Reflections from a feline traveler

Several individuals have wanted Quentin to do a post on the blog. Now that he has done some traveling, it seemed a good time to let him discuss his take on things:


Yesterday morning, my human loaded me into a carrier when it was still dark. As usual, I make sure he wakes up very early, although last night he tossed and turned and kept me awake a bit! It was sure cold when he loaded me into the big carrier in his jeep. He told me that we were going on "a trip." I didn't like being in the large carrier very much and made sure he knew that! He's a well trained human and figured out a new arrangement. A leash allowed me to roam around the car without the fear that I might leap out at stops.

This seemed to work out pretty well. I got to snooze in the back for a while. Sometimes, I ate and drank out of bowls on the top of the carrier, allowing me to snack while watching the scenery go by. Humans say this is like having something called a dining car. There was one really good stop where I got to watch birds eating seeds in the parking lot.

Many humans wondered how I, as a cat, did as a traveler. Have to say that I didn't mind it. It was fun to see new scenery such as when canyons race by out the window. Those winds out in what humans seem to call "the Panhandle" were a little scary but wow, those tumbleweeds were fun to watch. Sometimes I just wanted to snuggle up to my human and remind him of my presence. He's pretty good to me even if his choice of radio stations seems to hurt my ears sometimes.

All told, I think I might just start to like this travel thing.

"Mr. Q"

Varieties of local history

It's been a while since I had a chance to even update the blog. It also gave you all a chance to read up on "Mr. Q." October is conference season as well a the crunch time for local events. Given the climate of the Midwest, almost everything local that isn't holiday-related is crammed into 6-8 weeks in the spring and 6-8 weeks in the fall.

First there was the Kansas Humanities Council meeting in McPherson, KS. Although Belli Brothers is no longer a fixture with its joint model train and music store, McPherson is still a great place to visit.

Following that I attended the National Trust for Historic Preservation conference in Tulsa. Lots ot great sessions, especially about modern architecture. There was even a session about the preservation of the Tulsa neighorbood of Lortondale. Route 66, Art Deco Architecture, Jamil's Steakhouse, and other features make that city a great place to visit. A freeway system that makes absolutely no sense and confusing signage, but otherwise a good place to visit. Then the conference got to visit Greenwood, the African American neighborhood that was attacked in 1921 and the sight of one of the nation's worst race riots. My tour even got to listen to a survivor of the event, who was 4 at the time and remembered fleeing his home before the house got looted and burned. It is a story that Tulsa is just now starting to come to terms with. It even put a discordant note on the rest of the city: one wonders how many of those great Art Deco buildings along Route 66 had builders and occupants who took part in that race riot.

Then there was the Kansas Museums Association in Manhattan, KS. A good conference as well. They really pulled out all the stops for us there.

Then, last week, I was part of the centennial ceremony of the Harper County courthouse in Anthony, KS. It was sure brisk that morning but a good event. That afternoon, I got to be in the parade as one of the "dignitaries" at the morning's event. Sitting in the seat of a 1923 Ford model T, I got to participate in one of the ultimate of small town traditions: a main street parade. Talk about Americana.

The following day, I helped out at Temple Emanu-El's major community feed: deli days. Good as ever. This time, they made, in my opinion, the wise choice to have bagels and lox instead of chopped liver.

Now that the events are over, I "just" my my regular stuff to do such as teaching, work on the 1950s church article, and now a new project: a photo history of the Lebanese community of Wichita. Lots to do. Maybe I'll have Quentin update the blog from time to time.

Stay tuned!

The Arrival of Hurricane Quentin

At the surrender at the Battle of Yorktown, the band played "The World Turned Upside Down." That has been my theme this week with the arrival of a new kitten. Sunday morning, I was going to breakfast and met a woman who was taking a walk and found a kitten following her. The little one was, well, just too cute to say no. 15 years of catless existence ended Sunday night, when I got home from a local history event in Ivanpah, Kansas (more on that in a later post).

How can such a little thing transform a life so completely so fast? Old items (collected golf balls, promotional foam items, and empty film cannisters) that I didn't know what to do with now become cat toys. I am getting used to doing things one-handed, since the other one is usually holding a cat toy on a string. Let's just say grading is a challenge since moving pens are now VERY interesting items. I have made the transition: when I am out of the house, I no longer worry just about whether the kitten is okay. I now also worry about whether the apartment and its contents are okay.

I also found naming a challenge. Cats have, it seems, multiple names. Several nicknames are event specific such as "Velcro." Officially, he has a title: Lord Ivanpaw (after the little community I visited the day I got him). Then there are the actual names I have gone through. Just when I thought I had THE name, it didn't seem to fit the next day. Some are great cat names, like Hiram, Macintosh, or Murdock, but they just weren't HIS name. I had to come up with something for the vet records and selected "Winston," which I felt was close but not quite right. That evening, though, "Winston" morphed into "Quentin." Quentin has become his name and this is the name that has stuck and feels right. Hey, if it was good enough for Teddy Roosevelt's son, it's good enough for a ten-week old kitten. It even adapts nicely to the old Roman naming system: Felis Pretinus Quintus (the cat, of the Price family, called Quentin). Of course, for the next several months, he'll probably assume his name is "No!" or "Stop!"

