Monday, November 9, 2009

THOSE FLINT HILLS AGAIN


Some people complain that Kansas is boring and has no beauty at all. Well, those people have never gone through the Flint Hills, Gypsum Hills, tall grass prairie or whatever name you want to use.
We took another trip through Kansas to and from Missouri this past weekend. We went across the southern part of Kansas, through those beautiful flint hills, with the beautiful red and golden grasses. Low rolling hills covered with red grass, with golden seed stems. The grass appears to be about 3 feet tall in places and usually is leaning over a little from the dominant winds. There are interesting towns along the way. The Dalton Gang hide-out, Carrie Nation’s home town, the Cherokee stockade, etc. There are areas with very red soil, which is extraordinarily beautiful.
If your destination is more northerly, then you can enjoy the beautiful hills on that route. Some interesting things from the trip:
1. We saw a parade of cats crossing the highway from one farm house to another. There were four orange tiger cats and one black calico. The calico turned back but the others crossed, one after the other. I don’t know why, but I hope they don’t do that again. We did get a good laugh, though.
2. Our daughter’s neighbor was playing in the street with his boys and we ran over their football. Didn’t mean to but I guess one of them threw it at a bad time. The look on the face of one of the boys was hilariously funny. He yelled. "tragedy, tragedy!"
3. At the library, while using earphones, I talked really loud. My daughter shushed me.
4. My grandson has black and yellow hair.
5. We got lost many times in the city.
6. Saw some white "whitetail" deer.
7. Ran over a dead armadillo which must have been really hard because we thought we'd blown a tire.
8. Had ""fun going down a windy highway with a motorcycle riding upright (but fastened well) in the back of the pickup.

We had gorgeous weather and not a bit of that Missoui humidity. Short sleeves. Ate a lot. Enjoyed the kids. Glad to get home.