Fort Larned National Historic Site

Driving from Texas to Iowa | Camping in Kansas and Missouri | Visiting Fort Larned National Historic Site | December 2023

We broke up the remainder of our drive across the Great Plains over three days, aiming to arrive in Iowa on Christmas Eve. On the first day, we drove North from Caprock Canyon through the fog and the Texas Panhandle, grabbing new counties. North of the town of Canadian, Texas, we stopped along the Canadian River at the historic Wagon Bridge. We got out and started the long walk across the bridge: the bridge was once considered the longest steel structure west of the Missouri, then the River changed its course and they had to make it even longer.

We felt every inch of that bridge’s length at Charlotte’s especially slow pace. Little old ladies and their little old dogs out ran us. But fortunately it was still warm and once we returned to the van we stayed even longer for some lunch. From here we cut across Northwest Oklahoma, grabbing even more counties until we entered into Kansas. We stayed the night at the county fishing lake near Greensburg. We walked around the lake enjoying the last of the day’s warmth before settling in for a relatively quiet night.

We woke up to a cold, grey, and blustery day on the Kansas prairie. After our morning chores we pushed Northeast to Fort Larned National Historic Site. We had previously passed this way two years ago, but had passed too late in the day to visit. We were clearly the first people to visit for the day, if maybe the only to visit this close to Christmas and in the cold and the fog. The walk to the fort through the wind was brutal and cold. The fort is almost all original construction and follows the normal design of frontier forts: a wide open parade ground surrounded by all the residences and buildings. But it distinctly does not have any palisade. This was because at the time of its construction (originally in 1859 and then modernized in 1866), the Fort was meant to protect the Santa Fe Trail and then to support the wars against the plains tribes. But, traditionally, the plains tribes (mostly Cheyenne & Arapaho) would rarely attack forts — even without a palisade. So the fort went without it, opting to use the natural geographic features for defense.

We walked around and through some of the buildings, hiding from the wind as best we could. At the visitor center, the ranger on duty offered to let everyone come inside, even Charlotte. But Jess and Char were already hurrying back to the van. I chatted briefly with the ranger, mostly about graffiti, and we both concluded that it was entirely too cold. I returned to the van and we got back on the road.

We made our way up to I-70 and continued heading West. We bypassed around Kansas City by cutting up to Saint Joseph where we stopped for Culvers and a walk in Krug park. The park was all decorated for Christmas, and the road through the park was closed until sundown when cars could drive through, see the Christmas lights, and buy hot chocolate. Since we weren’t staying that late, we enjoyed walking the road through all the displays. Our final night was spent just South of the Iowa border in another one of Missouri’s wildlife management areas that we had so enjoyed on the way down. For possibly the first time while living in the van on the road, we arrived at the campsite after dark, but fortunately because we had already had an early dinner at Culver’s, we were able to immediately set up for bed, and stayed warm and cozy in the van at the cold and empty campground.

The next morning, we got up and skipped our morning chores in favor of making it to Nanna’s farm on time. After one more foggy drive, we arrived and enjoyed the first of our Christmas celebrations for this season.