55th Class Reunion on a Two-Wheeled SUV

Dick Fredericksen's Website 55th Class Reunion on a Two-Wheeled SUV

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55th Class Reunion on a Two-Wheeled SUV:

A Two-Wheeled What?

Laying On the Utility

Thinking Small for a Big Trip

Day 1: Tucson to Las Cruces

Day 2: The Road to Santa Rosa

Day 3: Kittycorner to Kansas

Days 4 and 5: Wet Wichita, Sunny St. Joseph

Day 6: This Way to Humboldt

Enjoying Humboldt (Iowa)

Gas Tank Blackjack

The Real Kansas in Technicolor

A Liberal Dose of Memories

Holbrook? How Did We Wind Up In Holbrook?

Painted, Petrified, and Perfect

The Home Home Stretch

Day 3: Kittycorner to Kansas.

All Highway 54 all the way (today and tomorrow as well). Highway 54 is the route of "snowbirds" as they migrate twice a year between Iowa and southern Arizona. In the direction I'm heading, it angles across New Mexico, then across two panhandles (Texas and Oklahoma). From there, it's horizontal across much of Kansas. It seems to me that the traffic has increased since 1999, but you still have it mostly to yourself over long stretches. Today's target will be Liberal, just inside Kansas.

Did I say something about riding in order to savor the fresh air? Not on the approach to Dalhart, Texas. West of town, there are what seem like miles upon miles of what I'm told are "feeding pens". You never saw so many cattle packed cheek-by-jowl at both ends. They're a herd animal, perhaps they don't find it as oppressive as we would. At any rate, whatever the cattle may feel about it, the prevailing winds evidently spare the town. To put it another way, it's an ill wind that blows nobody good -- the town advertizes a number of fancy steak restaurants.

I'm not sure whether it was in Texas or Oklahoma, but somewhere along the way I met a few tumbleweeds crossing the road, tossed by a gusty wind. As I started to whistle a merry tune about tumbling tumbleweeds, I saw one which had it in mind to occupy the very spot where I would be in a moment or two. I swerved to pass right of it. Just then, it changed direction, is if it were after me. I passed left of it, but not clear of it. Let me report something about tumbleweeds: they scratch. I guess cowpokes can be sentimental about tumbleweeds because only the horse's legs are at risk, not their own. Then again, that's what chaps are about.

By this point in the trip, I've decided to forego photography except at each night's destination, where, if I arrive early enough, there may be time to visit local attractions, if there are any. Even this resolution comes to naught, however, as I always seem to arrive a little too late and too tired for an immediate excursion.

As mentioned, this day's destination is Liberal, Kansas. The year's politics being what they are, the name intrigued me beforehand. The United States, I reflected, is full of little communities which originated as religious or political settlements. The "liberal" label as we understand it today is a long way from what people meant by it in the 1800's, when most of our towns were founded. Was the town named for its founders' political leanings? If so, would today's residents be embarrassed by the enthusiasms of their forebears, or would their own enthusiasms evolve in step with the label?

Never mind, online I found a more prosaic explanation. In the old days, this area of Kansas was extremely dry, and the first settler had the only good well for miles around. Fortunately, he was a kind-hearted soul, who gave awsy water to all who needed it. So they called the town "Liberal", in its non-political sense of "generous". If the political atmosphere gets hot enough, they can rename the town: "Generous, Kansas". It may, however, still be necessary to conserve water.

Liberal has two attractions which I'd been hoping to visit: an airplane museum and a "Land of Oz" mockup. I don't know about the Land of Oz, but things aerial tend to be a specialty of Kansas, and I want to see what they've got. I resolve to spend an extra day in Liberal on the return trip. I've left room for some delays on the way to Iowa, in case of extra-foul weather, but I'm reluctant to make use of them, because there are other visits on my agenda besides the class reunion. Not all of them will wait. On the return trip, I can dally as much as I like.