It was different timing than my usual junkets to New Mexico. Because of some business in Madison, I got a late start and only made it to Marshalltown, Iowa that first evening.
I awoke to clouds and chilly temperatures, quite unlike a typical Iowa summer morning. Some folks were wearing long sleeves. But I opted to dress by the calendar. It could not stay cold all day.
After breakfast, I headed Southwest on U.S. 330 to Des Moines, then south on I-35 to Kansas City. Once into Kansas, it's west to Emporia and Kansas Route 50, then 150 to U.S. 56. Then it's west across the Flint Hills, a pale green this time of year, dotted with herds of grazing beef cattle.
Past the Flint Hills, it's flat land alternating between alfalfa and wheat stubbles, it being a month past the harvest season. Reaching McPherson, I skip my usual stop at that good coffee shop and press on to Great Bend where I stop at Dillon's Supermarket and their salad bar. It's a nod to healthful eating on the road.
The temperature remains in the low 70s, flirting with record lows here, as in much of the Midwest. Across this stretch in the past, I have experienced triple digit temperatures with strong hot dry winds. But this is pleasantly cool.
After Great Bend, U.S. 56 turns southwest along the route of the old Santa Fe Trail to Dodge City. I bypass Wyatt Earp Boulevard and continue southwest following the Cimarron cutoff of the old Santa Fe Trail. The sky is still cloudy but temperatures rise to high 70s.
I tune into High Plains Public Radio to catch the news. There is some interesting political squabbling going on in Kansas. I recall several years ago when traveling through Kansas there was much ado about Gov. Brownbeck's success in slashing Kansas state income taxes. The governor held that reduced taxes would make Kansas a magnet for new businesses rushing to take advantage of this "business friendly" climate. Kansas would enjoy an economic boom.
Not all Kansans were enthralled, worrying about reduced state aid to local school districts and reduced public services.
It's now over three years into Brownbeck's term and he is up for re-election this autumn. Guess what? There was no economic boom or rush of new businesses into Kansas. Revenues are way down and Kansas school districts are in deep trouble. Its credit rating has been reduced.
None of that should surprise anybody, except ideologues who insist, despite evidence to the contrary, that reduced taxes will necessarily attract business. Among other things, successful business people demand top flight public schools. What is surprising, however, is the extent of political fallout, especially reaction of Kansas Republicans.
More than 100 key Republican Kansas politicians and elected officials have endorsed the Democratic candidate for governor, Kansas House Minority Leader Paul Davis. This is huge - it would be as if key Wisconsin Republicans would openly endorse Assemblyman Peter Barca, or existing candidate, Mary Burke, over Gov. Scott Walker this autumn. And Kansas is an even redder state than Wisconsin
A Democratic governor for Kansas is not out of the question. Recall that President Obama's original Secretary of Helath and Human Services was Kathleen Sebelius, former Democratic governor of Kansas.
If Kansas is in trouble, so is Brownbeck. He desperately employed the curious strategy of inviting ultra rightwing Rick Santorum to Kansas to stump for him. That's weird - it's the moderates that Brownbeck needs to win over, not the ultra conservatives who are still in his camp.
So, stay tuned - Kansas politics are at least as interesting as Wisconsin's this year.
Once past Dodge City, I roll through the small crossroads towns of Ensign, Montezuma, Copeland, and Sublette, all with grain elevators on the right side of the highway, and small Main Streets of a block or so long off to the left.
It's late afternoon and it's been a long day. And besides, there is another matter to attend to. I normally write a draft of my column on Saturday or Sunday, and let it percolate for a couple of days before refining it and sending it off on Wednesday. Incidentally, that's good advice to students with term paper assignments - get something down on paper early. It doesn't matter how unorganized and incoherent the first draft is - just get some ideas down on paper, and then revise it as the deadline nears. That's far more efficient and effective than panic, and an all-nighter hours before it's due. But then, advice to students usually goes in one ear and out the other.
So it's Tuesday evening and no rough draft. I grab a motel in Satanta in the southwest corner of Kansas. I take a beer from my ice chest and crank out a draft of my July 18 column.
I hit the sack, and am unaware of the heavy rain outside. Next morning I revise the draft and send it off. I step outside and it's cloudy and unbelievably cold for this neck of the woods in July. I amble over to the nearby café.
The café is run by Spanish speakers. I ask the waitress if her name is "Maria." She replies that it is, and how did I know. I reply that I have unusual perceptive powers. I tell her that it's curious that Spanish speakers don't have huevos rancheros on the menu. Maria assures me that they have them - but not on the menu. Would I like them?
Indeed I would, with plenty of salsa, eggs sunny side up, and corn tortillas. When she brings them to me they look impressive. And they are nearly as good as those at the Pow Wow in Tucumcari.
