Andover

Andover is a curious mixture of suburban and rural.

As you might expect from a town so close to Wichita, it is bustling with life and commerce. It has the chain restaurants, cookie-cutter housing developments, and enormous high school that you would normally expect to see in such a place.

But Andover also has a charming rural side. There's a dirt county road just down the road from the huge, gleaming high school. The parking lot at the park across from city hall is gravel. The park itself features a lake, with geese, trees, muddy shores, and a tall windmill overlooking it all.

Across the road, City Hall is next door to the public library, and the architecture of both buildings features agrarian shapes and colors in a modern configuration.

The boys had a lot of fun playing in this park -- the equipment was well-used and well-maintained. We'd definitely visit again if we needed a place to stop on our way from Wichita to El Dorado. I'd also love to get a look at the inside of the library, which was closed when we passed through town.

Miles today: 256.