BudgetTravel

Day 1: Kansas City to Elmdale

Kansas is a place that's proud of the most peculiar superlatives. Shortly after leaving Missouri, my boyfriend, Patrick, and I spot signs on I-70 for THE WORLD'S LARGEST EASEL and THE WORLD'S LARGEST PRAIRIE DOG.

Erika Nelson with her traveling art exhibit (Morgan & Owens) JUNE 2006 ISSUE • Table of Contents • Splurges! • Secret Hotels of the French Riviera • Testing our Cruise Tips • Road Trip: Eastern Kansas • Trip Coach: Japan • 40 Best Vacations

Size also matters at our first stop: Cabela's, a 180,000-square-foot outdoor-sporting-goods store with a big-game trophy collection. Cabela's is like a zoo where the animals are not only dead, but also impersonating Jackie Chan. Someone has arranged them in dramatic reenactments: A crocodile's jaw clamps a wildebeest's neck, a leopard chases a baboon atop the trees, a zebra kicks a lion in the face.

Lawrence, about 40 miles west, is a cute college town, home to the University of Kansas's main campus. We go to lunch at Jefferson's, a boisterous diner with dollar bills thumbtacked to the walls. I order buffalo wings, which come slathered in a tangy hot sauce; the chicken's so good, I don't mind that eating it demands an entire roll of paper towels.

We have a lot of ground to cover today, so after strolling along the main drag, Massachusetts Street, we set off for our evening's destination, Cottonwood Falls. The 900-person ranching community is in the Flint Hills, a region of rolling hills in the high prairie. Pulling into the town's center, we immediately notice horse manure in the middle of Broadway. I'm charmed to realize there really are some places where people still ride horses down the main street. We peek into the front window of the Emma Chase Cafe, a restaurant with plaid tablecloths. As we walk away, a lady runs out, yelling, "You know there's live music tonight, right?" We tell her that we'll definitely be back.

I had made us a reservation at Clover Cliff Ranch Bed & Breakfast, a 146-year-old ranch/inn in Elmdale, seven miles west. Joan Donahue, Clover Cliff's sweet-faced septuagenarian owner, bought the 5,000-acre property with her husband Jim in 1987, and they opened the B&B six years later. She shows us around the Main House--a four-bedroom limestone building with a music room where, the Donahues claim, Jesse James once slept. Joan and Jim don't live on the ranch, so she points out emergency numbers posted by the phone and takes off. Although we'd booked a bedroom with a shared bath, we're the only ones staying at the B&B, so we have the run of the place.

The first thing we do is leave to watch the sunset. Like a watercolor streak, a rainbow touches down in a prairie across the interstate.

The only restaurant open for dinner is Cottonwood Falls' Grand Central Hotel and Grill, an upscale brick-faced restaurant that I'd heard has the best steak in Kansas. Patrick orders a flame-grilled fillet of beef tenderloin. His large steak isn't very juicy, but the meat is so tender, a mouthful nearly melts. I want to see if they also have the best pasta in Kansas, so I pick the pasta "lemonada": fettucine with sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and broccoli in a white wine and lemon sauce. Stick with the meat. Overall, the bill totals $50 without tip, which seems overpriced for a town that has horse dung on its main street.

Back at the Emma Chase Cafe, five singers stand over country-music lyric sheets, two men strum acoustic guitars, and Lucy Smith--the woman who had chased after us earlier--is playing a violin. When we walk in, the music abruptly stops. One of the players looks up and hollers: "You must be from Boston!" I'd called earlier in the week to find out the café's hours; apparently my unusual inquiry had literally been the talk of the town.

Lodging

Food