I've lived in Missouri too but have always preferred Kansas. There's an easier, calmer life style in Kansas. And until Brownback became governor, Kansas took better care of its people.
My dad grew up in western KS, 18 miles from the Colorado border. When I was a kid my grandmother lived in the town down the road from that town and we drove out there every summer to visit family. My dad used to tell us the wheat we saw growing in the fields we passed by was really money because there was so much oil and natural gas under that wheat.
Right down the road from my grandmother's town was a sunflower farm that to this day is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
When I was in college, I got to know the Flint Hills. They run down the middle of the state and are absolutely gorgeous. We used to camp in the Flint Hills and other than a few cows, we were completely isolated. As you drive through on I-70, you can see portions of the Flint Hills around Junction City and Fort Riley.
Lucas is a great side trip off of I-70. The Garden of Eden is a house surrounded by concrete sculptures that tell the history of the world. S. P. Dinsmoor, the artist and long time resident of the home, was quite a character and an early populist.
http://www.garden-of-eden-lucas-kansas.com/
Another worthwhile side trip is Monument Rocks.
For you political junkies, Kansas was home to the country's first progressive newspaper. Although it's been a Republican state for many years, the Republicans here weren't crazy until Operation Rescue came here from California in 1991 to spend a summer protesting outside Dr. George Tiller's clinic in Wichita. Many of the OR folks stayed, gradually became dominant in the state Republican party and have created the obnoxious political climate we have in Kansas today. There are still some moderate Republicans in Kansas, and they hate the far right as badly as we Democrats do. It's also quite entertaining to watch the two factions in the state GOP fight, but I'd rather see the moderate Republicans leave the party and become Democrats.
Edit history
= new reply since forum marked as read
