The land of Mark Twain

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Geo: 38.6276, -90.199

5/30/12 –So, today was another travel day. We left Salina, MO at 8:30 AM, and the temperature was a comfortable 62 degrees. We got onto I-70 and headed for St. Louis, MO. The first part of the drive was similar to yesterday…flat golden fields of grain mixed with dark green fields of corn. As we moved eastward, the corn got taller, and I wondered if the climate was warmer here than in west Kansas. We saw a farmer harvesting his grain…no idea if it was oats or barley, but I was quite sure it was not wheat. And as we continued east, the plains began to ripple with hills and dales, and fields became grazing land for cattle, with green grass to eat, ponds to drink from and large green trees to keep cool. And mixed in, an occasional corn field and rusty harvesting equipment and John Deere tractors.

And we drove through Kansas City, Kansas, into Kansas City, MO. I am not sure where one ended and the other began, but I saw a large metropolitan area, with lots of industry followed by tall modern buildings and finally, suburbs.

The road continued to become more treed and green and the land undulated with hills. And it reminded me of Maine, but for the lack of pine trees, which were few. We came upon 2 deer crossing the interstate and almost had to come to a complete stop, as they could not decide which way to run. We saw lots of wild flowers lining the road, first orange, then pink, then yellow, then back to orange. And they added some interest to the eye amid a sea of green. And soon we began to see rocky walls along the road, peeking out of the trees and bushes…pink and tan and rough and full of character. And it occurred to me that we had lost the trains…our friends through so much of our travels these weeks on the road.

And as we approached St. Louis the land was littered with billboards, some with ads, some pleading for ads, a mar on the landscape of this beautiful country. The State of Maine outlawed billboards back in the 1960's, allowing tourist to better enjoy the vistas and not be confronted by advertisements as they came to enjoy what Maine had to offer. I miss that.

Tomorrow, Knoxville, TN followed by the Great Smoky Mountains on Friday.

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Comments

[Scott]

Mark Twain was an avid traveler by wheels: Twain and his brother traveled more than two weeks on a stagecoach across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, visiting the Mormon community in Salt Lake City. The experiences inspired Roughin
g It and provided material for "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". Twain's journey ended in the silver-mining town of Virginia City, Nevada, where he became a miner.[19] Twain failed as a miner and worked at a Virginia City newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise.[20] Here he first used his pen name. On February 3, 1863, he signed a humorous travel account "Letter From Carson ? re: Joe Goodman; party at Gov. Johnson's; music" with "Mark Twain."[21]Twain moved to San Francisco, California in 1864, still as a journalist. He met writers such as Bret Harte, Artemus Ward, and Dan DeQuille. The young poet Ina Coolbrith may have romanced him.[22]