My trip? It was awesome. If you're sitting there expecting me to be all "OH MAH GAH THE MIDWEST IS SO DULL AND CALIFORNIA IS THE BOMB AND I'M SO FREAKING GLAD TO BE HOME!" then you'll be waiting a long time because maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, I loved the midwest.
The people? SO TOTALLY NICE.
Like, so nice that when I got confused at a toll exit and I thought I needed $3.50 in quarters to pass and then another car pulled up behind me and I panicked and went through without paying and there was a loud ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR noise because I'd pissed off the toll Gods and I pulled over to the side of the road to assess the situation, the car behind me went though and turned around and came back to offer me 50 cents for the toll because I'm a dummy and didn't need $3.50...just $.50...which made a whole lot more sense.
The landscape? SO TOTALLY BEAUTIFUL.
Like, the sky is huuuuuuuuuuuuge out there! No mountains = the sky goes FOREVER.
And okay, I'll say it: The men? Also nice and good-looking. Especially that one at the Kum & Go in Iowa or South Dakota or wherever I was. H-O-T. And YES, the mini mart was called the KUM & GO!
All the employees were wearing shirts and ties and this totally threw my aunt for a loop and she was convinced that they were Mormons. Yes, this was unusual for us west-coasters but no Ninny, I don't think they're Mormons. But she couldn't help asking. I was like "OMG NINNY I don't think the Mormons run convenience stores called KUM AND GO!
But I'm getting ahead of myself. This post is supposed to be about Missouri.
SO. Fun facts about my trip to Missouri:
I was at baggage claim in Kansas City, MO and I was watching the cows in the pasture just past the tarmac. My camera phone doesn't zoom, so you'll have to trust me...there are cows in this picture:
I went to visit my friend Shanny and her family on a farm just north of Kansas City. I couldn't get over how totalllllllllllllly Field of Dreams-esque it all was:
Something I noticed in MO but was true of all the states I visited last week: When you go to rural California, the homes tend to be shabby and the yards are messy and there doesn't seem to be much attention paid to curb appeal, but I've never seen so many PERFECTLY mowed lawns and cared-for flower gardens and picturesque homes on hills in my life. And the fact that I could walk out of Shanny's front (or back) door and see corn fields and hear the crickets and cicadas doing their thing made me feel like I was on a movie set.
CORN! AND SOY BEANS! OH MY!
And then, after dinner at a LOUD bar with Team Missouri, I went back to my hotel and wondered where in the heck all the people were in downtown Kansas City. It's like a ghost town on a Sunday night.
The next day I needed to hightail it to Oklahoma (which, as it turns out, is right next to Missouri...a geography major I was not) so I could visit a friend's farm and see them grade and package eggs, so I got up nice and early and headed out of town.
My last stop in Missouri was unplanned, but I couldn't help but make a pit stop in this peculiar little town, har har har:
Posts
4 comments:
You should have stopped at the doughnut shop just off the highway in Peculiar. Yes, it's called "Peculiar Donuts".
Kum & Go....really? Do Californians just have dirtier minds? that would never fly here
I noted the Kum & Go stations in Iowa when I was there in 2003, too. I felt like a silly teenager giggling at it everytime I saw a sign. I looked for pictures, but I can't remember what service I was using back then.
@Sarah: I bought Carrie a Kum & Go lighter!
Post a Comment