Two Pairs of Tired Feet - Part 2

 After a good nights rest, our feet were ready to head for the flea market at Sparks and go to  White Cloud for a second day of walking.  Had a good breakfast at the motel.  Saw a beautiful sunrise again before heading out at 8:30 a.m.

Corn fields line both sides of US 36.

I thought this white barn was unusual.  It is not the usual red barn.

We spent about three hours walking the remaining side of the street.  For a midmorning snack we had cups of homemade ice cream.  It has been many, many years since we have had homemade ice cream.

We drove ten miles east of Sparks to White Cloud, Kansas.  White Cloud is the seat of government for the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.  It was named for Francis White  Cloud, son of Chief White Cloud of the Iowa People.  It has a population of 115.

White Cloud is located on a bluff on the banks of the Missouri River.  Although it may not look like, this street is going uphill.  Most of the building and and houses on this main street are very old and in need of repair.

This building contains the post office and, in past times, a bank.  I don't think the bank is not in operation now.

If we were to drive up this road, there is a viewing area are the top where we could  see the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.  The road was very steep and we didn't want to drive it with the car.

This picture and the two below are of the Missouri River.

We continued to drive the highway that connects Sparks and White Cloud north and across the Missouri River into Missouri where the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge is located.

We took a ten-mile loop road around the refuge.  Fortunately, we did not have to share the road with any snakes.  In fact, we saw no wildlife and very few birds.

The road was rock-covered and now we would find out why we see so many dirty cars.

We saw lots of sunflowers.

Some of the refuge is swampy and covered with lilypads.  This refuge is a stop-over place for several species of water fowl that migrate from Canada to warmer winter climates in the fall and fly north in the spring.  At those times, these swamps would look entirely different.

We passed a huge yard sale with these two planes for sale.  That was a first for us.  We had never seen airplanes for sale at a yard sale.

This old railroad bridge was first built in 1887 and then replaced in 1977.  It crosses the Missouri River.

This highway bridge that crosses the Missouri River was build in 1939.  The other side of the bridge is in Nebraska and was a campsite of Lewis and Clark in 1804.

 

This grasshopper joined us as we drove through the refuge in Missouri and stayed on the window until we arrived at the car wash in Hiawatha which was nearly 30 miles.  I hope he likes living in Kansas.

This is my dirty car post for the day.  Compare this car to our car in the picture below.   I say our car is not dirty when you compare it to the car pictured above.  Carol does not like to drive a dirty car so when we got back into Hiawatha, the first thing we did was find a car wash and wash the car.

This will be our last day at Hiawatha.  We have really enjoyed the flea/antique markets and driving the rural roads in this area.  We filled the car up with gas for $2.79 a gallon.  We enjoyed that, too!!  Tomorrow we will turn the car south and drive to Oklahoma City for two nights.