Home on the Range (not microwave)

October 3, Friday

This was "Mom" day: We spent the day in Kingman, KS, with my Mother and Step-father. That's Mom, my step-dad Glenn, and his son, John.

Kathy and I started the day by taking advantage of the free wireless internet in the hotel room (yeah, we've got the AirCard, but it's nice to have the even-higher-speed wireless in a hotel - and it allows both of our laptops to be online at the same time) - to catch up a little.

Then over to Mom's for way more home-made cinnamon rolls than a man should eat (no, my Mom is NOT one of those pushy "eat more, darling" people - I just *like* her cinnamon rolls!) - before working with Mom to try to answer her questions about her new computer. Yes. My Mom does use a computer regularly, bless her, but she'd recently had to get a new one - with Windows *Vista* and the new environment was "throwing" her on a number of questions. Between "Vista" and having a *laptop* instead of a deskside - she was frustrated. We managed to work thru most issues and get things familiar to her again - and ultimately concluded that a couple of things weren't misunderstandings: they really did *not* work. That category was notably the *printer* - which has died after less than 3 years. I recommended that she get a new one. Sigh. Anyway. Mostly success and a Mom who can email more effectively.

Then we packed into Mom's Subaru and headed out to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, to go see the "Grand Canyon of Kansas": the "Gypsum Hills" - referred to as the "Gyp Hills". More beautiful rolling plains - turned slowly into more-strongly "rolling" plains. It isn't just that I was born in Kansas - that I think that the "flat lands" really are *beautiful*. On the way, we passed a few of Glenn's carvings and concrete sculptures deposited around the state. You can see more of his work at http://www.beardfl.com/StarksGlenn but we also viewed his bull-rider - donated to the City of Kingman:

We pulled into Medicine Lodge and stopped at Carry Nation's home (do a Google on Carry Nation if you'd like to find out more about the "Temperance Crusader"'s life) - and visited the carving of Carry that Glenn had donated to the home:

And we visited the Stockade next door - giving me an opportunity to show off my cowboy hat:

The volunteer who was tending the stockade and Home - was really sweet and helped us with a guide to the Gyp Hills - and general Kansas information.

After lunch, we headed out to the Scenic drive of the Gyp Hills - REALLY out in the country on a dirt road. It's difficult to describe the beauty. Words fail. I'll try a few photos, but warn you that pictures of this kind of geography - just pale in comparison to being there with the prairie winds blowing thru your hair while you look out over the heart of America.

We took a couple of hours slowly driving the area, then headed back home, pausing in Medicine Lodge to look thru a garage sale (we found a pair of good binoculars for $10) and to visit one of the homes that Glenn had lived in long ago.

Back home to Mom's, dinner, and then we watched the Vice-Presidential Debate, then drove out to a hilltop to look at the stars while we were a bit further from the light pollution of a big city.

So sometimes you CAN go home.