Colorado Bound, Day Two

We met in the breakfast area a few minutes after 6:00 AM for coffee and to wait until our breakfast was ready.  It was much better than normal hotel breakfast fare.  We actually got real eggs!  Not the plastic, rubbery kind that are dumped out of a milk carton.  After good food and a great night’s sleep, I’m ready for new adventures.  And Oh Happy Day, there's finally another person on board who has phone issues for which he can be harassed!

We had just pulled out of the hotel when Cal realized he didn't have his phone.  I knew I was still paranoid about my absentmindedness from a former trip when I surreptitiously checked my pockets to make sure I didn't have an extra phone hiding in one of them.  The bus turned around, we headed back so he could check the room he had stayed in.  I admit, some rather nervous thoughts ran through my head while he was gone.  "I'll NEVER live this down if somehow this is my fault."  "It's impossible that this is my fault!"  "If I find his phone in my stuff, I'll know I really am on the short track for senility."  "Maybe I really  am crazy and it's finally going to be confirmed."  "Please God let him find his phone!!"

People were jokingly suggesting searching my bags when Cal's wife Shirl started talking to him on her phone.  Several of us asked the obvious. "Did he find it?"  Well, probably since he's talking on it! I tried to hide how relieved I was even though it would have been pretty impossible for me to have gotten my hands on it.  And I'm pretty excited that I'm not the only one on this bus to mislay things.  But I probably shouldn't rule out therapy altogether.

Anna Mae read our devotional after we were on the bus.  And as soon as we got on the highway a thunderstorm broke loose and we crept through the downpour with the other vehicles brave enough to venture forth.

We drove past a 198 foot cross in Effingham, Illinois.  It claims to be the largest cross in America, a creative way to inspire the 50,000 motorists who pass each day.  Ten stones at the base are inscribed with the commandments given to Moses by the Almighty Himself.  John Herman Schultz was the man instrumental in erecting the cross and more info can be found at: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10913

Much of the day was spent just driving.  We crossed the mighty Mississippi, drove through St Louis, passed the Truman Sports Complex where the Kansas City Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs play, and eventually entered the state of Kansas.  The level fields of Illinois are like hills and dales compared to the flatlands of Kansas.  While I’m thankful for the breadbasket of America and the diligent farmers who sow and reap for us, I have to admit I would not be able to live in a place without the occasional hill.   

After checking into the Comfort Inn in Hutchinson we were met by our local tour guide, Leonard Yoder. He gave us much of interest to think about as the bus cruised up and down the streets, or should I say The STREET, of a quaint little village with the name of Yoder, after the first person who lived there.  Leonard handed out brochures showing the details of their annual Heritage Days celebration, and who should be on the cover other than one of our local bands from back in Ohio, Liberated.  In fact Paul has played guitar for them on occasion.  Leonard told us that the town of Yoder has about 60 people living there at present, “if you count all the dogs and cats” but that it swells to 10,000 during their Heritage Days festivities.  How they all fit, I have no idea.  Well, there are a lot of surrounding fields, come to think of it.

When the US Postal service tried to shut down the Yoder Post Office, they held a meeting to explain to the townspeople the whys and wherefores of their decision.  They figured around six people would show and set up chairs accordingly.  When two hundred people arrived in protest of the proposed shut-down, it created such a kerfuffle among the postal authorities that they agreed to keep the doors open for half-days, a compromise that prevented all-out civil unrest among the outraged locals and peace returned to the community once again.

We rode up and down more roads, each one as straight as an arrow and looking exactly like all the others. Massive grain silos dot the horizon.  Train tracks criss-cross everywhere. The longest grain elevator in the country supposedly resides just outside Hutchinson, although there are claims of one slightly longer in Wichita. Kansas.  Whether its length exceeds that of all others or not matters little; at a half-mile long, it is indeed impressive.  It holds 17 million bushels of grain and is owned by the Farmers CO-OP Commission.

Just across the field is a maximum security prison, inmates clearly visible behind the huge coils of barbed wire that line a chain link tunnel, separating their world from ours. How different are the lives of people who live mere yards apart!

We passed another local wonder, a salt mine that allows visitors to see the workings deep below the surface, 650 feet within the bowels of the earth.  Thankfully, we did not have time to see this for ourselves.  I prefer to stay above ground and am quite content tohear about such excursions second hand.  The mine is still producing large quantities of salt and is the only such mine in the western hemisphere that allows visitors below its surface at such great depths.  There are only two other underground salt museums in the world: one in Austria and one in Poland.  Another interesting bit of trivia:  Old films are stored in the mine because the zero humidity helps them to stay preserved.

Leonard showed us fields of corn, sorghum, soy beans, milo, wheat, hay, and a few other things.  The vast acreage cultivated and put to good use is staggering.  How blessed we are, in this great country! One field, on Leonard's own farm, held more large round bales of hay than I've ever seen in one place before.  He said they are all sold to a farmer in Missouri who has 2000 head of cattle and not enough food to feed them.

We ended up at the Amish Community Building where a local Amish lady, Mary Mast, prepared a delicious supper for us.  Several of our group knew people from the area and had arranged to meet up there, so as we were eating visitors began drifting in.  I have a niece from WV who married a fellow from Hutchinson and after living here several years they moved to NYC.  Talk about experiencing every spectrum of American culture!  From mountains to plains to the largest metropolis in the country!  I suspect the city suits them best after all.

With bellies full and drowsiness descending, we boarded the bus and headed back to our hotel.  We aren’t leaving tomorrow until after 8:00 so I’m excited at the prospect of sleeping in!  And tomorrow we hope to reach the mountains.  I’m ready!