By Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge
TOURING STAFFORD COUNTY
March had a hard time kicking the cold weather habit. I’ve worn long-sleeved shirts for so many months now that I’ve forgotten what my arms look like.
On March 26, as Dave and I hit the highway for a day trip, tiny sleet pellets lined up on the windshield wipers.
Winter wasn’t budging. The sky, burdened with thick clouds, hid all evidence of the sun. The quality of light didn’t change or improve throughout the day either. You couldn’t tell from the sky if it was 10 in the morning, or 1 p.m. or 5. It was gloomy and gray and cold.
Winter weather or not, my father was having a birthday, so Dave and I, happy to be on the road again, headed west to help Dad celebrate No. 85.
After treating my dad and step-mother to Chinese food in Great Bend, we took an afternoon drive. Cruising around the old hometown of Pawnee Rock (pop. 356), we checked out the metal city building under construction near the fire station.
South of Pawnee Rock, we crossed the Arkansas River, which seems to be a river in name only. I’m old enough to remember when this river had water in it, enough water that it would catch the high school boys when they leapt from the bridge for fun. Now, only a small and tired stream winds through the sandbars.
In this region, the dirt roads are sand roads, courtesy of that river that has changed its course over time. When your car is not bouncing on a washboard road, you ride in a hush of sand.
We cruised into Stafford County and the community of Radium (pop. 40), a town I’ve passed through quite often. Then we wandered east several miles to Seward (pop. 63), a town I may have visited only once, decades ago.
Mom’s Bar & Grill, Seward
Seward has some empty old storefronts on Main Street, but a few blocks over, a relatively new metal building houses Mom’s Bar and Grill. Neon Budweiser and Coors signs glowed through the restaurant’s windows and people were coming and going on a Saturday afternoon.
The city park in Seward has swings and a small picnic shelter. There are also two small underground storm shelters in the park. Showing above the ground are the shelter’s concrete frames, a doorway and a vent on top. I learned later from a resident that about 10 people can fit into each shelter and that the city and the senior citizen’s group split the cost of the storm cellars. I was impressed with this tiny town’s initiative to take care of its residents.
tornado shelters
Holding down one corner of Seward is St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, an old brick church with a tall spire and a small parish hall next door. The town has an old white wood-frame schoolhouse in town which now appears to be a city building. Atop the old school is a glassed-in bell tower.
About 10 miles south and east from Seward is Hudson (pop. 133). The Stafford County Flour Mills Co., home of Hudson Cream Flour, has a set of well-kept grain elevators and a nice facility. The flour mill has been in business since 1904.
There’s a bank in Hudson, the Wheatland Café which opens for Sunday dinner, a community center, and a city park downtown.
Still eastbound, we reached Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, a pleasant spot for watching shorebirds in their natural wetlands habitat. Curving roads in the refuge took us past the Little Salt Marsh, Big Salt Marsh and other various marshes.
We stopped at one location to walk around and it was amazing to be able to hear the flap of geese wings a hundred yards away.
The basins were full of water. In one area, dozens of black ducks bobbed in the water along the shoreline. Dave stepped out of the car quietly to photograph them, but even so, they scooted away. The ducks didn’t take flight totally, but they half-flew, dragging their feet in the water for 10-20 yards. The sound was a surprising combination of wings and water.
Seeing ducks and geese and cranes at Quivira was the highlight of the drive. The day was overcast and chilly, but still it was fun to get out and see the world again.
Copyright 2011 ~ Cheryl Unruh
The old schoolhouse in Seward. Now a city building.