Kansas was not at all what I expected. Apparently Northern Kansas is a lot hillier than southern Kansas and although my plan took us through southern Kansas, Jim’s didn’t. He wanted to see Prairie Village where he and his parents lived in the late 60’s. This meant we skirted Kansas City which I really wanted to see and I almost started sulking again but quickly got over it because it was more fun to watch how frustrated Jim got about the area changing so much in 40 some years. There’s nothing like when he gets on one of his “when I was a kid” kicks…not that he was actually a kid when they lived there.
The apartment complex looked exactly the same as it did when Jim lived there. At least he said it did. I’d never seen it before and I don’t always trust his memory so I took a couple of pictures so his parents can verify.
He even let me take a photo of him outside the clubhouse though he did lament that they took “his” pool table out of the clubhouse. This is such an unusual occurence that I figure he must have just been very numbed by all the driving.
It really amazes me that so many people are so willing to pose for duck photos. The guy in Lawrence Kansas seemed almost excited to do it. It shows on his face too.
Now for the really important stuff about Kansas. As I said before, the northern part isn’t as flat as I thought it would be and it has an awful lot of cows. The cows in Kansas, I am positive, are the laziest cows in all the states I’ve been to so far. (I really need to get an accurate count on the states I’ve been to…maybe I’d better go make one of those maps with the pins on them soon.). I would say 90% of them were just laying down in the fields. The other 10% were hanging out under billboards. I’m not sure what that was about but I think they were plotting something.
A nice part of northern Kansas was the Flint Hills area. They were just very unusual looking grassy hills. I didn’t get any pictures (mostly because they have a pretty high speed limit in Kansas and by the time I get ready to shoot, the thing I wanted to take a picture of is gone), but the gently rolling grasslands and the play of shadow and light was amazing. I really do recommend anyone visiting that area of the country take a drive through this area.