kansas

state nickname: Sunflower State
state motto: Ad astra per aspera / to the stars through hardships

Garden City has a zoo, though any zoo out here has to be in poor condition. Dodge City gives new meaning to the phrase "get the hell out of Dodge"; it has a lovely monument to all the slaughtered buffalo. Liberal is not especially liberal, but it is very Mexican and a nice change of pace from the meat-and-potatoes thing. If you're doing I-70 (Interstae travel is recommended in Kansas, since you won't miss anything besides the smell of the feedlots), the travel plaza in Colby has a Starbucks, which you never thought you'd be thankful for... but there it is. Milford Lake (US 77, just west of Junction City) is a good place to camp if you're doing I-70... Lawrence is a jewel-- much better than that other Kansas college town, Manhattan. They have a few splendid coffee shops, bookstores, etc.-- mostly along Massachusetts street. Check out Wheatfields Bakery for fresh delicious breads & more (904 Vermont St). It does kind of remind one of Boulder, CO; or Columbia, MO; or Fayetteville, AR; or any of the college towns really... but compared with what's around, it's an oasis for sure.

girl looking bravely towards the future,
beside a brightly painted suv,
parade, lawrence, kansas

field notes: hays, kansas 10 Jun 2005

but now it is 1:45 am in Hays Kansas and lightning streaked the sky -- fire all shot through the witching hour which has passed and the only sounds are crickets and the whine of trucks and i do not want to sleep here or anywhere

i hate the plains because there is no cover, no place to hide, and i always think bombers overhead, shadows of futures flit about me like moths all the time, ever since i was a child -- but anyway, my companion today says the people on the plains are so religious because they know it's just them and god, the landscape makes it obvious

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