Kansas....Kansas....Kansas....
 

This has been a very sad month for me. My mom's funeral was on the first Saturday this month. And this Saturday, the last Saturday of month, I'm going to leave at 5AM for a funeral that starts at 10AM in North Central Kansas in a little town called Jewell, KS. I've never been there before. My good pal Mr. Doggity -who I've often mentioned here on the CP- his father in law passed at the age of 93 in Jewell. His wife grew up on the Edwards family farm there. The farm has been in the Edwards family since before the Civil War. It's a 250 mile drive from KC. Basically like driving from KC to St. Louis. It's gonna be hot coming home, 100 degree day expected. But Mr. Doggity is family to me, so I need to represent. I'm driving solo, and coming home I'll go through Clay Center and Manhattan. Any of you K-State guys or Kansas natives have any tips for a good ole Mizzou Tiger to survive driving alone across the Kansas Prairie? Any places I should stop for a bite or a cold one? Thanks. I still love me a good funeral.

Tip: Monster energy
Tip: Audio book
Tip: Waze
Tip: Drive very fast in unpopulated areas
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I grew up in Clay Center. My advice is keep driving and don't stop. Also don't speed through Beloit. The Big Ball of Twine in Cawker City is a nice place to stop and stretch your legs, but that is about it.

Air Conditioning won't get enough for you.

Mancrappin has a decent brewery or two. You driving over on Hwy 36?

Cawker City is 45 miles further west and south of Jewell. That's way out of the way.

Manhattan would probably be your best bet for food and a beer. There's really not much worth visiting between Manhattan and Jewell. Manhattan has some good eats, depending on what you're hungry for.

fixed

I haven't been up there a hell of a lot, but yeah, Manhattan is it. If I can get ahold of my buddy that does extension for KSU I'll ask him if there are any decent places along that road.

Don't do hog wild, you'll be disappointed given what you are accustomed to.

I'd meet a guy in Colby or Oakley and visit.

Cox Bros in Manhattan has good bbq. There's a few places in Aggieville that serve really good food, Keltic Star is good Irish food if you like that. Tall Grass Brewery and Little Apple Brewery are pretty popular around here. I don't do beer so I'm no help on that. If you need radio Jack FM is 98.5 here.

Id take I 70 to K177 and catch 24 hwy in Manhattan all the way to K 14 and into Jewel it will also take you through Clay Center. Its your shortest fastest route but you have the I 70 toll.

Also if you're on US Highway 24 make sure and go the speed limit in all the little towns.

What is it with Kansans and cawk/cox?

Drive at night keep your car from over heating.

Safe travels and prayers for a tough month'





Be sure to stop by the worlds largest ball of twine i think it's in Cawker Ctiy Edit:it's been mentioned.
It's also the worlds largest ball of twine that's been pissed on.

This.

If you do travel highway 24, between Manhattan and Clay Center is a town called Leonardville. Jordy Nelson is from there. His folks run a restaurant called Nelson's Landing. About a half of a block north of highway 24 on the west side of the street. Good eating!

If you travel highway 36, near Jewell is a town called Mankato. The Buffalo Roam used to be a great place to eat. Haven't eaten there in years though. Marysville has a place called The Wagon Wheel. It's a block south of highway 36 on the west side of town. Good food. 6 miles east of Marysville is Home City. Bar called Haps. It's also a block south of highway 36. Good eating too!

There's a big hayfield up near Buxton...One in particular. It's got a long rock wall, a big oak tree at the north end. It's like something out of a Robert Frost poem. It's where I asked my wife to marry me. We went there for a picnic and made love under that oak and I asked and she said yes. Promise me, George. If you ever get out of Aggieville, find that spot. In the base of that wall, you'll find a rock that has no earthly business in a Kansas hayfield. A piece of black, volcanic glass. There's something buried under it I want you to have.

Fine he can go to Lebanon KS, the geographical center of the lower 48. And yes Leonardville Landing would be a great place to eat. I also used to frequent Riley Cafe, not sure if it is still around.

