727. Kingman, Kingman County (KS105)

Not my first Kingman, but certainly the most important one to date. With this, Kansas finally comes to an end!  This was a lovely courthouse to go out on.  The red brick, the rough-hewn stone…  Yes, I’m a bit of a fool for the aesthetic.  But something I hadn’t had to mention in a bit reared its head.  Future Arborists of America, attend!  This was the best vantage point from which I could photograph the courthouse, and I was only getting that because the trees (or at least this tree) hadn’t started blooming yet.  But if you look closely, you can see the buds beginning to pop out.  Never forget to spread your tree plantings out so people can get good images of the buildings they surround!  Unfortunately, this isn’t surrounded by desert or plain where you can get good shots regardless of flora!

I went a couple of blocks away for the closest cache.  I thought it would take a few minutes, but it turned out to be just a lamppost.  But it was a special lamppost.  This was it, the final cache I needed in the final county of Kansas.  All 105 counties were complete!  And so began the long trek home.  I ended up taking some back roads that bypassed Wichita, getting me to I-35 somewhere around Wellington.  I made a stop for lunch in Oklahoma City and was (blessedly) pointed through Fort Worth instead of Dallas.  I hit the old familiar marks: Hillsboro, Waco, Belton, Georgetown.  And finally, I saw that sign that always makes me feel better, reading “Now entering Travis County.”  I slept in my own bed that night, having driven just over twenty-six hundred miles in three days.

And the next morning, when I awoke, I chose my cache for the day.  I logged the Kansas 105 County Challenge.

And that is how I finished my sixth state, the Land of Corn and Stuff.