07 Kanza Art

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It was titled Kanza Art. Kanza is the Indian Nation that Kansas is named after. The Whirly Gigs along Hwy 54, in southcentral Kansas, has caught my eye every trip through here. This trip was going to be the time when I pulled it over and go check them out up close. From the Hwy they are a sight, most are flapping or rotating and the bright colors combined with the ingenuity brings a smile to your face.

The gigs are lining a railroad track so they sit off the Hwy quite a few feet. As I zipped by the gigs I saw them and made a u-turn in the highway. You have to love traveling on a sporty, turns on a dime and the start of a line will allow very few other bikes in front of it.

The gigs were down a gravel road then they were along side a pasture, actually in the pasture. There was a pile of scrap metal also in the field, a couple guys were going through the pile. I don’t know if they were leaving stuff or picking stuff out, but it was not hard to imagine that the artwork found its origin from this pile. I asked the 2 gentlemen if it was okay for me to ride into the pasture to view the artwork and they assured me it would be fine, people did it frequently, but they did not own the pasture or artwork.

In I went, there was not even a path to follow. I didn’t get all the way to the end, but the last one was 3 or 4 stop signs that rotated. It amazes me how easily it rotated. My Dad worked for KDOT, I know how heavy a stop sign is. I couldn’t get a real good picture of it, but I was already pushing my luck going in this far. Why didn’t I walk you ask? 1.) I didn’t buy a Harley so I could go hiking. 2.) The ground was too soft to support the bike, the kickstand dug in immediately when I tried it.

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