Drive Across Kansas or Nebraska? (Kansas City, Topeka: crime, versus, move)

[Rivertowntalk]

https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/lewi...-entries/11524

If you like Lewis and Clark, read the Kansas entries from July 2, 1804 forward. Very interesting. Drive up to the Weston, MO and over to the Atchison area. Stop at the train station visitor center. The site where Lewis and Clark camped north of Atchison can be accessed as well as the old Kanza Indian Capitol that was vacant when they passed through. The Kanza were out west buffalo hunting. Very rural still and much is the same as 1804. The creek with no name mentioned by Clark, encountered on the 4th, 1804, is Independence Creek today.

[Bluefox]

Kansas I-70 cops are A-holes with a capital A. Nebraska I-80 police are a little less gestapo.

[empires228]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Kansas I-70 cops are A-holes with a capital A. Nebraska I-80 police are a little less gestapo.

I drive on I-70 once a week and RARELY ever see a single highway patrol car.

[Okey Dokie]

Originally Posted by empires228

I drive on I-70 once a week and RARELY ever see a single highway patrol car.

I thought KHP had set up permanent shop near Goodland profiling cars coming from Colorado.

[RememberMee]

I-70 in KS is one of the best interstates in the US pavement quality wise as of 2017, and it has just a few sections where road work slows the traffic a tiny bit. This will not last. Hurry.

[empires228]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

I thought KHP had set up permanent shop near Goodland profiling cars coming from Colorado.

You would be wrong.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

I thought KHP had set up permanent shop near Goodland profiling cars coming from Colorado.

They used to do this between Junction City and Topeka, the drug/currency checkpoints got attacked a lot politically and publicly. I think the courts put a stop to it. There's a thread possibly from 2016 where it is discussed. I wouldn't be concerned about it happening now and that shouldn't be a factor on which route to take.

Edit: I think they mostly stopped a few years back. The KHP has a few tricks up their sleeves to catch drug smugglers, but their checkpoints have been all shut down.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Kansas I-70 cops are A-holes with a capital A. Nebraska I-80 police are a little less gestapo.

Originally Posted by empires228

I drive on I-70 once a week and RARELY ever see a single highway patrol car.

Ditto. I drive out to Hays probably 6 times a year, and about once a year out to Colorado. I very seldom see patrol cars.

[kcmo]

Are you coming back? I would hit Omaha one direction and KCMO the other. That way you get to see both cities. If you are only coming through once, then I would go out of your way to pass through KCMO.

If only staying a very short time, such as a few hours. Go to the WW1 Museum and make sure to go up to the top of the observation tower. While you are there, walk over to Union Station and just walk through one of America's most impressive historic train stations. Walk around the Country Club Plaza and do a quick tour of the Nelson Atkins Museum. If you have time, add the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and or Steamboat Arabia to your trip. Try to be in KC on a Saturday morning so you can experience the City Market when it's bustling the most. You can do all of this in about a day if you rush through it. Just make the WW1 Museum the priority.

The drive across Kansas is much better than the drive across Nebraska. Nebraska is boring and gets old very fast. Much of the drive across Kansas is actually interesting and it doesn't really become stereotypical "Kansas" till about 2/3 across and western Colorado is the worst part of the drive to Denver from KC.

But Omaha is a pretty cool city. It's much smaller than KC, but if you get a chance to go there or don't want to drive out of your way to visit KC, then Omaha is a nice stop. Just walk around and enjoy the city. Go to Old Market and then walk down to the riverfront via the Heartland of America Park. Omaha has a nicely developed parks system on both sides of the Missouri River with a neat pedestrian only bridge connecting Nebraska to Iowa. If you have time, Omaha has one of the best zoos in the country.

[Gunluvver2]

I was born in Cheyenne County Kansas, grew up on a farm in Yuma county Colorado and after going to College in Eastern Nebraska I have lived in Nebraska since graduating. I have traveled all over the USA and Canada as an owner/operator in the trucking business. When I travel on business I am usually in a hurry and I use either I70 or I80. Both can be boring but I must agree I-80 has to be one of the most boring Interstates in the country followed by I-70 from Salina to the Colorado line.

These Interstates were placed there for a reason. Dwight Eisenhower realized the importance of having a highway system capable of handling large truckloads of military equipment to move rapidly from city to city. Hence I80 and I70 are flat and boring. However Eisenhower had another reason for building these super highways across this boring terrain. Ike had roots in the Kansas and Nebraska area and he realized that if these major highways ran across the more interesting areas of the two states that millions of travelers would decide to pull up roots and relocate to Kansas and Nebraska. He knew what the RAT RACE was like in the crowded urban areas of the country and he wanted to keep the "Heaven on Earth" areas of Kansas and Nebraska a secret.
PS. Don't tell anyone our secret.