Kansas

I had never been to Kansas before last weekend. Truthfully, I had never wanted to go to Kansas. Not that I had anything against Kansas; I mean, honestly, how could you even get worked up about a state like Kansas? Don’t get me wrong: I am not bashing Kansas (as a lifelong resident of Illinois, how could I even think about criticizing Kansas, anyway?).

It’s just that, in the whole scheme of Places I’d Like to Visit, even if I were to narrow it down to Places in the Midwestern United States (That Don’t Start with the Letter I) I’d Like to Visit, Kansas probably wouldn’t’ve even been in the Top 10.

And I have to admit, I was expecting the worst.

Well, not the worst. That would be Nebraska, the state which made my pal Patti say, “Oh, I wanna go THERE!” as she was looking at the Rand McNally road atlas. We were playing the states ’n’ capitals game whilst we were traveling to Fernandina Beach, Fla., back in 1989, and then Patti got a look at Nebraska, all of its roads going straight across or up-and-down, all parallel or perpendicular.

I was expecting much of the same from Kansas, and total flatness, but I was wrong.

I drove through a section of Kansas that had hills and grass and windmills and cows, and as I drove along, I could see for miles, in some places, and only the tops of the hills around me in other places. And a couple of times, I could see a road, ahead, in the distance ... only to realize it was the same road I was driving on, a few miles ahead.

As if I could see into the (slightly interrupted by hills) future ...

And on the drive back to Illinois, when I was still in Kansas and entering a town I don’t remember the name of, I looked to my right and saw corn fields. Just like the corn fields in Illinois ... only these corn fields, as the sun shone on them and the light hit the leaves on the corn stalks, were actually shining. Shimmering, like gold.

Honest to God: Gold.

It was amazing, and everyone in the van was asleep. And I couldn’t reach my camera, plus I couldn’t’ve taken a shot whilst driving, anyway, and it probably wouldn’t’ve turned out, but it was very cool.

I kept looking at the corn fields in Illinois today when I was driving home from Chicago, but no gold.