Regardless, the road worrier has a new fellow traveler, who, in time, I suspect will be making his own observations on Kansas life.

Now Them's Good Eatin'

Being a road worrier requires nourishment along the way. Fortunately, this country is very lucky to have lots of good restaurants to select. While on my last road trip to NM, a couple of places became new favorites.

In Guymon, OK, Naifeh's is a steakhouse run by a Lebanese family. Turns out one member of the family has Wichita connections! Nothing like food to make ties across state boundaries. In Las Vegas, NM, there is the "Spic and Span." Good Mexican food with a little kick to the chile. Forget healthy. We're talking'big portions and eclairs the size of dinner plates. Reinforces my firm belief that gluttony is the best of the seven deadly sins--followed closely by sloth.

For something completely unique, in Santa Fe, there is a chocolate place called "Kakawa" that specializes in historic and even prehistoric chocolate recipes. It is a surprise to many that chocolate began, not as a food, but as a drink. The earliest reciples include a beverage called "Aztec Warrior," a bitter drink (pure chocolate has a very bitter flavor and is not sweet at all) laced with hot chile. I settled for the "atole" with cornmeal as an ingredient, a resulting concoction that tasted a little like malted milk. Check out http://www.kakawachocolates.com/ for more info.

In Ashland, Kansas, there is the Hardesty House, an old hotel that also offers steaks. The smothered steak is a good option here. Another great attraction to this location, by the way, is the building itself. It is one of the few of the old hotels that still has massive clerestory windows in the interior walls, a holdover from the days when buildings did not have lights in every room or air conditioning and clerestories were common features for lighting and ventilation. The Kansas to New Mexico run has other options, too, such as El Charro in Dodge City, the Eklund Hotel in Clayton, and the Brown Hotel and Cafe in Springer.

There are some distinct features that keep cropping up. Mexican food is one. Sadly, my goal of eating at a Mexican restaurant that openly proclaims serving "inauthentic" Mexican food remains unfulfulled. "Authentic" Mexican food is your only option, if you believe the signs and the menus. Beef is another feature. If you like steak, you can see and smell your future supper walking around as you drive by. Out here, chicken IS the vegetarian option. Dessert is important and the fruit pie has an important role in preventing scurvy since fruits and vegetables may be rather rare commodities on the dinner plate.

A lot of foodways on the western high plans still have traces of the 1950s in their preparation: a heavy reliance on pre-prepared things. The idea that there are other lettuces than iceberg and other dressings besides ranch and thousand island has yet to reach this part of the country. Still, if you want a blast from the past, you can't beat the high plains for heritage eating.

A dusty drive down memory lane

Things have been quiet here with the Road Worrier for the past few weeks but recently, some new adventures have cropped up. Last week, after visiting the Flint Hills with my friend and colleague Cheryl Unruh (check out her http://www.flyoverpeople.net/ for that story), I headed back to New Mexico. Today, my dad and I got a chance to visit some land, including an old ranch house, that the family once owned. The ranch was a vacation house where we spent a lot of weekends during my early years. I had not quite realized how much that little ranch had shaped me during my growing up. I sorta knew it then but now really can see how much my appreciation of the NM landscape came from those times out there. This was a place with electricity but no running water. We had to use an outhouse but at night we listened to the local Spanish stations from Las Vegas NM on the radio (no TV reception either). In these years of the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were no cell phones to annoy, no satellite TV with 300 channels and no wii game sticks to distract us. It was quiet and relaxing--the occasional chore notwithstanding.

Going back now decades later, it is amazing how much has changed and how little has changed.

The area was and is very remote. It is a place where, as my dad says, you want to drive on the upper half of the tank (your gas tank over half full) since there aren't a lot of facilities for the motorist out here. The roads are dirt out here. Little twists and turns that I had long forgotten. The earth is a lot more reddish than I remembered. The desert plants have a spicy smell. Some of the old adobes are now in ruins. Even took a picture in one old home of the remains of a chair in a room.

Other families have brought in mobile homes. Prefab to the rescue when maintaining adobe is too much, I guess. I am glad I made it back there.

