Hays! There’s a moon by that fort!
Most of my mooning will take place in the great state of California, because that’s where I live. But MoM went on a road trip to Kansas to a very special fort, Fort Hays.
A full moon over the prairie
Established in 1865 as Fort Fletcher, Fort Hays was re-named for Brigadier General Alexander Hays who was killed in 1864 during the horridly bloody Civil War Battle of the Wilderness. The fort had a diverse population. In addition to your regular white-guy, European descendant solders and wives, Fort Hays also served as a post for a regiment of Buffalo Solders in the mid-late 1800s.
Manly Marshal Dillon
My pre-trip research for the history of Fort Hays consisted mostly of listening to old radio shows of Gunsmoke on podcasts. (Marshal Dillon was in Dodge, but often went to neighboring ‘Hays City’). That got me in an old west sort of mood. Peaking my interest more, sites about ghosts popped up in the Google search for Fort Hays, apparently there is a spooky lady in blue, supposedly the ghost of Elizabeth Polly, who vexes the place.
The main purpose of Fort Hays was to protect stagecoaches and freight wagons for the Butterfield Overland Dispatch Company from the original local residents, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. The current historical site is the second location of the fort, as a flood destroyed the first one in 1867. This place is different from most forts, as it doesn’t have a wall around the post. The major defense fortification was the blockhouse. I choose the other big structure, the guardhouse, to fortify my hiding from other visitors while baring tushy.
Since the stage coach route no longer runs, I traveled to Fort Hays from Santa Monica, by way of flying into Wichita, where my brother had recently moved onto a peaceful bit of land in the country. My mother, 2 brothers and 1 of my 2 sisters decided it would be nice to get together in 2010. Labor Day weekend was chosen since it was almost a year to the day since Dad passed. As my flight was booked and arrangements were made, I decided this was the perfect opportunity for a clandestine adventure. I’d make my family accomplices to my mooning (mis)adventures. To my surprise, one of siblings agreed to be my accomplice.
Janet (or is it the mysterious Lady in Blue?) Check out the tree behind her to see how windy it is!
I come from a large family (4 sibs, 10 nieces/nephews, 8 great niece/nephews, too many cousins to count), which is evenly divided between people who think this blog is funny and people who think this blog is embarrassing. There are a few in the middle ground who laugh while shaking their head. My sister, Janet, falls into that category. She lives in Hays, has since she was a freshman in College over 2 decades ago. Janet is an upstanding member of the community, her husband owns a business, she works for the college and she’s raised two awesome kids in Hays. I tell you this to let you know that Janet is solid, stable and logical. She is the middle child for sure. She also agreed to take a picture of my butt next to the town’s biggest historical landmark. Janet is multi-dimensional with a good sense of humor.
It was a H.O.T. and windy afternoon when we hopped out of the car at the Fort Hays Historic Site. If you’ve ever experienced KS in summer, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t experienced KS in summer, imagine holding a blow dryer, on high heat, aimed directly at your face, while standing in an oven. After about 10 minutes, you start to feel like you’re a cookie on a baking sheet.
A quick scan of the property determined that no one was around! It was going to be easy to get a shot of my rump without too much trouble.
Officers Quarters
First we meandered to the Officers quarters. The entire property is undergoing renovations. Some of the buildings are open to visitors, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday. We visited on a Sunday during the Labor Day weekend, so we made due with peeking in windows and taking shots around the grounds. It also meant I didn’t get any literature on the joint, aside from a flyer about the garden that the post kept.
Scattered around the grounds are cool black metallic silhouettes, meant to symbolize the tenants of the fort. There are soldiers, a nurse, a little girl, all very cool looking, casting shadows on the tan Kansas prairie.
Because we meandered slowly, other visitors started showing up. Taking this shot was going to be a bit of a challenge after all. I sent Janet to the entrance with my camera, hid by the Guard House fortification and the star of this blog came out to say ‘HAY!’ Then I pulled up my trousers and noticed the golf course directly behind the Guard House, where 3 golfers were examining their shot. So ‘Hey’ to you golfers as well!
Mom and Penny reading a historical marker. Yay for learning history!
The fort was abandoned by the military in 1889, given to the state of Kansas in 1900 and opened as a museum in 1967. I wonder what the grounds looked like or what their place in the community was for those 67 years. Was it just “the ruins of the old fort outside of town”? How many teenagers got caught necking there? Was it called necking in the 20’s and it still called necking?
The trip was fun. As was my intent for this blog in the first place, the mooning diversion actually got my family to visit a historic monument and learn a bit of Kansas and American history. I’ll declare this mooning mission a success!
(Be sure to click on the second page of the image gallery. I took pictures of all of the signs surrounding the fort. Lots of interesting information AND a garden!)
This multidimensional standing up person is grateful for both the humor and history provided by our outing and your writing. You know, the wind isn’t always blowing in Kansas. Usually it’s just when you have outdoor plans, or visitors, and sometimes on days of the week that end in y.
Great story Amy Robinson!
That looked like a lot of fun. I wish I could’ve been there.