On the road: Exit 216 on I-70 in Kansas, the Vesper exit. 216 miles east of the Colorado line, 206 miles west of Missouri; right smack dab in the middle of Kansas. I first stopped there forty or so years ago, because they had a Stuckeys gas station there and I was ready for a break. As I trickled fuel into the tank I looked around, and in all that rolling plains, I didnt see a single man-made thing except the interstate and a few fences. No houses, barns, silos, none of that. Just almost level country rolling to the horizon in every direction and the huge, big sky. This was the most desolate place on the Great Plains I had ever seen. Exit 216, Vesper, has changed. The Stuckeys is gone. Only the framework of the building is left and the shards of the gas pump. In every direction are giant windmills, killing hawks and eagles as they capture the wind for electricity at double or triple the powerplant rates. Kill an eagle for Obama. Get screwed on your electric bill. But I digress. I have been driving I-70 in Kansas back and forth for about forty years (yes, Im an old fart). Stuckeys, with their little filling stations/candy shops out in the middle of nowhere, have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Now you stop at the little towns for gas, fast food, cheap motels, maybe, if youre lucky, a mexican joint that serves liquor. I liked it better 40 years ago.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:02:46 +0000