I bicycled across Kansas as part of a larger bike trip. The scenery in most of the state is a different kind of stunning, especially in the fall. Imagine being halfway between two towns that are 20 miles from each other, and being able to see the grain elevator in each. In the fall, the ground is golden and the skies are blue, and it's magnificent, and it looks like it'll never end.

Eastern/Southeastern Kansas, on the other hand, looks nothing like that, and if you've just put a couple hundred miles in crossing the western and central parts of the state, it'll blow your mind that it's that different (and work your legs for the first time since the Rockies).

A sad fact of Kansas trails is that most of them wind through narrow stands of trees ringing artificial lakes, instead of traversing the prairies that actually make Kansas unique and cool instead of a lame Ozarks knockoff. Going through trees and over little limestone ledges is fun especially on a bike but it would be a lot more interesting to intersperse that with weaving through 8 foot tall prairie grasses and some views over the plains and big sky.

This choice of words is partially Wizard of Oz inspired cleverness