I left off the last time with our arrival in Hesston Kansas, where we met up with Jenna! We stayed at the guest house on campus, which is super convenient when visiting someone at the college. Our first full day there, Jenna had classes all day, so Jim and I did some adventuring of our own.
Over 30 years ago, Jim spent a summer on the wheat harvest, cutting wheat from Texas to Montana with a crew based out of Inman Kansas. Before we left on our trip, he did some research and found what he thought might be a current address for his boss, Randy Ediger. He didn't have a phone # though, so we were going out on a bit of a limb. We punched it into the GPS and went for a drive. As we came to the driveway, we saw harvesters lined up beside a barn, along with some grain trucks, and so we pulled in to find out if our search had been successful. There was a young man working in an implement shed, and Jim hopped out of the car to talk to him while I waited. A few minutes later, a man came out of the house saying "Jim! You made it back!" Randy recognized Jim right away, and we had a wonderful visit with him! He was very gracious to receive unexpected guests, and made us feel very welcome!
Jim has a lot of great memories of his time back in the summer of 1987 on the wheat harvest!
After we left the Ediger farm, we headed just a few miles south to the little town of Buehler...
I had gone out on a limb of my own the day before, and contacted a fellow blogger, Kim, from Kim's County Line. She's a fellow farm wife, and I've enjoyed reading about her life in Kansas for the past few years. I knew she wasn't too far from where we would be (and in Kansas, an hour of travel feels so different than it does around here!!) and so I asked her if there was any way we could meet up. She was also very gracious, and we met at a coffee shop in Buehler and had nice visit! We both regretted later that we hadn't take a picture, but we had a very nice time meeting in person and getting to know each other a little bit. Thanks, Kim for taking time to meet with a near stranger on a whim!!
We took Jenna for supper in the evening, and turned in feeling like we had had a successful day!
On Thursday, our second full day in Hesston, all that Jenna had on her schedule was a violin lesson in the morning. We've really missed hearing her play, so it was a treat to have her play several pieces for us that she's been working on...
We then headed out with Jenna for an adventure to a Salt Mine in Hutchinson. It is an active salt mine, which Kim recommended would be a fun place to tour. We were not disappointed!
We went from 630' high at the St Louis Arch, to 650' below ground for the tour of the mine. I thought it might feel a little claustrophobic, being underground, but it didn't feel that way at all. The part of the mine that we were in was well lit, with high ceilings, so we didn't even feel like we were underground! The underground temperature was a constant 55 degrees, so it was also quite comfortable temperature wise...
That chunk of salt beside Jim and Jenna weighs over a ton...
The large equipment inside the mine was taken down in pieces and reassembled once it was down in the mine. It will stay there permanently, even after it's no longer in use. This was an undercutter, which was used to cut a way a few inches at the bottom of each wall, which then allowed somewhere for the salt to fall once blasting took place...
...and this conveyor belt transported the salt out of the mine...
If you're ever near Hutchinson Kansas, I'd recommend it as place to visit!
We headed back to Hesston, and enjoyed our last evening on campus. We strolled around the Arboretum...
...and enjoyed some welcome signs of spring...
As we prepared to leave Kansas, there was one other thing that I wanted to document, and that is the almost constant Kansas wind...
We had a wonderful time, and headed out early Friday morning for our next stop...Fort Collins Colorado to visit my Aunt. More in a bit...
