Weeding Kansas

(The photo this post is not from its location. You can find moose in Kansas, but they are almost always mounted over a fireplace. We had a mishap with our cameras and CF cards, and our pictures of Kansas and Nebraska were obliterated. This picture was taken in Grand Teton.)

After reaching the apex of our journey (The Mitchell Corn Palace), we made a swing through Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas. The excellent reason for this odd route was that neither of us had ever been to Minnesota, Nebraska, or Kansas.

But it's actually a good thing, because it brought us through God's country. God talks to you a lot in Kansas. "Life is the only choice," He says on many billboards. "Have you read my best-selling book?" He asks. He then reminds you, "There will be a test." Whoever put up that sign—and many similar ones—should reread the best-selling book in question, and particularly the part about taking his name in vain (Deuteronomy 5:11). It does cover such things as portraying your Lord as a smart-ass.

Still, it's good the people of western Kansas have found God, because there's not much else to find there today. It is a desolate place. Every inch is farmed, but typically by mechanized means. You hardly ever see anyone, merely neat groups of stainless-steel silos and parked combines. Years, ago, that wasn't the case. Kansas was dotted with a thriving network of small prairie towns, manned by an army of homestead farmers.

Today, the towns are still there, but many many of the people have gone, and their neat barns and cottages have long been plowed under. Instead you find towns with ghostly rows of brick buildings, abandoned storefronts, cracked sidewalks, and faded signs. It's strange that the heartland of the country should seem so empty.

We'd actually like to come back here some day and poke around some more. Places like this can have interesting secrets.