Fly to Lucas

Flight Log

Let me tell you about a gem we found right here in Kansas. The town of Lucas is in the north central part of the state, about 65 miles west of Salina and 15 miles north of I-70. They have a very nice airport right on the eastern edge of town with a 2900 foot paved runway. The grass parking is too rough for a tricycle gear airplane to use and the ramp area is small but chock your wheels and set your brakes. You are about to have an adventure.

The K-18 Cafe is right on the western edge of the airport property. This is a true find. There just aren't that many airports with restaurants on the field. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, open 7 days from 6am to 10pm, this is diner food at its best. We can quibble about whether it faces K-18 and caters to the ground bound crowd or the airborne set taxiing in from behind, but nobody quibbles about the quality of the food and the friendly staff.

Main Street is a short walk to the west. Take a left on Main and in just a couple of short city blocks sits one of the wonders of the world. It may not be the first wonder, or even a natural wonder, but travelers who have been to the largest ball of twine, or seen the deepest hand dug well, must be in awe of the self proclaimed World's Largest Toilet. You can call it country kitsch or a desperate act to get more visitors into town, but either way, you just have to see it.

By good fortune or pure happenstance, the toilet is not the only wonder in Lucas, Kansas. Two blocks east on 2nd Street leads to the S.P. Dinsmore Garden of Eden. This place features something for everyone, from the construction details of the house crafted of limestone but built like a log cabin to the macabre display of Dinsmore's own remains in a mausoleum in the back corner of the property. The place is so amazingly strange that my words are inadequate to do it any justice.

So pack up the Piper or the Prius, the Stinson or the station wagon, and head up to Lucas. The food and the folks are warm and the attractions are just plane strange.