Ohio Trip: Part 1 - Hutchinson, Hannibal and Newark
Every summer we make a road trip from Colorado back to Ohio to visit relatives and last year was no exception. We try to mix up our route and visit different places along the way. This time we spent the night in small towns, Hutchinson, KS and Hannibal, MO on the way out and St. Charles, MO and Hays, KS on the way back. Right Buddy (RB) had never been to Hannibal before and Left Buddy (LB) had only been there as a child.
For lunches on the way out to Ohio, we brought along a cooler with picnic food of sandwiches, salads and fresh fruit. This turned out to be a blessing, not only on our budget and health, but also provided a reason to stop and experience some locations that we might not have otherwise made. On the first day of our trip, we got off of I-70 at Limon, CO and headed south on Hwy 287 to stop for cherry pie and ice cream at the Trading Post in Kit Carson, CO. We have stopped here before and LB enjoys their homemade pies. However, he did leave a little disappointed when he found out that they don’t make the pies on premise. We then headed east on Hwy 96.
Lunch time found us near the little town of Tribune, KS, so we used Google Maps to find a park on the north side of town to have a picnic. It looked like the town was getting ready for the Greeley County Fair. Our lunch music was the sounds of cows, pigs, sheep and goats coming from the barn next to the park, so we walked over to check it out. People, who appeared to be staying in their campers and trailers that were parked nearby, were giving their animals baths and haircuts. It looked like a family affair, with some young children taking pride in washing their own small animals. After stretching our legs walking around the fairgrounds, we continued on small highways to our destination for the night in Hutchinson.
Hutchinson, our first night’s stop on the trip, was a very enjoyable town. For some reason, RB did not get her nice camera out and just took pictures with her phone, perhaps she wasn’t quite in the vacation mode yet. Before dinner we strolled up and down Main Street and stumbled across the Hutchinson Historic Fox Theatre on 1st Avenue. The art deco faćade looked really cool (the picture does not do it justice). We put a guided tour and/or watching a film at the Fox Theatre on our todo list for the next time we visit Hutchinson, when we have a little more time to spend.
After enjoying the architecture of the old buildings along Main Street, we had a pleasant meal at Jillian’s Italian Grill next to the Hutchinson Train Station. Our entertainment during our meal was watching the chef making pizzas in the wood-fired oven.
On the second day, to get from Hutchinson to Hannibal, we took Hwy 50 to I-35 to Hwy 36. Even though at lunch time we were on an interstate, in the middle of the big city of Kansas City, we found a nice place for a picnic. RB looked at the map of Kansas City in our road atlas and found the biggest patch of green that was near our route, Hidden Valley Park. And yes, we have an old-fashioned, physical road atlas with us, not only because we sometimes prefer a road atlas, but also because you can’t rely on a cell phone signal on some of the backroads that we like to take. Hidden Valley Park turned out to be a lovely park, with a large picnic shelter, port-a-potty and nature trails.
We decided to try to get a short hike in before climbing back into the car. There is a three mile loop through the woods that we started down. LB did not appreciate all the spiderwebs that spanned across the trail. He is now content to not be the first one down the path. Spiderwebs aside, we did appreciate the peaceful setting. Being a weekday, we practically had the park to ourselves. We caught a glimpse of a deer running off through the trees, but RB was not quick enough with her camera to catch a picture. Just a little while later, a fawn bolted from its hiding place in the underbrush when we got too close for its comfort. Had it stayed still, we probably would not have seen it. RB thought she had her camera ready after seeing the mama deer, but the fawn was too fast for her. After about a mile of “bushwhacking” and spastic arm waiving through the spiderwebs, we turned around and headed back. We were surprised that some of the spiderwebs had been reconstructed back across the trail in just that short amount of time.
Our second night’s stop, Hannibal, was even more fun. Staying at the Main Street Bed & Breakfast, which is above the shops at the corner of N. Main St. and Center St, was a treat. We loved staying in a historical building despite being able to hear the night-life noise drift up from the local bars and the frequent train traffic a couple of blocks away. The Main Street Bed & Breakfast has a special place in our hearts, because this is where we came up with the idea and name for Backroad Buddies of Red Tail Lodge as we talked about our dreams and life aspirations.
We strolled down to the other end of Main street to have dinner at the Mark Twain Brewing Company with a view of the Mississippi River. Being in the mood to try different things, we split a couple of platters so we could each have a sample of all of their BBQ meats, pork, chicken, sausage, brisket and wings. Our report? They were all very tasty, and filling! LB ordered a flight of beer so he could sample what the brewery has to offer. In addition, the brewery was premiering a new beer, so naturally LB said he'd try one of those too. While LB was finishing his beer, RB walked up to the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse, since RB doesn’t drink beer and LB didn't think the stairs and the sloshing beer sounded like fun. The lighthouse is not much to see since it is not a real lighthouse, but there were some nice views of the Mississippi River through the trees from the hilltop. After dinner, a summer concert was just getting started on Hill St. The whole town seemed to be there with their lawn chairs in the street to enjoy it. A great small-town community vibe was in the air. We went for overachiever status as we grabbed an ice cream and milkshake from the nearby Becky’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream shop and then allowed all of our senses to be filled from the comfort of a park bench. After all that food and beer, more meandering around the town was required to walk off some of those calories before turning in for the night at the bed & breakfast. It was a wonderful evening.
During our meandering around Hannibal, we came across what we thought was an old printing press along Center street behind the Hannibal History Museum. It was actually a Linotype machine (not a printing press itself) that creates a metal block for a line of text, which is then used in a printing press. We're not sure why it is sitting there, but a Google search turned up a 2015 article about a Linotype they were trying to figure out how to move from the former Klene Printing Co building over to the Hannibal History Museum, but it won't fit through the doors of the museum and it weighs half a ton (Herald-Whig article). Is this the same machine as the one in the article? Were they unsuccessful in figuring out how to get it into the museum and so it sits outside to rust? Do you have any information about this? We'll have to investigate this further.
From Hannibal to Newark, OH on the third day, we took Interstate highways (I-72, I-74 and I-70), so we hit the Indianapolis area close to lunch time. We got off of I-74 and took route 32 over to I-65 hoping we could find a nice park. We didn’t find anything along route 32, but came across the Boone County Fairgrounds in Lebanon, right after we got on I-65, so we stopped to check it out. What we found was one lone picnic table in the shade of a large tree complete with a view of a large grassy area and a few flower gardens. We were the only ones there. There were no signs saying the public was not allowed and the fairgrounds personnel didn't chase us away, so we sat and enjoyed our picnic and the view. We didn't notice any open bathrooms at the fairgrounds, but we had just stopped at the Flying J at the previous exit so we were fine to continue down the road.
The small town touring continued when we reached Ohio. For the first few nights in Ohio, we stayed in the town of Newark. With the excuse that she needed to walk over to an ATM to get some cash, she took pictures around the courthouse square before we headed off to visit family on our first full day in town. The ATM was on the square, only a block away from the hotel, but somehow RB’s camera managed to pull her several blocks out of her way, over to the Canal Market District and the Licking County Historic Jail. LB was back at the hotel wondering why a five-minute task was taking 45-minutes. He had a strong hunch, but didn't know for sure.
We’ll save the small towns on the way back from Ohio for another blog post.
(RB)