Month: March 2018

A Chance to Escape

I passed a sign near the Kansas-Oklahoma border that read “Hitchhikers may be escaped inmates.” On a serious note, I appreciate the warning to drivers. But mostly, the sign sounded like a Mad Lib. It got me thinking about all the other possibilities: Hitchhikers may be Olympic pole vaulters. Hitchhikers may be snake charmers. …may be violinists, roller skaters, fluent in Farsi, Trekkies, champion poker players, puppeteers, astronauts- anything. It’s a good exercise to imagine what any of us could be.

Photo: Oklahoma cow

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

I started camping on National Pi Day. Extreme wind caused two layers of my tent to flap together all night, creating the craziest noises. It sounded like a squirrel was zipping and unzipping a huge plastic zipper, scarfing down popcorn, sucking out of a straw when there was only ice left in the glass, then scrabbling up the side of my tent. As these sounds repeated in different patterns, I pictured a cartoon squirrel with a mischievous grin acting out each scenario. Being Pi Day, I also pictured it slurping down whole pumpkin pies. I did not get a lot of sleep that night.

Photo: juniper at Alabaster Caverns State Park, OK

Dancing Trees

I pulled into the parking lot of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve at sundown. Greyish stubble covered the hills. In this otherwise open land, two trees grew right next to each other. From their posture, it looked like they were ballroom dancing, one tree dipping the other. This got me thinking about the secret lives of trees. Maybe trees play baseball, roll down hills, scare bullfrogs, juggle, wade in creeks, and apparently ballroom dance when no one is looking. Then, when people are watching, they freeze. Now, when I notice a tree, I wonder what it was up to just before I arrived.

Photo: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Strong City, KS

Nothing

I’ve wanted to go to Kansas for a long time. Part of me was sure that there was more to Kansas than the rumors allowed [see previous post]. Another part of me hoped that there really was nothing there except flat farm fields. I wanted to see who I was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by space, with nothing, only what was inside of me.  Turns out that I’ve been in flatter, more desolate places back in Illinois- lots of times. I guess I’ve already experienced “nothing,” but I didn’t recognize it because I never felt empty. 

Photo: Bowl Plaza, Lucas, KS 

Kansas

Kansas has a reputation of being “the most boring state to drive through.” I’m not sure what roads other people took when they decided this, but they must not have been the same roads I was on. My experience with Kansas so far is rolling hills, rock outcroppings like in pictures I’ve seen of the Dakotas, the otherworldly rock formations in Rock City, and- of course- the wind. How many other generations have climbed on these rocks, carved their initials into them, wondered who was there before them?

Photo: Rock City, near Minneapolis, KS