Susan Medlin picked me up at our place in San Antonio on Thursday at 6 a.m. in 77-degree heat with 80% humidity. Ugh. Our destination today is Wichita, Kansas, nine hours away.
We drove in two-hour shifts, agonizing over the construction projects on I-35 through Texas. There were a couple of construction areas where the freeway was only one lane. Vehicles were backed up for miles in each direction. We crept along at 5 mph.
Once we left Texas, a pounding thunderstorm blew by us in Oklahoma. Tense driving occurred during one of those gullywashers. Standing water on the freeway is not a good thing. Luckily, we did not have any deep puddles.
It was cloudy most of the way north. When we arrived in Wichita, we checked into our hotel, rested for a few minutes, and then headed out to do the 11k Old Town Wichita walk. The walk start point is the Hotel at Old Town. We had no problem finding a parking spot on the street downtown at 5:30 p.m. [NOTE: Susan and Darren Medlin and I did this walk in June 2017 on our way to the American Volkssport Association convention in Billings, Montana. Link to my 2017 blog on this walk. The walk was completely different and we only recognized a few things from the previous walk. We liked this walk a lot better!]
It's unusual for us to do an afternoon/evening walk, but the weather was perfect. The first part of our walk took us through the Douglas Design District, Old Town, and Downtown Wichita.
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| Old Town banners. |
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| Old Town Marketplace. |
Murals were prevalent as were tattoo parlors in the Design District. It is called the Design District because there are 40 home design businesses here.
In Old Town and Downtown, we were on the Chisholm Trail (also known as Douglas Ave.). We were pleased to see many sculptures, both large and small. There are lovely old, architecturally interesting buildings downtown.
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| Old Wichita Union Station. |
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The Pour House Brewery (formerly
Rock Island Depot at Union Station). |
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| Locomotive sitting on elevated tracks. |
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| Art in an alleyway. |
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| Same alley as above. |
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| 1887 building on Chisholm Trail. |
We then walked all the way around Intrust Bank Arena. This arena is home to the Wichita Thunder hockey team and Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team. Right across the street from the Intrust Bank Arena is a Pub called Axe to Grind. It has indoor ax-throwing lanes (and they serve alcohol. What could go wrong?).
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| Intrust Bank Arena. |
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Intrust Bank Arena.
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Wichita has painted Keeper of the Plains statues scattered throughout the city. They're very beautiful. Here is one outside the arena. This was my favorite of the ones we saw. The painting on each side is so well done! |
"A World Transformed,"
artist: Grace Shively. |
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"A World Transformed,"
artist: Grace Shively.
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| Info on previous painting. |
Now, we are coming up on the best part of the walk: the river and Keeper of the Plains. Heading toward the River, we made a short detour to look at these gates into historic downtown Wichita.
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A gateway into downtown. There is no
explanation for this design. What does it mean? |
The surprises just kept on coming. We found tile art on a parking garage. Then was came to the Waltzing Waters fountain. The sun was shining on the water and it looked so pretty!
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Tile art at the entrance to a
parking garage. |
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| Waltzing Waters fountain. |
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| Waltzing Waters fountain. |
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| America's Cup sailing boat. |
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| Close-up of the America's Cup logo. |
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We are now walking along the
Arkansas River. |
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| Waterfall wall. |
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The other side of
the waterfall wall. |
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| Susan Medlin and the Arkansas River. |
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| Another waterfall area. |
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| Arkansas River looking toward downtown. |
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"Longhorn on the Chisholm Trail,"
designed by artist/welder
John Kearney. |
The longhorn statue above stands where many of the cattle from the Chisholm Trail crossed the Arkansas River from Delano into Wichita during the city's heyday as a center for the cattle trade.
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| A cool building across the river. |
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The blue-roofed building in the back is
the Convention Center/Event Hall. |
We enjoyed our walk alongside the river. We passed the modern Exploration Place building on our way to the Keeper of the Plains.
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| Exploration Place Museum. |
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44-foot tall Keeper of the Plains
stands on a 30-foot pedestal. |
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| What a treat to see this again! |
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The pedestrian footbridge and
the Keeper of the Plains. |
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Looking back across the water at
Exploration Place. |
On our walk back to the car, we got to see a big troll under a grate, way down below the level of the grate. It was very hard to see. We also passed by numerous veterans and war memorials.
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Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception. |
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| Old Town Square with its neon trees. |
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Art deco Warren Theater at Old Town
Square. |
Susan Medlin didn't want dinner at 9 p.m., so I dropped her off at the hotel and headed to Arby's. After walking 11k, I was hungry! I ordered one of their Chicken Salad Sandwiches to take back to my room.
So, there you have a typical day with Susan and Susan. It was a long one. The drive alone took us ten hours! More to come from our walking weekend in Missouri.
Fantastiv write-up accompanied by incredible pictures. I haven't finished planning our convention route. This may be mandatory if even somewhat close to our route.
ReplyDeleteThank you, DJ. But really, you should thank the Pace Setters Volksmarch Club. They laid out this fun route. We just enjoyed it.
DeleteEnjoyed the commentary and photos. Have a safe trip and return to San Antonio.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I appreciate your comment.
DeleteThanks for doing the Wichita walk.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. It was our pleasure. Good job.
DeleteThanks for doing the walk! I'm glad you enjoyed it. We tend to change it every year or two.
DeleteKeep up the good work! It makes us want to come back.
Delete