, but Windows 7 Movie Maker leaves much to be desired.
Lunch in Medicine Lodge at picnic area off of Highway 160. Lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese, cool ranch Doritos, carrots, celery and apples. CapriSun for the boys, water for the adults.
Medicine Lodge was named by the Kiowa Indians when they discovered healing qualities of the river and built "medicine lodges" nearby.
She took our money and hand wrote the transaction in a three ring spiral notebook. Not a computer in sight, or a phone for that matter. She told us a little about the treasures inside the museum, artifacts that tell the historical story of Medicine Lodge and the surrounding area. We saw peace pipes, mammoth bones, teeth and husks, old typewriters and a manual dentist drill, clothing from the early 1900s, a collection of barbed wire and old tools, and much more. The museum is a replica of the 1874 frontier stockade. Inside the fence is The Smith Log Cabin and The Old Courthouse Jail.
Does anyone else think the picture below looks like something that would have been in Grandpa Keller's garage? 
Outside we investigated the old courthouse jail,
and the Smith Log Cabin from 1877. 
Do these dishes look familiar? 
I don't do laundry... 
oh, it's a Maytag!
Next door we headed to Carry Nation's house, where we saw her antique pump organ, writing desk, bed and period furnishings and clothing donated by local residents. I don't think Carry and I would have been friends. Her choice of shoes is somewhat restrictive and conservative. 
And this? These girls probably didn't Spring Break at Padre Island.
Next we took a Scenic Byways road through the Gypsum Hills. Not much going on here. 
All you could hear was the wind. I seem to remember a similar situation about 20 years ago when I forced to "listen to the silence" in the Flint Hills. The boys passed the time drawing on the magna doodle and writing in their notebooks.
The boys made the comment that we were the only car on the road. Yup...
Next stop was Greensburg where we looked around the new Green Town. An F5 tornado destroyed the town in 2007, and although lots of buildings have been rebuilt, you can tell "something happened." For instance, we saw a set of stone steps that leads to nowhere, but we think it might have been a church. We stopped at the Big Well, the largest hand dug well. 
The picture below was taken in 1992, about the same spot as the one above. In the picture above you can see the foundation of that building. The only thing that remains is the stone wall surrounding the well. 
We ran off steam at the playground next door and then took a bathroom break at the "little" Dillons on the main drag. Once we arrived in Dodge City, we ate a diner that received a C from Scott...definitely not a five star restaurant. The Dodge House Hotel was a hit with the boys...indoor heated pool, basketball court, ping pong, pool and video games. We had big plans to tour Boot Hill on Monday, but Zach got sick that night. Scott took Adam on a trolley ride, then we decided to head home. Zach perked up on the way home, and there was a steady stream of conversation from the back. 
