Saturday, May 2, 2009

Local bank building

Ness City.
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Public library

In Ness City.


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Roadside marker in Beeler

Recognizing the birthplace nearby of George Washington Carver.
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Old-fashioned variety store in Ness City

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Changing terrain

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Tractors ready for tipping

Lightening and Mater could not resist this temptation.
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Scott City to Ness City, KS

58 miles. It felt good to get moving again after being stalled by bad weather in Scott City. We left SC in a cold mist but it cleared off in less than an hour and - with the exception of a brief rain shower just before we finished - we stayed dry the rest of the way. Most importantly, the wind died down. While we had a slight head wind, it was not an issue. Nevertheless, we arrived wet and slightly chilled (the air temperature never got above 50 today). We were glad to learn the only motel in Ness City is still open.

Ness City is a bleak place that looks like it hasn't changed much in a hundred years. As I am writing this we are sitting in a laundromat trying to ignore the only other customer, a local character who obviously isn't playing with a full deck (among other things, he claimed to have been with a security branch of the military that "reported directly to the pentagon" and that the federal government recently allowed 150,000 Mexicans to cross the border into the U.S. knowing they were
contaminated with swine flu.) He doesn't seem bothered by the fact I am plainly bored as I drink my bottle of beer out of a (honest-to-God*) brown bag while we wait for our clothes to dry.

The landscape is beginning to change - the fields continue to look greener and the terrain is no longer as flat as a table top. The terrain is now undulating slightly and the road (Hwy 96) has begun to gently rise and fall between creek drainages. The farms, grain silos, etc. are closer together, so there is less a feeling of being many miles from civilization (although that is still pretty much the reality).

*The liquor laws in Kansas are bizarre. For example, a liquor store can sell you a bottle of beer (at a state-regulated price), but cannot sell or even give you a cup to drink it in.