May 22 – A 5-month virtual road trip along the California Trail The Big Blue river crossing lies just west of Marysville, KS very near where US Highway 36 crosses it. Near here you can visit Historic Trails Park (GPS coordinates -96.659, 39.843) which has several interpretive signs and a full-size replica of a rope [...]
Category: On the road
May California Trail Social Media Posts: Week 2
May 8 – A 5-month virtual road trip along the California Trail The California Trail crossed the Wakarusa River in at least three places just south and southeast of Lawrence, KS. There are no historical markers at this site that I am aware of, but you can drive across a bridge on east 1400 road [...]
May California Trail Social Media Posts: Week 1
During the summer of 2022 (May 1 through September 30) I have a series of daily posts planned for social media for the California Trail Interpretive Center. These posts will take the readers on a "virtual road trip" along the California Trail encompassing approximately the same time period that emigrants followed it from 1841 to [...]
Waterways as Highways on the California Trail
I wrote a series of social media posts regarding waterways along the California Trail and thought I'd share them here as well. Rivers were the highways across the west. As roads were being developed for the western pioneers it made sense to follow the waterways because of availability of water and grass, and as a [...]
Travel Log: The California Trail Interpretive Center
Yes, even though I work here now, I wanted to do a blog post about the California Trail Interpretive Center. Darlene and I went and visited it as tourists before my first day working there, and, of course, I've learned quite a bit about the place since starting work. This is a truly cool place [...]
The Watchmaker's Pulse 