In addition to selling fresh meat, Meade Locker makes several flavors of their own jerky and sells various protein bars and other items. The coolest thing may be the cooler filled with about 40 different types of brats and other sausages. We bought several items, but have only tried the Teriyaki Jerky so far.

Driving east from Meade, we returned to Big Basin Prairie Preserve Wildlife Area, south of Minneola, Kansas. I have been here 3 times before, but never seen the bison herd. Pulling in we still didn't see them and we drove back to St. Jacob's Well.

The parking area is above the Little Basin when the well is located and it is a fairly steep irregular trail down to the spring.

Although I have driven much farther through the Wildlife Area in the past, at this time, the roadway is marked for authorized vehicles only. So we headed back toward the entrance, stopping again when we reach the cliff looking down on the Big Basin. This time we spotted the bison herd, about a half mile away.

I was photographing the bison as another vehicle came up the road. They saw me taking photos and backed up to see what was happening. The driver of the vehicle honked his horn and the bison thought that meant we had food for them. They can move fast! A third vehicle pulled up as they were charging across the Basin and I warned the passenger who got out to take photos that she didn't want to get far from her vehicle.

We took photos passing through Minneola and went on to Mullinville, Kansas to take new photographs of the MT Liggett Art Environment. The museum closed for the day at 4 PM, but the grounds are open during daylight hours. 

We also took new photos of the Fromme-Birney Round Barn, s few miles south of Mullinville, which had the roof replaced since our last visit. The only other change which I noticed is that the yard sale type items for sale on the honor system seemed to have expanded. 

The barn is kept unlocked and you are welcome to turn the lights on (to the left from the entrance). Please remember to turn them off when you leave.

Heading west on US-54, there were stops to photograph cotton fields, Next GINeration Cotton Gin & the historic John Rice Barn in Cullison, and some yard art.

Tonight's supper was at Chapeau in Pratt, Kansas. It opened as The Brunswick bar in 1969. Prior to the current owner taking over in 1988, it was an Italian Restaurant. The menu is somewhat limited, but the Pizza Taco and Burgers came heavily recommended

The Pizza Taco was inspired by the former Italian restaurant and is served on a crispy pizza crust shaped like a taco and filled with your choice of beef, sausage or chicken, and mozzarella cheese, shredded lettuce and a choice of 5 spice levels of sauce. Even the $10.55 small version is large. I liked it, but not as much as the burger.

The Rat Burger has jalapenos, bacon, cheese and grilled onions and is named for a customer who always ordered it. The menu doesn't say what size it is, but it looked like a half pound.

We spent the night at the Flag Point Inn & Suites by FairBridge in Pratt, Kansas.

St. Jacob's Well
 
 
 

Bison Stampede
 
 
 
 

Fromme-Birney Round Barn
 
 
 
 
 

Pizza Taco

In Wichita, the first stop was at Textron Aviation Engineering, south of Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. The grave of the 3 month old Lyn Wyckoff, who died in 1881, and is at the edge of the parking lot by itself, surrounded by a low metal fence. When I visited the grave in August, I thought the headstone was missing. I later learned that it is flat and had been hidden by debris, so this was a chance to photograph the marker.

Staying in southwest, Wichita, the next stop was at ICT Books. The store was founded in 2022 to reduce waste by keeping books out of landfills and to aid in literacy by providing books at an affordable price. Most items (Books, comics, CDs, DVDs) are $1.25.

The store has two large rooms and one small. The largest room is at the front and is books. They are organized by category, but otherwise it is hard to find specific books and there is no inventory system. In addition to shelves there are many large deep boxes filled with a jumble of a topic and it would be extremely difficult to look at the items on the bottom. The back room is also large and has CDs, DVDs and Blue-Ray ($2). It can be fun browsing, but searching for a specific title would be very frustrating.

The third room is children's books and is better organized. There are bin's with series such as Dr. Seuss.

Across Wichita, we visited tiny Longview Park on Longview Lane just south of East Kellogg Avenue.  The park has a small monument with a Pizza Hut logo and the following on a plaque: "On May 31, 1958, Dan Carney and Frank Carney, with a loan of $600 from their mother, opened the world's first Pizza Hut Restaurant on the corner of Kellogg and Bluff.

The next stop was tricky. I had a lead about a mural with a car sticking out of the wall it was on. Supposedly it was on the east side of an auto body complex at 226. N. Kansas Street in Wichita. We found the complex but the east side of it is on the I-135 ramp, fenced and not a safe place to walk. I had to photograph it while driving by.

I have since learned that it is the work of Greg Johnson, who is an artist and auto body repair person. I hope to track down more of his work. We appears to have no online presence, and I missed an exhibit of his work at CityArts Gallery in Wichita this summer.

Additional stops were made for photos of statues on the campus of Wichita East High School, a mural on the Midwest Diving Center, and a mural on the building which will be the future home of The Kansas African American Museum.

We made a longer stop on the Campus of Wichita State University, to photograph "Memorial 70" which honors  the 31 WSU football players, administrators and supporters who died in a plane crash Friday, October 2, 1970.

While we were there, we discovered the nearby Grafly Gardens which has 6 sculptures made by Charles Grafly tucked away in a park like area. It is easy to miss, as the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection has 89 works spread across the 330 acre Wichita State University campus. 

