WenDee Rowe grew up bicycling along K-96 in Greeley County near the town of Tribune in western Kansas. During the summers she would bike the 2½ miles from the family farm, do lawn mowing jobs in the morning, swim in the afternoon and make a quick stop to dive into the candy drawer at Grammy Connie’s house before heading home in the evening. Those early days of biking carried with her when she moved to southern California in the 1970s and later to northern California where she used her tax refund to buy a John Deere-made bicycle! After returning to Kansas and moving to Garden City, she often biked to various jobs that included Lee Richardson Zoo, the Finney County Museum, and the Finney County Convention and Visitors Bureau. She was hired by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, located in rural Inman (McPherson County) in 2006. Since then, WenDee has been the project manager and in charge of communications and promotion of the annual Kansas Sampler Festival and later the Big Kansas Road Trip Pop Ups. She is also the co-author of Kansas Guidebook 2 for Explorers and accompanied Marci Penner to every incorporated city in Kansas for research. WenDee is nearing retirement and is currently putting the finishing touches on an online version of the Kansas Guidebook which debuts in the spring of 2026. While living in rural Inman, she has discovered a love for gravel biking and taking pictures along the scenic back roads near her home. Nearly all of the photos were taken from the seat of her bike.

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