Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 19: First Generation Missile Silo and Oz!

Odometer: 3,069 miles. Today: 414 miles.

Part 2 of crossing Kansas was fun! We spent the night at the Atlas Ad Astra missile silo that was built in 1959 and was active through 1965, including the Cuban Missile Crisis. The silo cost $120 million to build in today’s dollars, and was one of 70 built in the middle of the country to give at least thirty minutes of reaction time to an attack. It was the first generation ICBM, housing the Atlas rockets which carried nuclear warheads and were repurposed for the space program on retirement. They were replaced by the Minuteman Missiles, that we had previously learned about in a National Park in North Dakota.

The silo was 200 ft deep and 42 ft wide, with a 40 ft wide control center. All that was visible at surface were the top of the silo and the entrance to the control center.

Silos like this have been repurposed in various ways, from luxury condos to a deep SCUBA diving site. Matthew was converting this site into an educational facility with accommodation. He gave us a fine tour and outlined his vision passionately. We started in the control center.

Next, we checked out the silo itself. This had not been renovated yet, and was half full of water. It was huge! Seeing the bottom of the silo roof doors gave it scale.

While driving on the previous day, we’d seen a billboard advertising the Oz Museum. It was in Wamego, which was only a short detour, so we had to go! It had started as a private collection, but now, the whole town celebrated all things Oz.

After the museum, we followed the Yellow Brick Road to a cafe for lunch.

As we got back on the road, I reflected that we had been on the road for two weeks and had one more week on the road. I both looked forward to home, and would miss the simplicity of travel in our home on wheels. After all, there is no place like home! Soon, we crossed into Missouri, and we weren’t in Kansas any more.

That night, we stayed at a full service campground where we could do some laundry. We had a corner all to ourselves. Our list of small changes that we want to do to the van is increasing, and we have been listening to lots of audio books!