Day 5 starts with Rory's alarm going off early. It turns out that the Spanish Grand Prix is about to start. A good night's sleep was had by both of us, La Quinta hotels appear to be the way to go.
A look at the SPC forecast for the rest of the trip is a bit underwhelming and certainly today is a rest day, so we're off to the Strataca, Kansas Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson. Our initial breakfast choice was full so it was off to the Wee Too west of Enid for a generously proportioned breakfast before heading north on US81 towards Kansas. We pass through Medford, Oklahoma; it's 10:40.
We arrive at Strataca ready to go 650 feet underground and after some milling about, we are told that the CCTV system used to monitor the tour below ground has stopped working and as such the tour is off. Disappointing. There's a Dorothy prop in the reception area: how many of these exist? I've seen one at Wakita where the movie was filmed, one at the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma and now this one.
As we're in Hutchinson we visit the Cosmosphere space museum. I've been here twice but never had the opportunity to tour the main part of the museum due to time constraints. Well today we have the time and it really is epic. Exhibits include the Bell X1, V1 and V2 vengeance weapons, SpaceX Merlin Engine, SR71 Blackbird, Space Shuttle Endeavour replica, all sorts of cameras and film backs returned from space, moon rock from Apollo 11, Mercury and Gemini space capsules, F1 Saturn V engine, and incredibly the actual Odyssey capsule from Apollo 13. Amazing place.
Tonight we're staying at Hays, Kansas on the I70 so head north west on Kansas 14 towards the interstate, after which we'll head west to Hays. Oh, and tomorrow's less than exciting SPC forecast now has a 2% tornado risk in north west Kansas/south west Nebraska/north east Colorado. We stop at Ellsworth and pick up some Stella for later.
As we are checking into the Beaumont Inns at Hays, there’s a button that (for reasons that aren’t exactly obvious) propels the rear headrests forward which was a bit of a laugh as it whacks anyone sat in those seats on the head…it also freed up the stuck seatbelt!
Dinner tonight was at Thirsty's Brew Pub and Grill in Hays. I don't think brew pub here means the same as in the UK i.e. a pub with its own brewery. I had a caesar salad and Rory a version of a chicken parmo, both were nice. I has a tall (23 oz) Lb. Brewing Co. Oatmeal Stout, Rory a Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA, both really good; the ale over here has improved dramatically since my first trip. Thirsty's was a cavern of a building, unfortunately full of very noisy screaming kids which was not great, The waitress was nice despite a couple of orders messed up.
09:00 start tomorrow, hopefully we'll see some storms.
Total miles: 271
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