Wakeeney KOA, Wakeeney, Kansas
The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother. ~ Proverbs 29:15
Another long travel day today, as we continued the rest of the way across the state of Kansas – 5 ½ hours and 307 miles. I’ve discovered that if I set my laptop on a pillow, it absorbs the bounce and I can work on the blog or do research, check emails, etc., on these long, not so interesting drives. It’s not as good as a lap table (which I can’t seem to find that suits me), but it’s better than trying to sit at the table and holding it down, or trying to type and my fingers finding all the wrong keys because they move under me. 😊
So I was moving right along with my progress, when all of a sudden, there was no internet service! I had plenty of bars of service, but nothing! I could open gmail, and the initial screen for Google, but that’s as far as it went. So much for getting work done. ☹ I switched to my book to keep me occupied.
Lots of bugs again today. We left with a clean windshield, but within moments, it was covered once again. Makes for really gross pictures. In addition, we were driving east, so the sun also hindered attempts at photography. Sigh . . . . . .
And that’s just the areas we’ve seen along the highway!
As we drove through one fairly busy town, Lawrence, we noticed a section where all the streets were named after states – Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, Massachusetts . . . . and many others. Interesting!
Is it just me, or does that street name seem backwards to you?
Longview Campground, Lee’s Summit, Missouri
But it’s actually two cities on either side of the Missouri River,
and one really has nothing to do with the other – – except they share the same name.
Here’s why . . . taken from kchistory.org:
The origin of modern-day Kansas City, Missouri dates back to the 1830s, when John McCoy founded the settlement of Westport at what is now Westport Road and Pennsylvania. McCoy chose this area to open an outfitting store for pioneers on the Santa Fe Trail. He then established a river boat landing on the bluffs at the bend in the Missouri River, just two miles north of his settlement. This Westport Landing was connected to the settlement of Westport by road and sparked development in the area.
A group of 14 investors, including McCoy, formed the Town Company in 1838 to buy up property along the riverfront. This area included Westport Landing and in 1850 was incorporated as the Town of Kansas. City founders derived the name from the Kansas, or Kaw, River which was named for the Kansa Indians. The state of Missouri then incorporated the area as the City of Kansas in 1853 and renamed it Kansas City in 1889. John McCoy’s settlement, the old town of Westport, was annexed by Kansas City, Missouri, on December 2, 1897.
During this time, other settlements were developing across the river on the Kansas side in Wyandotte County. Some of these small towns incorporated as Kansas City, Kansas in 1872. By naming this town after the growing city on the Missouri side of the state line, city leaders in Kansas were able to capitalize on the success of Kansas City, Missouri. It’s also possible that the people in Wyandotte County felt that they had more right to the name “Kansas City” than the people of Missouri had.
Today Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri remain two separately incorporated cities but together, along with a number of other cities and suburbs, are part of the Kansas City Metropolitan area.
And there you have it!
We’re parked in the “Show Me” state now, just barely across the border from Kansas. I’m not sure what it’ll show us, but we’re game for just about anything!
Tomorrow we get to return across the border to Kansas, in order to visit with Blaine’s Aunt Sherri and Uncle Nick! She’s his dad’s baby sister, and it’s been ages since we’ve seen them, and even longer since we’ve seen their two sons, Matt and Mike. We’re really looking forward to it!
I’ll take a moment here to share a whimsical story – – once upon a time, our youngest son, Kyle, had in mind to become a professional soccer player (this was upper middle school years – maybe 8th grade?). Kyle was a good player, but his downfall was that he just wanted it to come naturally, without much effort exerted on his part. Knowing that there most certainly had to be quite a bit of effort required, but not wanting to discourage him from pursuing his dream, I turned to Nick and Sherri’s son, Matthew, who was already semi-pro. Now mind you, these are the days of perforated, green and white striped paper in printers, and dial-up internet, and most everyone used snail mail to communicate; fax machines had just arrived on the scene, and the cell phones in use were about ten times the size they are now – and sported an antennae.
It was . . . . the day of the dinosaur . . . .
I don’t remember how I communicated with Matt. Most likely, it was a hand-written note mailed to his parents’ home. And I don’t remember how he responded, but I know it was in written form, so it was probably mailed to our home. He actually took the time to write a full-page, detailed letter describing his effort-filled journey to the semi-pros.
Let’s just say, once Kyle read it, he immediately changed his mind. 😊
In anticipation of visitors tomorrow, we once again put the coach to rights and made sure all was in readiness – inside and out. Especially since Nick and Sherri have never seen our home.
And this evening? I deleted 1,997 pictures from my phone! Not that any of you are interested in that tidbit of information . . . . I needed an ending. What can I say? 😊