Expanding horizons

Last night as I drove back to Wichita from visiting a colleague in Manhattan, KS, I drove through the Flint Hills and took some photos of the school at the Tallgrass Prairie Nature Preserve school at sunset. As I did, it occurred to me that it is pretty hard NOT to take a cool photo of the Flint Hills at sunset. The setting lends itself to great shots. On the rest of the drive back, I mulled over the idea of a new type of photo contest for Kansas. Its defining feature would be what was not allowed in terms of subject. The point is not that said subjects are not valuable or important. Rather, it would be to get us to think about Kansas in a way that got beyond the familiar, even cliche images that show up on photo contests and state fair exhibitions. In some ways, it is too easy to fall back on these topics. What else in Kansas is worthy of documenting? So...here are some ideas of things that would NOT be permitted in this alternative Kansas photo competition:

The Flint Hills and Konza Prairie.
Monument Rocks and Castle Rock
Abandoned farmhouses, one room schools, country churches, court houses
Cows, bison, and horses
Trains and railroad stations
Windmills, barns, and grain elevators
Sunsets, approaching storms, and tornadoes
Panoramas of fields, either bare or with crops
Sunflowers, post rock fences and barbed wire
Children and senior citizens (however they may be in the background of scenes provided people of other generations are also present)
Patriotic imagery
Cowboys
Traditional artistic images (Madonna of the Plains, Cathedral of the Plains, Keeper of the Plains, the John Brown Scene in the Capitol, etc. As a general rule of thumb, if it has the phrase "of the plains" in the name, it is probably off limits.)

You are probably saying by now "hey, what CAN I photograph?"

Now, you've got the idea!

Homeward bound...and determined

Well, fellow travelers, last week was the final dash of the trip. Sunday, got up early again (having a room facing east where the rising sun hits you in the face helps that process). Headed into PA to see the Ephrata Cloister, sorta a German-based version of the Shakers, and then on to Intercourse to see the Amish Country. It was, well, an experience. Am sure the locals really don't care much for "English" like me coming in and traipsing around. The stores tend to be Mennnonite-run tho' imagine my surprise when it turned out that "Nancy's Quilt Shop" had Chinese immigrants behind the counter.

Monday was Decoration Day (today we call this Memorial Day) and got to spend it, in all places, Gettysburg. The battlefield was something. A lot happened there so it got kinda confusing. The best image was that of Confederate reenactors outside a store selling Civil War souvenirs with an African American woman talking to her friend on the street. Talk about exploding with irony. While touring, went past Eisenhower's farm--he bought land next to the battlefield and considered that, in many ways, his homestead. So much for those Kansan ties. Not like Truman and Independence. Drove across PA to Sandusky OH for the night. Saw the sunset over Lake Erie.

Tuesday was Heritage Quest. Drove across Michigan, where my family is from. Entered into Monroe County, which is French Canadian in ancestry and one side of my family has been there since the 1700s. Even the street names are family names: Nadeau, Cousino, Navarre. Saw the little (and I do mean little) town of La Salle where my grandmother grew up. Then to Haslett, which is outside of Lansing, where my grandfather grew up, my mother lived as a small child, and ironically, where my dad lived as a teenager. Went to the old Marsh family homestead and knocked on the door, not sure who would answer. Turned out the family who lived there knew my family very well. Got to see the home and the landmarks that I had heard about for so long: the enclosed porch, the garden in back with the lilacs, the hill down to the swamp and the rr tracks with Lake Lansing and Hickory Island beyond. All my life I had heard of these places and they sounded so far apart. They're not. The whole area is smaller than College Hill. Michigan as a whole is flat with lots of lakes, swamps, marshes, etc. I seem to be a descendant of the swamp people.

Then to Holland, Michigan to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins. We toured around and went up to Muskegon, where the Prices are from. Saw the Price home, the synagogue where some of the family attended, and other landmarks. Let's just say a lot of the area is now a "transitional" neighborhood and it was good to have visited it in the daytime. Back in Holland, the Dutch heritage is still highly prized, with the folksyness we see, for example, in Lindsborg KS with the Swedes. One wonders how Holland's Chamber of Commerce would treat a discussion of modern Holland which, in addition to windmills and tulips, is just as known for its red light districts, hash bars, gay marriage, and mosques.

The following day, I took the ferry across Lake Michigan from Muskegon to Milwaukee. After a slight mix up on schedules (note for the future: double check the sailing times as the company as I made a reservation for what I thought was Thursday and they thought was Wednesday). Minor glitch but got on board and headed across. About a 2.5 hour ride across. They even show movies on the boat.

The next day after that, it was Frank Lloyd Wright-apalooza. Saw his Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, the Unitarian Church in Madison (as well as the now completed Monona Terrace), then to Taliesin and southern Wisconsin. I saw lots of the prairie style but not much prairie. Lots of forested hills with broad river valleys but little that looked like what I would think of as the tree/grasslands combo that we call prairie here in KS. Ended up at Effigy Mounds National Monument on the IA/WI border.

Yesterday was the last day of the trip. A mad dash across Iowa from outside Dubuque to Cedar Rapids (to view, among other things, the "Mother Mosque of America") through Des Moines and to Madison County. Yes, I saw the bridges. There are about six of them and I visited 3. They are quaint from a distance but the social history side of things comes from reading the graffiti that literally covers the interiors of the bridges from end to end. After that, headed on down to Kansas City where I had supper on the plaza. Then, it was into Kansas and down through the Flint Hills into a gorgeous KS sunset. Kansas was welcoming me back home again. Got in about 10:30 last night. Researchapalooza is over. I survived. I think.

Am still processing things. What a time! Am not so much thinking of the trip as ending as much as a new phase of research and study will begin. Will keep you posted!