Riding the Santa Fe Trail
The Heritage of the Wild West
Six days / five nights or seven days / six nights
An immersion into the settling of the American West! There is no better way to understand what it was like to travel west in wagon trains, across hundreds of miles of unmarked prairie, fighting the elements, bandits and Indians along the way.
In the middle 1800s, hundreds of thousands of travelers braved the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to New Mexico to trade with the new territories out West. These pioneers moved by covered wagon but you will travel by luxury motor coach in the company of one of Texas’ leading storytellers. Rose-Mary Rumbley is enthralled by history and has the ability to retell it to her audience in a thoroughly entertaining, often humorous and always listenable style. On Rose-Mary’s trip on the Santa Fe Trail you will learn all about the trail’s history and the way of life of these sturdy and adventurous pioneers, all the while enjoying comforts they could only dream about. See the homesteads, the forts, the stores and towns, the scenery – the plains and the mountains – just as the pioneers did! See and touch the ruts still present in the soil left by the wagon trains as they inched westward over the newly opened vast western spaces.
Tour begins in Kansas City, Missouri and ends in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Tour Highlights
You will travel the complete length of the Santa Fe Trail just as the traders did in the 1800s! Your route along the Trail will take you through:
- Arrow Rock, Missouri – a quaint Victorian village where the westward Trail began.
- Independence, Missouri – where the crowds gathered and the supplies were bought.
- Olathe, Kansas – where the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm still welcomes intrepid travelers.
- Council Grove, Kansas – the only trading post between Missouri and New Mexico.
- Fort Larned, Kansas – where a fort guarded the pioneers as they trekked west.
- Dodge City, Kansas – the famed wild west town where you’ll enjoy all their frivolity.
- Bents Old Fort National Historic Site, Colorado – an 1845 post for trappers & traders.
- Raton Pass, New Mexico – spectacular mountain vistas as you enter New Mexico.
- Las Vegas, New Mexico – a lunch stop on the trail after seeing Ft. Union, the largest in the southwest, supplying over 50 other posts.
- Santa Fe, New Mexico – the enchanting end of the trail where you will enjoy their famed atmosphere and cuisine. You will have time on your own to see such stunning museums such as the Georgia O’Keefe and the Palace of the Governors.
Highlights along the Trail include:
- Lunch at The Tavern in Arrow Rock – the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi! Scrumptious food!
- Dinner at the Hays House in Council Grove – started by Daniel Boone’s grandson in 1857.
- Wild West entertainment in Dodge City – play around with Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty!
- Three forts, Larned, Bents and Union, that will show you the way life really was.
- Museums of Trail History in Independence and Larned that explain the whole story.
Plus a great bonus: THE TRUMAN PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM!
About Your Guide
Reputed to be Dallas’ most sought after speaker, Dr. ROSE-MARY RUMBLEY has authored four books, A Century of Class; The Unauthorized History of Dallas; Dallas, Too, all humorous books about Dallas; and What, No Chili?, a children’s book about Texas festivals. Rose-Mary is also an accomplished actress, having appeared in the movie Paper Moon with Tatum and Ryan O’Neal, and in several TV productions. She has acted with John Davidson, Ginger Rogers, Van Johnson and Ruta Lee. She was the Chair of the Drama Department at Dallas Baptist University for twelve years and served for seven years on the staff of First Baptist Church of Dallas. Her husband whom she married the day after her college graduation is a percussionist formerly with the Fort Worth Symphony and now playing in ensembles of all kinds all over North Texas. They have raised two children and are now proud grandparents who love to spoil their grandkids.
Rose-Mary earned a PhD. in History and with her training as an actress, she possesses both the knowledge and the presentation skills to keep you enthralled.
Please Note
Due to Rose-Mary’s popularity, her schedule gets booked far in advance. Long term planning is necessary to reserve her for this tour, so plan ahead!