Kowboy Greg Kancels KOA Kampground Reservation

April 27, 2025

Stays At Dodge City Hotel Instead

The drive from Abilene to Dodge City was pleasant. There's not much more to say about that. I had a hard time appreciatin' the Kansas scenery because I was too excited to get the REAL bike trippin' underway.

The moment of truth came after I parked my bloody stinkin' horseless carriage at the Dodge City Regional Airport. I'd be a fool not to take advantage of free long-term parking. For comparison purposes, the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport charges something like $30 PER DAY.

I slowly loaded my panniers and dry bag, double checked to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important, attached the bags to my bike, locked the car, and pedaled toward the city for an afternoon of fun & exploration and an evening of Kampin' at the Dodge City KOA Kampground.

The overwhelming evidence that Dodge City is a cow town made itself known before I even got into the city limits. A road sign pointed me to a "Scenic Overlook." I am a big fan of scenery.

I was shocked that the concept of "scenery" in Dodge City was so much different than mine. Incredibly, the scenic overlook overlooked nothing but a gigantic feed lot. And the wind was blowing in such a direction that it smelled to high heaven up there. It was the stench of pure cow excrement.

Dodge City is the Queen of the Cowtowns, after all. I should have expected what I got.

Luckily the stink subsided somewhat as I descended away from the scenic overlook. A short time later, I had the thrill of seeing a small herd of longhorn cattle. To me, longhorns seem like the most symbolic of the wild west. They're the TOUGH GUYS of the cow species.

I couldn't ignore the curious horses on the other side of the road.

I wonder what all those cowboys are talkin' about? My guess is they're talking about the odor in the air. "Smells like MONEY," said the cowboy who is second to the left in this picture.

As cow oriented as the outskirts were, the theme continued well into the town itself. I'm going to quit jabberin' now and display a bunch of photos and captions.

The National Beef plant was huge--way bigger than my phone could capture.

Whatever these monstrous buildings are, there were many of them in Dodge City.

Another one from the Joy of Discovery Department. While riding around town I learned Dennis Hopper is from Dodge City. The information board mentioned his role in "Easy Rider," but as good as that was, it didn't match his performance as the villain in "Blue Velvet." Just one man's opinion.

Marshall Dillon's little office in the "Gunsmoke" TV series has grown into a big city police department. In the same way, Doc Adams' little doctor's office is now a large hospital.

At first, I thought Kitty Russel's Long Branch Saloon had been transformed into some kind of huge sports bar. Then I looked closer and saw it was the Long Branch LAGOON. It's a water park.

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It goes against my nature to pitch my tent in a nationwide chain of Kampgrounds, but I admit to doing so successfully once in the past. The tent area at the KOA Kampground near Mount Rushmore was actually pretty nice. Based on that experience, I made a reservation at the Dodge City KOA last night. It looked like a great base camp for explorin' the city.

Before I got there, however, I looked at the weather report on my phone and it warned of a chance of a heavy thunderstorm. Now, I've been around long enough to know that "a chance" means it probably won't happen. Normally, I'd say, "BRING IT ON!" I love thunderstorms while in my tent.

The kicker in today's warning was that the storm might include very large hail. That made me a little hesitant, but I checked out the KOA anyway. After a quick cruise through the Kampground, I knew I made a big mistake. It was ugly, and it was exposed, and it was right there in the city, and there were no other Kampers than big RV's.

I rode away and treated myself to a hail-proof night at the Holiday Inn.

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I had a little more time to kill before check-in time, so I rode around town some more. There were a lot of tourists checkin' out the sights.

Call me snooty, but tourists annoy me. You can also call me hypocritical, because I still refuse to accept that bicycle tourists are tourists too. Unlike other tourists, we are conductin' serious business out there . . . and we are NOT annoyin'. Other than ridin' my bike in alien-like sunglasses & bright orange shirt, shootin' lots of pictures of buildings & landscapes & cows & world's largest things, checkin' out museums & historical landmarks, takin' advantage of free ice at motels, and occasionally ridin' on pedestrian sidewalks, I always do my best to avoid lookin' and behavin' like a tourist.

Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 25 miles (40 km)

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