For lunch, we were joined by family at The Eatery, a soul food restaurant in northeast Wichita. We arrived 5 minutes after the restaurant was supposed to open (noon) and the door was locked. A woman pulled in and said they would open in about 10 minutes. 

You order at the counter and food is brought to your table. In this case it took over 35 minutes. When dining in, the food is served in carry out containers with plastic ware. We sampled chicken wings, BBQ chicken wings, catfish, shrimp, onion rings, yams, and fried okra. Not all of the orders were correct and rather than 4 large shrimp, there were many small shrimp. 

I can highly recommend the catfish, BBQ chicken wings and fried okra.

Lyn Wyckoff Grave
 
 
 

ICT Books
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Greg Johnson Sculpture
 
 
 

Memorial 70
 
 

The Eatery

The door to the tavern side was standing open, but looking in, the lights were out and it didn't look like it is being used. The former market side was the same as 2023.

We ordered two daily specials (BLT and Chili Burger), a cup of Chili and a Chili Dog. Food came out slowly and each of the four items came out minutes apart. There were errors in the order, but they made them right.

The chili was mild and a little sweet. I enjoyed it, but would like it more without so many kidney beans. The BLT was served on a huge bun and had nearly a pound of bacon, cooked a variety of levels from lightly cooked to crisp. I liked the hamburger bun a lot.

BLT

In Topeka, it was still daylight when I discovered a new one near 13th Street and McAllister. It is a fun mixture of Christmas and Halloween.

For supper revisited D-dubs Bar And Grill in Eudora. As I prepare to make a page about it, this is my fourth time eating there. On the first visit, I had Jesse's Double Cheddar Burger (1/2 pound burger topped with cheddar ale sauce, sliced cheddar and grilled onions) and it was the best in several months. I wanted to try it again. It is still a darn good burger, though not one of my very favorites.

Topeka Christmas Display

Lunch was at Mr. P'Z Bar & Grill in Overland Park, Kansas. The fries were very good. The half slab of ribs looked & tasted liked they had been prepared in an oven, rather than smoked.

The ribs are served dry and they do no have BBQ sauce on the table. When the server asked which type (regular, sweet or spicy) I wanted, I asked if I could have all three. They came out in tiny plastic cups and just one wouldn't have been enough on these not very flavorful ribs. I'm not a big fan of the sauces, but was happiest with a combo of the sweet & spicy, which the server said many people perfer.

When the bill came, there was an additional 50 cent charge for each of the sweet & spicy sauces. Godd thing I hadn't asked for more!

In the afternoon, I checked on all the Christmas Light Displays which were on last year's Topeka Christmas Display Tour. How though it is too early to be sure that ones not going up, this allowed us to make the first tour for the 2025 season.

For lunch we visited Terrebonne Po' Boys. Although I have long enjoyed this Cajun Restaurant, it was the first time that I have dined there, since they moved to the much larger location on Mass Street.

They now have table service and a full bar. Nice improvements!

We had a fried shrimp Po' Boy, Fried alligator, seasoned fries, coleslaw, Creole Deviled Egg. Wasabi Deviled Egg, and red beans & rice. 

In Topeka, I visited every Christmas Display which was on our tour in 2024, to see if they have started putting up the displays this year.

On the return, we had supper at West Coast Saloon in Lawrence. It was a place which opened while Linda was a University of Kansas student living in a dorm within walking distance in 1981. As we waited for our food and looked at the 1980s photos on the walls, she remembered that there was sand in a pit in the dining room when they first opened. Researching on her phone, she found that they removed it because they were tired of cleaning the cigarette butts from the sand.

We had two of the items they are best known for the Philly Cheese Steak and West Coast Classic Burger. Both were good, but the burger with American cheese & grilled onion rings was the best.

Terrebonne Po' Boys
 
 
 
 
 
 

West Coast Saloon

Service was friendly, if a little careless, but any errors were quickly corrected. My only (minor) complaint was there was a lot more mashed potatoes than roast beef. 

We would gladly have any of these dishes again! 

The grill & bar is near the street in a strip mall, but doesn't really standout. The sign is not easy to read from the street and I bet a lot of people pass this by, never knowing it is there.

The Hometown Hero sandwich was expensive at $25, but the sandwich was huge and came with the choice of one side. It was hard getting the sandwich in my mouth, but it was worth the effort. It was a combination that I would never have considered (sliced brisket, queso, French's crispy fried onions and Fountain City Sweet Sauce on a Hawaiian bun).

With the way it was mixed with the other flavors, including the queso, I don't have much idea how the sauce tastes on its own, but this combination was a big hit for me.

I didn't care for the elote corn.

Hometown Hero

Our server is from Kansas State University and Martin Blair, who is a Jayhawk, also spoke to us during our meal. The walls are filled with memorabilia from Kansas City, the Royals, the Chiefs. KU, KSU, and the movie Top Gun. The Kansas City Chiefs game began while we were there and I could see them on three TVs from my seat.

Dishes sampled included smoked chicken, sausage, pork ribs, brisket, pulled pork, baked beans, cheesy corn, onion rings and steak fries. Several of our party said that the cheesy corn was some of the best they have ever had.
 
 

Kansas City Barbeque