If there should prove to be one real, living Free State Democrat in Kansas, I suggest that it might be well to catch him and stuff and preserve his skin as an interesting specimen of that soon-to-be-extinct variety of the genus Democrat.
— Abraham Lincoln
Sometimes, when I visit my family in Kansas, that’s what I feel like — a soon-to-be-extinct Democrat. The state — and my family — are Trump supporters. But I love ’em, and the first stop on my June 2019 road trip is Ulysses, in the southwest corner of Western Kansas, where sister Shirley and brother Gary live.
Kansas — at least Western Kansas — is flat, flat, flat and nary a tree in sight.
Occasional visual relief . . . Tall white granaries that signal a small town ahead . . . Irrigation systems that resemble giant insects from an alien planet . . . Wind turbines that harness the fierce winds that blow across the plains. Sometimes, when the wind blows in the wrong direction, I get a whiff of a feedlot. Makes me rethink that bacon cheeseburger I planned to have tonight.
Ulysses, Kansas, Population 6,000, Elevation 3,051 feet.
As I neared Ulysses, my sister texted me there was a thunderstorm in progress. I could see the black sky up ahead so I stopped in Holly, Colorado, 20 miles from the Kansas state line, and looked for an alternate route.
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