Getting to the plains put me north of my plan to travel through Kansas today (Kerry is a member of the Kansas Explorers – a club that dedicates itself to exploring the state!), so I had to cut through Nebraska to get on Rte 36 and cruise along the northern border of the state. I didn’t get to see much of the countryside because there was thick fog for the first fifty miles. When it opened up, there were some snow flurries and then mostly open fields with occasional feed lots and speed zones indicating towns.
.GIF)
.GIF)
.GIF)
Norton, KS: Home of the BB Gun Champions – except for the years 1973-1986… beginning in 1981 the title was moved to Woodbridge, VA when my brother Sean was the Annie Oakley of the Air Rifle shooting aluminum siding, ceilings, random kids by the creek, and his brothers. I am wondering where the slingshot and bottlerocket halls’ of fame are located.
Orbit me: In the world of statistics, I love a couple of qualifications and/or caveats – but my atlas made reference to the Geographic Center of the Lower 48 States. I tried to take a dirt road there, but the dirt road was a mud and snow road and let’s just say I need a car wash more than ever. It isn’t well marked, and it there is almost no interpretive explanation, but if you go a few miles north of Lebanon, Kansas, you will find a flag marking the center of these United States.
Wardrobe: I label all the photographs I take by the date - because based on my limited wardrobe rotation, it appears that I have been across all of these united states during a two day span. Before he was a sitcom star, Jerry Seinfeld did a comedic bit about stuff. I can't remember the detail, but I think I am living it: At first I put all my belongings in storage; then I picked a subset of items and brought them to my brother Hugh’s house; then I picked a subset of items and packed them into the beast for my trip; then I visited Bryan and picked a subset of items to bring into his apartment for a couple days; then we went out for the evening and I picked a subset of items to bring out with us for the evening. I suppose if the bar caught on fire, I would run out into the street with the absolute bare essentials.
Stuff.
Digits:
Today Miles: 654; Trip Miles: 7,642
Number of waves: 13 (NE & KS)
Number of waves from women: 0
Number of Telephone Poles (electric transmission lines) per mile: 19
Number of large and/or old growth forrests passed: 0
KFRM All Farm Radio: 550
Geographic Center Coordinates: 39,50 LAT 98,35 LON
Other Centers of the US:
Center of US Population: Phelps County, MO
Geodetic Center of the US: Osbourne, KS
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: 2700 F St., NW
2 comments:
HA! I bet Sean is beside himself over the BB accusations... the bb in the kitchen ceiling has been a debate for years and he really probably only shot AT the kids at the creek. He made up for all of these incidents with the shots that were on target for the brothers.
What the hell! You said you were going to roll back through L.A. sometime this week! My freelance job is done and I'm retired again, and you're in Kansas!? You drive all the way across the country to one of the greatest cities in the world, you have a free place to crash with an even greater tour guide, and you only spend about 12 hours here, sleeping through most of them.
You are so fired.
Post a Comment