When I first told my friends that I was moving from middle Tennessee to Kansas a few years ago, they all had similar responses:
“Kansas? Why?”
or
“Longest drive of my life going across Kansas!”
Having driven across the northern part of the state one time previously on a trip with my daughter to Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse, I could totally understand their responses. The trek across I-70 was about the longest and most boring I had ever endured! On the way back, we actually went across South Dakota to avoid going back across Kansas even though it was longer, but we were richly rewarded with great places to see that were not far from the interstate (Wall Drug, The Frontier Town, The Corn Castle, etc.). If it had not been for me taking a job with a company in the southeast part of the state, I would probably have avoided Kansas on any future trips.
However, after moving here and having time to explore the area more, I have actually come across lots of interesting places and people. My weekends have found me riding down old Route 66 stopping at places that have huge totem poles or old bridges that seem to glow in the dark and small sculptures to mark where three state lines meet. Traveling highways through Kansas have let me crawl around the world’s second biggest coal shovel or see what Laura Wilder called one of her little homes on the prairies or hike trails around old strip pits where the mining industry once brought hundreds of thousands of immigrants to work in the many mining towns that are now very small communities or pretty much ghost towns.
What I have enjoyed about being a local guide is the ability to share enough about a place to let people know that there is something worth stopping to see or experience while in the area. Even though there are plenty of people willing to share interesting things about their town, I am amazed at the number of people I meet that have lived in an area most of their lives and never knew about some of the places I share with them that I have found close by.
Now, when I find myself in a new area, I will see what others have found that seems interesting to me. And if I find something of interest, you can be sure I will share it for future travelers to consider!