For the first 22 years of my life I didn’t care about directions. Someone gave me a compass once but I never figured out how to use it. And why would I need to? All my travelling was done with someone else driving, piloting or engineering (or however you refer to driving a train). Now, when I have my own steering wheel to turn, the directions are important and indispensable. If you can find South on the map you can visit the Southeastern part of Kansas – an oasis of greatness bordering by the depressed and hostile Southwestern Missouri and Northeastern Oklahoma.

Just take Hwy 7 towards historic Paola, KS and Osawatomie, KS – home-base of John Brown, famous abolitionist and the leader of the Pottawatomie Massacre (it’s hard to refer to the killing of five people as a “massacre”, but everything has to be over-dramatized in the American history so just roll with it). These two towns are fine destinations on their own, but if you keep moving south you will find no less interesting sightseeing in the Linn County and beyond.
For example, Linn County courthouse in Mound City.

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A full-blown winter storm in March? Check!
An incorrect, rapidly changing weather forecast? Check!
Scary drive home? Check!
Making it home alive to write about it – priceless!

If you don’t feel like getting out, I shot a little clip for you.

And the rest of my photos:

By the way I still think weather forecasters should be arrested for the incorrect predictions.
UPDATE: I mentioned in comments what the weather forecast used to look like in my childhood and here is a video from November 2, 1977. This is for the whole country;they just list general areas, conditions and temperature ranges (in C°).

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If you are a long-time follower of this blog, I am sure you already know that today is the day to fly your red flag to celebrate another anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution – a holiday no longer celebrated in Russia where people for some reason blame it for 70 years of crappy life. I am not going to repeat my previous posts on the subject, so this year we will celebrate with another batch of old photos taken at the Moscow’s Red Square on this day in 1962.

On this photo we see the current leadership of the USSR – Comrade Khrushchev is the 5th from the right next to Comrade Brezhnev. In a few years, acting exclusively in the interest of saving Comrade Khrushchev’s health Comrade Brezhnev will replace him while he will be away on vacation.

These people are happy, just imagine their faces when they are not.

Remember spending some quality time in a bomb shelter? That’s why…

Vostok-4.

 

The rest of the photos is here.

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Yesterday marked 35 years (very old I am) from the launch of the Soviet-American joint space mission Souyz-Apollo.

And now we dance: “We will leave our footprints on the dusty trails of far-away planets”

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KM_rhyqE40

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Since we were in the area yesterday, we drove to the Schreiman Orchards to pick up some peaches. I read about the place in the Star several years ago and we usually make a trip there several times a year to buy peaches and later in the fall – apples. For me it’s not just a shopping trip, I can get peaches and apples much closer to home, it’s an excuse to drive along  the Old Trails Road – one of the most picturesque stretches of highway on this side of the state of Missouri. Along the road you will find historic markers, museums, multiple wineries (but wait there is more), and at the end pick up a basket of peaches for the road.


People who make fun of my love of pickling should take a note that even I draw the line at the red beet and/or jalapeno pickled eggs.

Some day we should find a designated driver and tour the area. Seems like they are having an event on the August 15th.

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