My trip to Kansas: Dust in the wind

As I drove into Kansas, the first thing that greeted me was the smell of the undead flowing graciously out of the garbage truck driving in front of me.

I got to Kansas after hours and hours of flight delays. We flew over a thunderstorm which was moderately exciting, but besides that the trip was uneventful. Instead of the standard honda or toyota, my rental car was a PT Cruiser. I happen not to be a huge fan of the cruiser, but I’m never one to diss my ride.
is not worthy of the acclaim to fames floor mats

I got to Kansas around 9:30 local time on wednesday and drove an hour to get to Atchison KS.
looks pretty flat to me… (please note the extra flatness in the PT Cruiser’s side view mirror)
pretty flat

This is a picture of the amelia earhart bridge. at night there are two huge bulbs that fire beacons of light into the air. Like giant lightsaber’s, these beams instill fear and awe. However, I must note that local amateur astronomers must curse the bridge for it’s excessive light pollution.
kansas:  still not as cool as the band

I stayed at an AMERICINN which was decent. I hit the sack as soon as I got to my room, and woke early to get to the customer site. I was in and out of the customer’s site in less than 3 hours and back on the road. This is a picture from the car as I crossed the bridge from Kansas into Missouri. Kansas is on the right.
CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON

It was a weary trip. I fear I didn’t get to eat Steak ONCE. NOT ONCE! this is mostly because every meal I ate was during layover time at the airport. That’s right, between 12:30pm on wednesday and 7:30pm on thursday, I had only three waking hours of non-travel bliss.

As for Kansas, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I was expecting an experience equivalent to being impaled by jagged flaming icicles. But really, it was much calmer. I will now fuel Kansas stereotypes with this picture of corn.
corn

12 thoughts on “My trip to Kansas: Dust in the wind

  • 7/15/2005 at 10:12 am
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    “But I’m never one to diss my ride.”

    Not the ride, but you semi-diss your destination?

    I guess living in Kansas, I never pick up on these things, but I never associated Kansas with being a corn state. We’re a wheat state. Not that we don’t have any corn, it’s not just our biggest crop. Of all 50 states, Kansas is the #1 wheat producing state. North Dakota is #2. Incidently, Washington is #3, but that’s gotta be on the other side of the mountains, something I really haven’t seen yet. Kansas is #9 in producing corn.

    Iowa is definitely a corn state. That’s pretty much all they grow there. (#1 in corn production, #40 in wheat production. Iowa produces less wheat than Delaware.) But Iowa gets a little more precipitation. Northeastern Kansas is pretty close to Iowa, so it makes sense that there’s corn up in that corner of Kansas.

    Once you get a few hours west, it’s all wheat fields. And some soybeans, too. And milo. But mostly wheat.

    For those of you keeping score at home:

    Wheat States: Kansas, North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, and apparently, Washington

    Corn States: Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana

    But, I suppose, agricultural commodities aren’t a big topic of discussion in places like Connecticut, where people only care about fish, gigantic casinos, how Yale is better than Harvard, and women’s basketball.

    Therefore, I allow your “Kansas is full of corn” stereotype, just once. Now that you’re educated on the matter, please refer to Kansas as a wheat state from now on. Or the Sunflower State, which is our official name. But that’s a little misleading, since Aaron’s North Dakota is the #1 sunflower state in production.

    I’m never one to diss my bloggers.

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  • 7/15/2005 at 10:13 am
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    Whoops, I meant to post that in the “let’s get it to 100” comment box. Sorry.

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  • 7/15/2005 at 10:25 am
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    Patrick! I did not once diss or semi-diss Kansas. I actually specifically went through the effort of reading through my post, pre-publishing, to remove all the insults.

    Really, the trip was fine. and what I saw of Kansas I enjoyed (minus the brutal summer humidity and heat). It’s true, crops don’t interest us big city folks (I don’t think I even know what Milo is). As Theresa and Ben pointed out in the comments of the previous post, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and the rest of the plains are so easy to confuse. It’s all one jumble of squarish states that have no shoreline .

    really, Connecticut is no better. We do care about fish and we do have a large casino. But CT’s biggest claim to fame is it’s proximity to Boston and New York. And that’s pretty weak if you ask me. Someday the biggest CT attraction will likely be the House of Rock.

    Really, your homestate is whatever you make it to be. Pam happens to be a huge Rhode Island fan. I happen to be a big Boston fan. Patrick happens to be a big KS fan. But underneath it all (cue sappy patriotic tunes), we’re all Americans.

    Go Sox!

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  • 7/15/2005 at 12:16 pm
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    I just shed a tear.

    I like corn and wheat, but I prefer not thinking about where i get it from.

    Indiana makes the most popcorn!

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  • 7/15/2005 at 12:52 pm
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    ok, ok, i was a little harsh in my “semi-diss” accusation. i originally wrote “diss” but then realized that you didn’t really diss at all.

    but the “wasn’t as bad as flaming icicles” or whatever bit maybe hinted that maybe it was bad (like stoned with ice cubes, perhaps), but not as bad as the flaming icicles.

    i’ve been to connecticut. in fact, my best friend lives in connecticut. no disrespect to connecticut.

    i guess i’m a little edgy. because when i was first introduced to people up here, everyone either:

    a) made a wizard of oz joke
    b) assumed that kansas is a hell-hole
    c) made a false stereotype

    and it drove me mad.

    i’m with you on the sox. i hate the yankees. having lived 10+ years in both kansas city and st. louis, i’ve got my ball teams. i don’t think i’ll be a big mariners fan, though.

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  • 7/15/2005 at 1:17 pm
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    ‘Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore’ (was it toto, or todo)..

    Kansas rocks, just for that line!
    But here is the question; MikeD does Kansas rock less than the so called ‘House of Rock’??

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  • 7/15/2005 at 1:22 pm
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    I don’t know the official stats but I really think they grow nearly as much soybeans as corn in Iowa. I say this b/c most farmers use a corn/soybean crop rotation. At least everyone around where my grandparents are. My grandparents(farmers!) on any given summer always grow as much soybeans as corn.

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  • 7/15/2005 at 1:41 pm
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    I am a big legumes fan! I mean, they fix nitrogen. I didn’t even know it was broken.

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  • 7/15/2005 at 3:29 pm
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    Are you coming to the play tonight or tomorrow?

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  • 7/16/2005 at 6:08 pm
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    1. I’m from Maine, welcome to stereotype heaven. I don’t mind though, because lots of it is true, and I’m not a crazy person who gets offended at everything.
    2. If you had to be hit with something sharp, and (somehow) on fire, wouldn’t icicles be high on your list?
    3. Can icicles ever be on fire?
    4. If so, wouldn’t they melt really fast, minimizing your discomfort?

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  • 7/17/2005 at 10:58 pm
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    There are two states I’ve never been to. Maine is one of them. And, I don’t even know any Maine stereotypes. Maybe that there are a lot of moose there? I dunno.

    Reply

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