Driving Missouri: Nevada
Nevada, MO has everything I am looking for in a small town – liveliness, old buildings, murals and a county courthouse. In accordance with a Missouri State custom, Nevada is not pronounced the way it’s spelled; addressing it as anything but Ne-vay-duh will expose you as an outsider.
We made a stop in Nevada on the way to Bentonville, AR, because we were getting bored on a long stretch of the newly-minted I-49. The only entertainment on the previous 80 or so miles was provided by a trailer home flying a banner with a picture of an automatic rifle and the words “Come and get it!”. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
Continue reading →Where Rail Crosses Trail
When the weather forecast for the weekend was published few days ago, I knew it was time to get out of town for few hours. Nothing clears out the mind like two hundred miles in rural Kansas on a first sunny and warm Sunday of the year. I started to look for a place to visit on the best Kansas travel resource but nothing grabbed my eye, so I just looked at the map and noticed a place called Admire, KS. I knew I had to go there and admire it.
U.S. Route 56 leaves Olathe, passes through the armpits of Johnson County known as Gardner and Egderton and makes its way towards Oklahoma through the fields as far as the eye can see. Rolled down windows let the fresh air in and the smell of old hay, burning leaves and an occasional skunk filled up my lungs. I was on the way to Admire.
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By the way, have you ever been to Scranton, KS?
Now you have.
Much more interesting is the town of Burlingame down the road.
Burlingame looks like a worn out Mayberry…
…where Aunt B’s is the name of a restaurant.
Aunt B’s niece is getting married next week, so you’ll have to eat elsewhere.
Flower arrangements by Missy’s Flower Shop.
Meat for the wedding is already stored in the Meat Locker.
The Wedding announcement will be published in the cleverly named Newspaper (founded in 1863).
On the guest list is the frequent customer and an old-timey lawyer…
…who enjoys spending his lunch hour from 12 to 1 at Aunt B’s.
Miss Jandi and her students will also be in attendance.
Cheer-leading poodles are the only advertisement for her business.
Church is conveniently located around the corner.
Burlingame will have to wait for another visit, when I may be able to solve the mystery of the piano keys above the tire shop windows.
I still had a long way to Admire.
People in these parts still keep cannons in their front yards, just in case.
Finally I was close to my goal. While taking this photo I drove into something that I can still smell on my car and can only describe as putrid.
Admire was right in front of me.
At least it was a god-fearing town.
High school looks little over-sized for the population of 117 (0.56% Native American, 0.56% from other races, and 3.39% from two or more races. 1.13% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.) That’s .65 of a Native American, must be handicapped or something.
Every tall structure begs you to admire it.
Last Chance Cafe is the best and the only pizza deal in town.
Another water tower was built mainly to display the town’s name.
I had a short drive to Emporia…
…where Jesus Christ wanted me to stop and accept him. Sadly there was no parking.
A friendly cock pointed the way home.
I felt tired but refreshed at the same time. With my head cleared up I settled down on the couch thinking about the roads, small towns, open spaces and partial Native Americans.Where The Buffalo (Used To) Roam
Cue the State Song of Kansas
Were buffalo used to roam there is now the Glacial Hills Scenic Byway where no one roams anymore, just an occasional car with passengers who didn’t find anything better to do on a gloomy Sunday. Scenic Byway officially starts at Ft.Leavenworth, passes through Atchison, twists and turns through Troy and stops right before the Nebraska border at White Cloud – a place still recovering from the housing bubble of 1929.
White Cloud is home to the 4-State lookout – a place where you can see Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska at the same time.
Panoramic view from the lookout can be seen here.
Miss Teen Kansas lives here (at least until 2010):
White Cloud was voted the best place to dispose of a dead body:
Just don’t forget to “dispose of all head and guts” and leave the work area clean for the next person.
North of the White Cloud you will find an Indian Casino adorned by the symbols of past glory: Eagle Feathers, Eagle without feathers and an unfinished tepee:
At the casino zombie-looking white people are sitting in the clouds of smoke, mistakenly hoping they can fool the Indians again. Instead, their money is financing the modern-day tepees.
On the way back you can cross the river, drive past the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge,and return home via I-29.Overall, this is a pretty nice weekend trip, but it will probably look more picturesque during the spring and summer months. There is a lot more to be seen in Atchison and there is a 10-mile auto route around the Refuge.
Continue reading →Old Photos: Kansas City 1954
I’ve used a few photos from this batch in my previous posts about the tough looks of old-time bosses, about a day in life of a Kansas City Ford dealer (this one received a comment from someone in the photo), and about the schoolchildren visiting the Nelson-Atkins. These pictures were taken for the feature story “Kansas City and St.Louis: Picture portfolio shows some contrasts between striving city and a settled one“, published in March of 1954.
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Old Photos: 1958 USSR In Color
I had some color photos taken by the American correspondents in the USSR on this blog before. This set is titled “Russian Look Of The Land Essay” and was taken by Howard Sochurek in 1958. The original Life article can be found here. (note: the photos are dated 1958 but the article was published in 1960, could be a Google archival error).
The photos are taken in many places around the USSR – from frozen Yakutsk, to Crimea, to Central Asia. They are not in any particular order.
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