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Published: December 16th 2011
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I arrived in Kansas a bit confused; I had two friends - one staying in Kansas City, the other in Kansas City but in two different states with one being in Kansas. Confused, I didn’t find this out until I arrived how it worked out and once I did I then had to tackle the roads.
Prior to the cities I stopped off in a few places. First was the humble town of Abilene where President Eisenhower grew up. There are 12 Presidential Libraries from the latest US presidents generally in their home town, at least state starting with Herbert Hoover and the last one William Clinton in Little Rock. They are not normal libraries but more so archives and museum preserving the legacy of that particular President. Most Presidents homes are marked out on the guidebooks and signs pop up on the road when you are near the area.
Eisenhower’s doesn’t muck about with museums, libraries, a church and his home still maintained under the trees. It’s a small town and across the road is the greyhound racing museum.
Normally I wouldn’t bother with a racing museum but yours truly worked
for 2 long years with greyhound racing before giving up the lifestyle of career for travel. So I felt I should visit and pay my respects to the boy who’s dreams of businessman success were dashed by the now travelling gentleman who’d enter the museum.
It goes through the history of greyhounds and that the Greeks, Romans even Egyptians used greyhounds. There are some classic trophy cups, a hall of fame and a list of American racetracks. There isn’t much international info just a few international super dogs which includes Chief Havoc of Australia. It was a brief visit pretty much the same as visiting a gravesite… for me anyway.
Most of the east coast is about the white mans achievements, colonial history, civil war and independence. The further central you go you get the other cultures history. South Dakota is great from the Native American history and Kansas is great for the African American history in their struggles for freedom and to become equals.
In a small town called Topeka in west Kansas the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic site describes in perfect detail the landmark 1954 Supreme
Court case that banned segregation in US schools. Videos of the protesting, plenty of info and entry into the school that was in question. I got there too late so only browsed through briefly.
It was late afternoon and I arrived on a Sunday to Kansas City I was downtown Kansas and called my friend for the address because it was not on the GPS. I told her where I was parked and she tells me after looking at a map. “Ummm I’d get out of that area now!” I looked around and slumville is what I saw. She told me that one day a friend of hers was pulled over by the police and was told to get out of this area its too dangerous at night.
We met up, had a drink and I took advantage of the massage chair they had in front of the TV - The batteries had to work overtime that day… and the next day. She gave me the low down on where to go for fast food including Sonic’s happy hour slushy’s from 4-6pm and this massive burrito at Chipotle.
She also told
me about Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ. Kansas is a bit famous in these neck of the woods for its BBQ and Oklahoma Joes’ won a playoff against other BBQ places. After winning the divisional it headed to the semi finals than finals against the best pizza place in town. It was voted the best fast food joint in the city.
To find it, it was a mission with my stomach eating away on itself. I just couldn’t find it - GPS had no idea. Kansas City (both sides) is confusing with a street cutting off by something than reforming with no connection usually by a highway. Eventually I found it (connected with a petrol station) and yeah it was quality but not worth the wait and drive around.
Across the river and with almost no notice to inform is Kansas City, Missouri (another state) and to be honest it’s the better part of the two. There I met up with another friend of mine who invited me to meet her family and friends for dinner. This was probably the first of what would be many big time Australian accent conversations. I then gave an attempt
on my American accent and got told it is more a Wisconsin accent. So there you go.
I headed to the main tourist sights of Kansas and that is on 18
th and Vine Street. The street is home to the Jazz Museum and many music venues. I spent a bit of time there but at the same venue on the opposite side is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. And still even after all this travel sport takes priority.
The museum is quite something and is portrayed in a positive manner despite the discrimination and segregation of the African American players. It mentions the difficulties on starting and maintaining a viable business under the banner of the Negro League. When doing road trips they could only eat and sleep at certain black restaurants or hotels. The team having to split to different hotels. The missed opportunities for some of the great baseball players unable to play in the MLB.
The first Negro baseball league to be truly successful was in the 1920’s. This lasted till 1931 when depression set in and it couldn’t survive financially. In those days the owner of the
league would dock wages if a player didn’t slide to base when he was given out. The idea was to make the league stand out through entertainment.
It came back again after the depression but eventually through the signing of Jackie Robinson to the major leagues – the first black man. Eventually the league disbanded and assimilation in baseball occurred. Baseball is seen as the sport that brought the nation together. The Negro League revolutionised too being the first night baseball game some 3 years earlier than the MLB.
Kansas City was a brief stay as I was meeting someone in Chicago. On the way I stopped over at Iowa City, Iowa. I visited a friend I met in Philippines and she took me to Hamburg Inn a café where I got a pie shake, a shake that tastes like a desert pie. The city really is not much accept a student town so for a tourist that doesn’t know anyone I wouldn’t bother much with it. It has a nice Capitol building when Iowa City was the capital of Iowa before it moved to Des Moines.
I had the option
to go to St Louis and grab a World Series Ticket but that would mean I would have had to sleep in the car for about one week straight to make up the cash. Instead it was time to meet up with a new travel buddy who will join thedribbleman and this blog for the rest of the road trip.
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Valuable Food and Radio info:
Iowa city - Hamburg Inn and the shakes were pie shakes (I think they have about 10 different flavors of pie you can add into the shake.)
Sonic Drive Inn – Old school drive in great toasties and Happy hour drinks from 2-4pm. You can freeze your brain with glorious pain on a variety of flavoured slushy’s.
Chipotle – The biggest portion of food yet – Mexican but has a healthy taste to it – the portion makes up for the healthiness.
Radio 102.5FM – the first ever 24hr radio station I’ve ever heard.
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Susurros somnolientos
J. Lalo Cura
Wow, you really visit some places off the beaten path, ey. I spent some time in Missouri as well a couple of years back, also went on to visit my relatives in Iowa City. Took almost the same picture of that town hall. Guess a road trip by car gives you more flexibility, I did mine by Greyhound Bus and Amtrak, which was very uncomfortable at times, but probably the cheapest option to cover large distances.