Shawnee County

This was a day where we would be able to avoid all highways. No interstates, no toll roads, only US, State, and County routes. We just set Google maps to avoid highways, and voila! There is a route that takes only a little bit longer. Yet, it takes less gas because to route is more direct and slower. And roads are usually less travelled, traffic slower, the scenery and and the small towns interesting.

Along the road we often see something that make one of us, usually Heather, say “go back, we need to get a picture of (fill in the blank with: building, tree, bird, river, field, sky, cloud, flowers, you get the idea).” Well, in this case it was a building. As I was looking for a place to park so we could switch drivers, I saw that this very same building had a large gravel parking lot. So I pulled in and Heather got to take the photos that she thought would end up in Life Magazine, or at least on our blog. Twas a very interesting building. I think it might have started its life as a school.

We passed a vacant gas station with a giant sign “Kickapoo Truck Stop.” I am sorry that we did not get a photo. This is one of those cases where we said “Oh, look! Quick get a picture.” Yet no one scrabbled to get the camera because the visual was so fascinating we just continue staring. It all looked very new, yet very vacant, as if the tenants recently had left, hat in hand, with nothing left in their possession but their name. We think that it was a perhaps attached to the nearby casino run by the Kickapoo tribe.

Another reason we love taking the back roads is that it gives us an opportunity to see the historical markers. We stopped at a historical marker titled “The Battle of the Spurs.” The event occurred near the marker in 1859. John Brown, 11 freed slaves and 20 some supporters were confronted by a US Marshal and 40 some deputies. John Brown, being fearless, led his group straight at the posse. The posse turned tail and spurred their horse away from the confrontation as fast as they could go. Hence the name: Battle of the Spurs. I personally think that perhaps having a newspaper editor there helped to frame the story. Here is a link to the historical marker (https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=127434).Read more