Kansas! Kansas!

As many of you know I was very excited to go to Kansas when I began this trip. And I’m here! Today, I took a drive through the Flint Hills and they did not disappoint. I stopped at the National Park Station in the middle of the hills and took a hike from there. It was a perfect day of wind and no humidity. Every step along the path, through the rolling green hills, a cloud of crickets erupted from the ground. And by the way, crickets are large and hard and feel about like being pelted with pebbles when they spring in every direction including your arms and legs. But it was amazing. I apologize for all the romanticism, but I felt like I was about 5 years old again, wanting to be Laura Ingles Wilder. The Flint Hills are the largest untouched tall grass plains left in America. I got out into the middle of them and couldn’t see anything but grass pebbled with stones – thus the name Flint Hills. I somehow found myself imagining all the pioneers that traveled through them. And lucky for me not to far from the National Park Station someone had made giant statues of a covered wagon train up on the peak of a hill. I didn’t have to imagine after all. If you ever make it to Kansas the Flint Hills are worth a stop. Check it out.


I then meandered my way around, and ended up in Delia, Kansas. I sought out this town for my namesake and to have a whole new idea of what it meant to find yourself. I drove about ten miles down this road into the middle of nowhere and then I saw it. Delia, Kansas is about three streets wide by about three streets long – not quite a square city block. I drove around and saw the school and the community center, and street of cute neighborhood houses in the middle of a wheat field. Finally, I found a post office. I went in to see if someone could tell me how the town got it’s name. The post office was closed. There were no other buildings. So I drove to the edge of town, two streets over, and stopped at a house where a little old man was mowing his grass. How did the town get the name Delia, I asked. “Oh,” he said leaning in so I could hear him. “Now let’s think. I should know this. I can’t remember the name of the family who started the town. Let’s go ask the authority.” He walked me back to his wife who was picking beans in their garden. Cunningham. The family’s name was Cunningham and Delia was one of the lady’s names. Of course they were quick to tell me that Delia used to be on the other side of the train tracks and this town used to be David. (In my head, I have this idea that the towns were named after long lost lovers of sort, but that’s just in my head).

Anyway, the Cunninghams moved Delia over the train tracks and disbanded the old town. My new friend and his wife have lived in the Delia for 45 years. And the school in town used to be the high school, but they moved the high school to a neighboring town that was bigger. It is now a middle school. And the old middle school is now the community center. The big news of town was that last week the community center got three window air conditioners, because the last town election they had, they all just about died of heat. They said there used to be three grocery stores and several bars in the town, but they were all gone now. Both of them weren’t sad to see the bars leave. They caused to much ruckus.

I told my new friends that I was driving from Boston to Seattle and they looked at me like I was crazy. But they said they had been to Fort Lewis Army Base near Seattle. As have I for many a volleyball tournament. Well, he had set sail out of Fort Lewis on the Omaha in World War II. Which sort of blew me over.

It was great. I stood there talking and watched the combine plow the wheat field across the street. So after today, I have to say I really like Kansas.