Baxter Springs City Park (by Asher)

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The reason we went to Baxter Springs was because I didn't feel like we had gone to Kansas. When you think of Kansas, you probably think of a never-ending prairie. To me, the middle of Kansas City (the Kansas side) didn't feel like that prairie. So, we went to Baxter Springs. We picked Baxter Springs for two reasons. One, dad had heard that it was part of the inspiration for the movie Cars. Two, Baxter Springs is right in the corner of Kansas.

We stayed at the Baxter Springs Campground in the city park. The campground was empty so we got it to ourselves. Caleb and Jordan liked bringing the bunnies to the picnic shelter and letting them run around between the tables.

We went to explore the town. The population of Baxter Springs is around 3,852. We tried to go to the Baxter Springs Visitor Center but it was closed. Instead we went to the Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum. There was some interesting things there such as the world's longest wooden carved chain. You never know what you might find!

After we left the museum, we drove to Nelson's Old Riverton Store. On the way we drove on Rainbow Bridge, the last Marsh Arch style of bridge along the whole of Route 66. (And yes, we did get to go on Route 66; there's about thirteen miles of it left in Kansas.) We talked to the person in the store about Kansas foods and she said fried chicken. She said to go to Chicken Annie's. So that's where we went for dinner. It wasn't anything special. (Don't tell the store clerk I said that!) I'm pretty sure that we got home late.

In the morning we went to the visitor center because it was open. There we met Dean "Crazy Legs" Walker. So called because he has an ability to turn both of his feet around and walk backwards. If anyone reading this has watched the movie Cars, you might have guessed that he was the inspiration for the character Mater's backwards driving. He had tons of knowledge about Route 66. He was like: "Then you take a left at this stoplight here" or "and then there will be a curve here" and stuff like that.


Notice his feet


Due to age, he can only do one foot now

Before we left for the next campground, we went to see the real life Mater, Red, Sheriff, and Doc Hudson.



We also went to the KS-MO-OK Tri State Marker.

Location: Baxter Springs, KS 66713, USA

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