Anyone else bored with West Kansas? (Wichita, Topeka: low crime, to live in, safe)

[dacx]

Originally Posted by eon-krate32

Okay so I live in Colorado and every year i gotta drive through Kansas along I-70 (for about 5-6 hours) and until we reach Salina we're bored to tears. Don't get me wrong I greatly enjoy driving through that central Kansas corridor (Salina to Wichita along I-135/35, especially around Wichita) but anywhere else it's like we're back in the stone ages. THERE'S NOTHING THERE! So yeah, rant aside does anyone else share this pain? Or perhaps even additional reasons to LIVE there other than the obvious loner/farmer excuses?

I actually enjoy western Kansas but you can do what a friend of mine suggested. Drive through after dark...that way you can make up the scenery as you go along

[Okey Dokie]

If you think western Kansas is desolate, try the drive from Las Vegas to Phoenix, west of Salt Lake City on I-80, or eastern Wyoming.

I love western Kansas in late May/early June when the wheat is just starting to ripen and it's waving in the wind (that's the Jayhawk in me ).

[moonpeep]

I find Western Nebraska into E Colorado more vacant. Particularly... from 80 through that stretch of 76 into Colorado.

Western Kansas holds fond memories for me. I'm familiar with some of the small towns as I have storm chased out there.

Two of the best days of my life were spent darting between towns like Oakley, Dighton, Wakeeney and Ness City.

[itsMeFred]

Originally Posted by Gunluvver2

You are right there is absolutely nothing to do in these god forsaken places. Stay in your cities.

GL2

Amen.

The last thing I want is to see my corner of the world turn into another western Montana, or worse, the Front Range of CO!

[tfox]

I hear a lot of Coloradans like the OP look down the nose at Western Kansas. In fact, many of the same basically look down at anything in Colorado east of Denver, sometimes including Denver's eastern suburbs like Aurora for good measure!

Personally, I think that it's a bit ridiculous. We who live in Denver live on the Great Plains. In fact, we're the ONLY major city in the country physically located on the Great Plains (yes, we are near the mountains, but we are not IN the mountains). Western Kansas is also part of the same Great Plains. On the other hand, KC and Omaha are NOT on the great plains, and the other cities mentioned by the OP (Salina, Wichita) are more in a transition zone between the midwestern prairies to the east and the actual Great Plains to their west. I'm fairliy sure that they are not actually located on the Great Plains.

Since Denver was historically called "The Queen City of the Plains", I don't understand why Coloradans don't embrace that part of our identity and develop some appreciation for the subtle beauty of the landscape of the Great Plains.

Certainly between DIA and Salina, KS there's not a lot of cities, and the few that are there like Limon, Burlington, or Colby are tiny; I guess in some peoples' book that's depressing. In my book I wish the Colorado front range was a little more like that. I find I-70 to be a much more refreshing drive than I-25 in Colorado, especially between Pueblo and Fort Collins, which is pretty much one traffic jam after another for about 180 miles or so. On I-70 going east, you pass DIA and you won't have to worry about traffic all the way to Kansas City.

[kcmo]

Eastern CO is much worse than anything in KS...

[catfishing]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Eastern CO is much worse than anything in KS...

True. I'm tired of people ripping on Western Kansas. Salina, Hays, Colby, Dodge City, Garden City, Hutchinson, and Liberal are all located in western Kansas, and all are interesting and historic towns. Has anyone that's hating on western kansas ever been to the Cheyanne Bottoms, The Garden of Eden, Boot Hill, or north central Kansas's lakes? C'mon man! If you want to see the beauty of Kansas get off of I-70! God forbid, give Kansas a chance and you might find out that you like it.

[kansas boy]

How very true!!!!!!

[Lynnea Urania Stuart]

Personally, I love that prairie that goes on forever. I also like my mountains.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Eastern CO is much worse than anything in KS...

I wonder of that is what it is...as the OP is from Colorado. I don't remember Eastern Colorodo having the same beauty...nor I do remember it much in other states like Nebraska as much. I DID remember in the Dakotas though, and Western Kansas was certainly some of the most beautiful land I've driven across anywhere in the country.

I love the mountains as well...no doubt about it. But I grew up in MI, it is also flat and farmland. YET, what I saw in Western Kansas was just so much more beautiful. The smell of the earth, the windmills, the flatness of the land with dotted houses out on the ever-spreading horizon...it's immensely beautiful. I'm actually reliving it fondly as I type this.