It was in southern Nebraska. Definitely in Norther Kansas. And somewhere after crossing the Rio republican. I stopped and looked that river was running backwards!
The heat hit in Kansas. I watched the van with no names sophisticated
electronic digital temperature go through our starting point in North Platte at
78. Rising through all the 80’s as I headed south. All The way through the 90’s
as I continued and topping out at 100.
Around the mid 90’s I passed through the town of Dexter Kansas the town where Helium was discovered. For some reason I picture the residents of Dexter all talking like Donald Duck. And finally, someone goes it must be helium, we can’t all like to talk like Donald Duck.
But it didn’t happen like that. It was supposed to be natural gas well except there was so much helium that the gas wouldn’t burn. Interesting things you see when you go slow enough to spot them.
Motoring in the van has been a learning curve for its motoring electronics.
Driving the amerikan standard FOMOCO company electronics if you
drift too much to the left the wheel gives you a vibration. If you drift to the
right, you get the same vibration. I’m thinking I’m in the middle, but oncoming
traffic is always getting way over to their rumble strips. To many years of
riding motorbikes in the left track. I guess as long as they don’t get in my
way everything is ok. But probably the most frustrating thing about using the
vans navigation or using google car play, almost every time the vans electronics
connect to my phone it starts playing music from my phone’s library. Sometimes I
don’t want to hear music, or I want to stream KPTZ or KNBA It took me a
couple of days, but I can now stop the music with just a push of a button on
the van’s infotainment screen.
It was 100 when I pulled into a wayside and discovered that I was at the Geographic Center of the continual US.
Reading the sign, I learned that this wasn’t really the center of the universe. The actual center is off a ways somewhere in a field. I felt cheated.
Later on, I turned onto a highway only to find out that it
is the official “The Home On The Range Highway” There were indeed homes along
the highway, but mostly cows. A few miles along with the AC on high, a sign
said the actual Home on the Range Cabin was coming up on the right in just a
ways. I slowed only to discover that the cabin was two miles down a gravel
road. Why didn’t they just move the cabin to the highway like they did with the
geographic center sign.
I decided to not to go down there but the cabin is where in 1871 Dr. Brewster M Higley wrote the song, you guessed it home on the range.
Southern Kansas and Oklahoma are where I have seen the most trump shrines. Sometimes it just a faded trump 2020 banner stuck to a bail of hay, or a let’s go brandon tacked to a fence. Some have both a trump banner and the international flag of racism the confederate flag. A few FJB flags, but the shrine on highway 75 near Tulsa is so far the winner. 8 Flag poles with faded torn campaign banners, a large save amerika billboard, and an even larger billboard with the 10 commandment’s and since it was along the highway someone changed commandment 6 to, Thou Shall Not Speed.
No small bit of irony having a trump shrine, with your god
delusion sign, but then the republicans have harnessed tribalism, and it is certainly
evident here.
This is Cherokee country. The tribe’s headquarters is here. Further up the road a sign temps for Chief Sequoyah’s cabin. I wonder how far down a dirt road that one is.
It looks nicer than the Home On The Range cabin.
The chief was the one that preserved the Cherokee language
and creating its alphabet.
In California Ice Gal attended Sequoyah high school, but I guess
to amerikanize the name they changed it to Sequoia, same as the tree.
The Cherokees were also our school mascot. There is no proof
that any of them attended the high school or attended football games where one
of the cheers was.
“We are the Cherokees, the mighty mighty Cherokees everywhere
we go people want to know so we tell them We are…..”
It sounded pretty good with 500 kids yelling it.
Unfortunately, when the tribe started to own casino’s all
over Oklahoma, the school was forced to change its mascot. Who would want a
cocktail waitress or blackjack dealer for a high school mascot. And what would
the cheer be?
Hit me hit me double down, don’t play football like a clown…
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