2nd June - Dodge City Kansas

"There ain't nothing round here but sunsets". As an experiment, I decided to drop my accommodation standards by a notch (which were already low) and save money. I am staying 20 miles south of Dodge City in Minneola. I had cheerily asked the tired looking woman in the grocery store what goes on Minneola on a Monday night. Think I would have got the same if I've asked what happens in Kansas on a Monday night. I am the only person staying in the motel run by a friendly Indian guy (I had an Enfield back home- very heavy) who asked me for a positive review in exchange for a discount the next time I visit (!). 

The road east out of Colorado soon leaves the mountains behind replaced with endless plains which endless trains rattle across sounding their deafening horns whenever possible. Such was the straightness of the road, I ended up counting the boxcars. Got to 125 on one train but may have missed some.

Colorado's eastern borders soon merges into Kansas. Here starts the real industrial farming. Towering over every small town there dominants a huge grain silo bearing its name. Fields stretch to the horizon, tractors grow fatter, trailers get longer. Cattle are kept in endless feed yards - small gated muddy enclosures with no grass. Factory beef for dollar burgers.

At the heart of this is Dodge City. Originally an army garrison to combat the rampaging native Indian tribes but after all the buffalo were slaughtered (herds of millions became hundreds after the Government paid hunters rendering the buffalo virtually extinct and ending the lifestyle of the native Indians) became the hub of cattle trading for farmers from the south. Enter the cowboy. Here is where they got paid and laid. Many, as legend had it ended up here. Boot hill.

Forget the Magnificent Seven image, this is behind a museum adjacent to a main street full of ubiquitous burger joints & budget hotels. After years of bringing his own shoot first, ask later order to the town, Wyarp Earp moved on. Wise move.