Town of Wilson
3 / 3
For our last day in Wilson, we decided to explore the town itself. Wilson is known as the Czech Capital of Kansas, and you see that identity woven through the town. There are Czech flags, Czech heritage markers, references to the annual Czech festival, and of course, the World’s Largest Hand-Painted Czech Egg. Because apparently if you are going to claim Czech heritage on the Kansas prairie, you might as well do it with a giant decorated egg.
We walked around downtown on a Tuesday morning, and it was almost completely deserted. Country music drifted through the speakers along Main Street, giving the empty downtown a strange little soundtrack as we wandered past storefronts without another pedestrian in sight. At one point, with no traffic at all, we were literally strolling down the middle of the road.
Eventually lunchtime rolled around, and we headed to the only open restaurant in the town: the Snack Shack. Finally, proof that Wilson did, in fact, have a population. The little place was nearly full, and after wandering through an empty downtown, it felt like we had discovered where the whole town had been hiding.
After lunch, reality came calling in the least glamorous way possible: laundry time. We pulled up Google Maps and searched for the nearest open laundromat. The answer was thirty minutes away.
So for the final laundry run of our long journey, we drove to Lucas, Kansas, an even smaller town than Wilson, and found the smallest laundromat we had ever seen. It was tucked into a neighborhood in a tiny little building with dryers that looked like they had been working hard since the 1970s. It was not fancy, but it did the job.
And that was it. The final ordinary errand. The final small-town detour. The final laundry run.
After Wilson, we had one more short stop planned in Kansas City to see Danny’s high school best friend, and then we were finally heading home.
Home.
What a beautiful four-letter word.
Kansas decided to send us off properly: we got a big, beautiful rainbow over Wilson Reservoir. A rainbow on our last official travel day.
This trip gave us more than we ever could have imagined. We saw mountains, deserts, coastlines, forests, canyons, wildlife, historic places, strange roadside stops, beautiful campgrounds, and tiny towns we never would have known existed. We chased sunsets, changed plans, fought weather, solved problems, found beauty in unexpected places, and lived out a dream we had talked about for years.
It was grand. It was exhausting. It was beautiful. It was a lot.
And by the end, we were ready.
Ready for our own bed. Ready for familiar roads. Ready for a real kitchen, a normal routine, and the simple comfort of not having to figure out where we were sleeping next.
Parks, Peaks & Paths was the adventure of a lifetime, and I am grateful for every mile of it.
But after all those miles, all those places, and all those stories, the best destination was waiting for us at the end.
Home.
Eventually lunchtime rolled around, and we headed to the only open restaurant in the town: the Snack Shack. Finally, proof that Wilson did, in fact, have a population. The little place was nearly full, and after wandering through an empty downtown, it felt like we had discovered where the whole town had been hiding.
After lunch, reality came calling in the least glamorous way possible: laundry time. We pulled up Google Maps and searched for the nearest open laundromat. The answer was thirty minutes away.
So for the final laundry run of our long journey, we drove to Lucas, Kansas, an even smaller town than Wilson, and found the smallest laundromat we had ever seen. It was tucked into a neighborhood in a tiny little building with dryers that looked like they had been working hard since the 1970s. It was not fancy, but it did the job.
And that was it. The final ordinary errand. The final small-town detour. The final laundry run.
After Wilson, we had one more short stop planned in Kansas City to see Danny’s high school best friend, and then we were finally heading home.
Home.
What a beautiful four-letter word.
Kansas decided to send us off properly: we got a big, beautiful rainbow over Wilson Reservoir. A rainbow on our last official travel day.
This trip gave us more than we ever could have imagined. We saw mountains, deserts, coastlines, forests, canyons, wildlife, historic places, strange roadside stops, beautiful campgrounds, and tiny towns we never would have known existed. We chased sunsets, changed plans, fought weather, solved problems, found beauty in unexpected places, and lived out a dream we had talked about for years.
It was grand. It was exhausting. It was beautiful. It was a lot.
And by the end, we were ready.
Ready for our own bed. Ready for familiar roads. Ready for a real kitchen, a normal routine, and the simple comfort of not having to figure out where we were sleeping next.
Parks, Peaks & Paths was the adventure of a lifetime, and I am grateful for every mile of it.
But after all those miles, all those places, and all those stories, the best destination was waiting for us at the end.
Home.