It just goes to show that you never know the results you can get if you just ask the question.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
I awoke to clouds and chilly temperatures, quite unlike a typical Iowa summer morning. Some folks were wearing long sleeves. But I opted to dress by the calendar. It could not stay cold all day.
After breakfast, I headed Southwest on U.S. 330 to Des Moines, then south on I-35 to Kansas City. Once into Kansas, it's west to Emporia and Kansas Route 50, then 150 to U.S. 56. Then it's west across the Flint Hills, a pale green this time of year, dotted with herds of grazing beef cattle.
Past the Flint Hills, it's flat land alternating between alfalfa and wheat stubbles, it being a month past the harvest season. Reaching McPherson, I skip my usual stop at that good coffee shop and press on to Great Bend where I stop at Dillon's Supermarket and their salad bar. It's a nod to healthful eating on the road.
The temperature remains in the low 70s, flirting with record lows here, as in much of the Midwest. Across this stretch in the past, I have experienced triple digit temperatures with strong hot dry winds. But this is pleasantly cool.
After Great Bend, U.S. 56 turns southwest along the route of the old Santa Fe Trail to Dodge City. I bypass Wyatt Earp Boulevard and continue southwest following the Cimarron cutoff of the old Santa Fe Trail. The sky is still cloudy but temperatures rise to high 70s.
I tune into High Plains Public Radio to catch the news. There is some interesting political squabbling going on in Kansas. I recall several years ago when traveling through Kansas there was much ado about Gov. Brownbeck's success in slashing Kansas state income taxes. The governor held that reduced taxes would make Kansas a magnet for new businesses rushing to take advantage of this "business friendly" climate. Kansas would enjoy an economic boom.
Not all Kansans were enthralled, worrying about reduced state aid to local school districts and reduced public services.
It's now over three years into Brownbeck's term and he is up for re-election this autumn. Guess what? There was no economic boom or rush of new businesses into Kansas. Revenues are way down and Kansas school districts are in deep trouble. Its credit rating has been reduced.
None of that should surprise anybody, except ideologues who insist, despite evidence to the contrary, that reduced taxes will necessarily attract business. Among other things, successful business people demand top flight public schools. What is surprising, however, is the extent of political fallout, especially reaction of Kansas Republicans.
More than 100 key Republican Kansas politicians and elected officials have endorsed the Democratic candidate for governor, Kansas House Minority Leader Paul Davis. This is huge - it would be as if key Wisconsin Republicans would openly endorse Assemblyman Peter Barca, or existing candidate, Mary Burke, over Gov. Scott Walker this autumn. And Kansas is an even redder state than Wisconsin
A Democratic governor for Kansas is not out of the question. Recall that President Obama's original Secretary of Helath and Human Services was Kathleen Sebelius, former Democratic governor of Kansas.
If Kansas is in trouble, so is Brownbeck. He desperately employed the curious strategy of inviting ultra rightwing Rick Santorum to Kansas to stump for him. That's weird - it's the moderates that Brownbeck needs to win over, not the ultra conservatives who are still in his camp.
So, stay tuned - Kansas politics are at least as interesting as Wisconsin's this year.
Once past Dodge City, I roll through the small crossroads towns of Ensign, Montezuma, Copeland, and Sublette, all with grain elevators on the right side of the highway, and small Main Streets of a block or so long off to the left.
It's late afternoon and it's been a long day. And besides, there is another matter to attend to. I normally write a draft of my column on Saturday or Sunday, and let it percolate for a couple of days before refining it and sending it off on Wednesday. Incidentally, that's good advice to students with term paper assignments - get something down on paper early. It doesn't matter how unorganized and incoherent the first draft is - just get some ideas down on paper, and then revise it as the deadline nears. That's far more efficient and effective than panic, and an all-nighter hours before it's due. But then, advice to students usually goes in one ear and out the other.
So it's Tuesday evening and no rough draft. I grab a motel in Satanta in the southwest corner of Kansas. I take a beer from my ice chest and crank out a draft of my July 18 column.
I hit the sack, and am unaware of the heavy rain outside. Next morning I revise the draft and send it off. I step outside and it's cloudy and unbelievably cold for this neck of the woods in July. I amble over to the nearby café.
The café is run by Spanish speakers. I ask the waitress if her name is "Maria." She replies that it is, and how did I know. I reply that I have unusual perceptive powers. I tell her that it's curious that Spanish speakers don't have huevos rancheros on the menu. Maria assures me that they have them - but not on the menu. Would I like them?
Indeed I would, with plenty of salsa, eggs sunny side up, and corn tortillas. When she brings them to me they look impressive. And they are nearly as good as those at the Pow Wow in Tucumcari.
It just goes to show that you never know the results you can get if you just ask the question.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
