I have a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore... (23,24-Mar-2010)

Woah, kindof a late entry here; these past few days have been a whirlwind of new places and new experiences!

After departing St. Louis, I eventually reached Kansas City, MO:



Now, this has always confused me, but there is a Kansas City, MO and a Kansas City, KS and they're both situated at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. Kansas City, MO is the larger of the two and is the one pictured above. Unfortunately I missed out on some highly recommended Kansas City barbecue, but hopefully one day I'll get to try it.

After passing by Kansas City, I made my way into Kansas:



Passing through Kansas was hillier than I expected at first, but as I got further into the state, the terrain began to flatten out:



I was able to see some of the old technology seemingly still in use:



And the newer technology. In fact, there was a huge field of these giant wind turbines. I've heard you can hear them turn as they cut through the wind but the weather was so windy/rainy that I couldn't hear anything else. Still very cool to see:



The rolling fields of Kansas had a certain charm and beauty to them which I felt even on this rainy day. I hadn't planned to do much else besides take in the natural beauty of this state when I accidentally came upon this:



I saw signs for it as I was heading west on I-70. I figured, why not check it out? It really was well-worth the side-trip, everything was put together so well and they had all these little exhibits of all different versions of the Wizard of Oz from all around the world:











They had the 1939 movie playing continuously in a special room and I learned quite a bit about the movie that I never knew. Apparently, Judy Garland wanted to adopt Terry (the dog who played Toto) from the studio as she had become attached to him, but her request was denied as Toto went on to star in other movies.

After a brief stop in Oz, I continued my journey westward. I needed to stop for gas and I happened upon this memorial right next to the gas station:



I've looked this up online and I can only surmise that this is an unofficial memorial commemorating those fallen in this battle of WWII (it was the only battle in WWII where the American casualties exceeded Japanese). I believe this one was to honor local soldiers from the area. In any case, I'm glad I had the chance to see it. It reminded me of the freedom I have to just get up and move, unhindered across this great country. It is a freedom that I take for granted far too often but deeply appreciate.

This ends this chapter of my voyage. I am currently in Colorado and will update you all on my adventures here from today and tomorrow, tomorrow evening.

Thanks for reading!

-Dan