This new book is a road-trip guide to 80 Kansas towns — and everything in between
Based on her vehicle’s odometer, travel writer Roxie Yonkey likely logged upwards of around 40,000 miles as she drove around Kansas, doing research for her third and most-recent Kansas travel book, “Historic Kansas Roadsides: Exploring Towns along Two-Lane Highways in the Sunflower State,” published by Reedy Press.
Yonkey, a native Nebraskan who moved to Goodland more than three decades ago for a newspaper job, drove all of Kansas’ 12 designated byways plus more roads that she thinks should be considered byways to narrow down the 80 towns — from Wichita, the state’s largest city, to the ghost town of Volland — included in the book.
As expected, the book also includes Kansas’ portion of the highly popularized Route 66, which stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles and was once one of the country’s major thoroughfares.
Kansas has nine scenic and three historic roads officially designated as byways because of certain features. Two of Kansas’ scenic byways are nationally designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation, while the others have state-level designations. There are other byway categories besides historic and scenic, including recreational, cultural and archeological.
Yonkey started researching her latest book in 2023 while doing book signings for her second Reedy Press book, ”Secret Kansas: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure.” Her first book in 2021 by the St. Louis publisher was “100 Things to Do in Kansas Before You Die.” Reedy Press contracts with local writers to cover specific states or cities for its series of books on local history, sports, food, nostalgia and travel.
Yonkey, who loves road-tripping, has grown to embrace what has become her home state. She ended up staying in Kansas when she met a fellow reporter whom she married. A longtime travel writer, Yonkey calls herself the chief exploration officer on her website, Roxie on the Road.
“People have this misguided notion that the state is boring and bland and that’s so not true.”
While she finds a sense of freedom when she hits the interstate, the interesting parts of the state can be found elsewhere, she said.
“The interstate is designed to get you from point to point but you miss everything in between.”
That’s what her book covers.
The book organizes 80 communities into 12 road trips, with an introduction and map included for each trip.
The longest road trip is called Frontier of Freedom and joins 18 communities from Lecompton and Kansas City to Pittsburg, according to a Reedy Press news release.
In the book, Yonkey notes that the trip covers much of Kansas’ “blood-soaked history,” as the communities were often at the center of violent confrontations between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the territory before the Civil War.
The Route 66 road trip is the shortest one, connecting Galena, Riverton and Baxter Springs in the far southeast corner of Kansas.
For each of the 80 communities included in the book, Yonkey has written a condensed history, namedropping well-known figures such as Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, explorers Francisco Vazquez de Coronado and Zebulon Pike and President Theodore Roosevelt, who was enamored with a baby badger that a Sharon Springs family brought him to see on a whistle-stop tour.
There are also lesser-known characters included such as Milford’s J.R. Brinkley, a rather dubious doctor who ran for governor on the promise of creating a lake in every county, and early Scott City settlers Eliza and Herbert Steele, whose observation of prairie dog activities “led to unearthing the nation’s northernmost pueblo,” according to the book.
She also includes tidbits of modern-day history, like the backstory behind the award-winning coconut crème pie sold in Dover’s Sommerset Café and how Ellinwood played a part in a publicity stunt that led to stardom for the Topeka-based rock band Kansas.
Other modern-day information for each community is in the form of listings on places to visit, where to eat and what to do, as well as some directional tips, which one expects in a book encouraging readers to travel to these destinations.
Having visited every county and logging thousands of miles on two-lane roads in Kansas, Yonkey does have a favorite destination: Cottonwood Falls and the surrounding area in Chase County.
“When I turn at that intersection heading to Strong City and Cottonwood Falls, I just go ah,” she said, letting out a deep breath, “and all my stress just dissolves and bleeds down and out the (car) door and is left behind. It’s so pretty. I just love it.”
Yonkey’s 192-page book, which sells for $27, is available in Watermark Books and Barnes and Noble locations in Wichita and online through Amazon and her website, roxieontheroad.com.