I graduated high school in Mankato. The Buffalo Roam isn't near what it used to be. Pretty epic about 25 years ago though, it would draw an impressive crowd. Especially the first Saturday of the month which was seafood buffet night. Pretty good seafood for BFE, KS.

Agree on The Wagon Wheel in Marysville though. I've eaten there many times, good stuff.

Interesting. I graduated from Scandia. Before Pike Valley existed.

Yeah, we played Pike Valley quite a bit in high school. Kicked their ass repeatedly in football during my playing time. :D Well after the Scandia/Courtland consolidation.

Funny tangent on that, check out the whiskey mug I'm drinking out of at this very moment. How about that... circa Courtland Fun Day 1999...

https://i.imgur.com/xrt6uKX.jpg

Courtland Fun Day! Those were good times! Had a pretty good collection of mugs myself at one time. I don't think I even have one around anymore. Haven't been over to it in years either. Priorities change I guess.

My employee and I stopped in Little Apple Brewing Company for lunch a couple of years ago. I didn't get to try the beer as I was driving but he is a craft beer enthusiast like myself and he said it was good. Food was decent from what I remember.

If it's $500 and a Trailways Bus ticket to Ft. Hancock, TX, I'm so there!

Thanks for all the wonderful advice fellas. I think I'll skip the giant ball of twine, that's a little out of my way. I'll probably go the fast way on the way out: I-70, then up to Manhattan then across west to Jewel. On the way back I may take 36 back to St. Joe then down I-29 just for a change of scenery. I have to leave around 5AM to make a 10AM funeral start at the church in Jewel. Then I think what I'll do is hang out until around 4pm with Doggity's family, then head back on US 36. The sun will be behind me, and as long as I get home sometime Saturday night, it's all good. I understand not wanting to drive in oppressive heat. Should be tolerable in the morning, but it's gonna be hella-HOT on the drive home until sundown, so not much working around that. Understand not speeding through little towns. My wife's family is from a town Northeast of Manhattan called Frankfort that's on Kansas 99 and about 10 miles south of US 36. I've been to Maryville a few times. Seen the black squirrels! US 36 is the first leg west of the Pony Express route out of St. Joe. Pretty cool history, if you're into that kind of thing. I'm going to start putting together some road music for the trip. What songs would you say are essential to doing a funeral roadie across rural Kansas?

He's a Raider. Don't think I'll be stopping there.

Ride on - AC/DC

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Deepest sympathies. Kansas is a dreadful place ousdie of KC area, and Lawrence. I'd rather live on the moon.

Hey now, are you forgetting about Wichita???

LOL, no, you certainly aren't.

Oh, nobody could forget about that....place.

Carry on wayward GeorgeBlowfish
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreamin', I can hear them say
Carry on wayward GeorgeBlowfish
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say
Carry on wayward GerogeBlowfish
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you
Carry on wayward GeorgeBlowfish
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Fair enough. Really cool place though. Haps in Home City is close to Frankfort. You won't be disappointed in the food. From the outside though, it's a run down looking place. Give it a try!

Not even sure there is a sign on the front that says Haps. But Downtown Home City is only a block long. East end. South side.

No love for Jon McGraw?

I always hated cutting through all the little towns. I didn't take the time to compare it on a map, but would it be any better just taking 70 out to Salina, then up through Concordia and over? Would be a few more miles when 70 starts to dip south slightly, but it might be a lot less stop/start driving too.

Salina has a Bogey's which is a decent burger joint. Not sure if its still open, haven't been down there in over a year.

EDIT: nevermind, wasn't even paying attention to the timeline.

Thanks fellas. Car is gassed up, got a cooler full of coke zero and water and a flask of Crown in case I need a bracer!

Loaded up a thumb drive full of road tunes, so I'm ready to rock it across Kansas.

This sign has been on the front door of City Hall in Jewell all week. He was a big man in a small town.

He was looking for a bar/restaurant. Nelson's Landing is a good one that just happens to be owned by Jordy's family.

Have a safe trip George.

This morning I got up at 5am and went to Jewell. My pals Mr. Doggity and his wife Cheryl lost Cheryl's dad John at 93 years old. I think I met him at their wedding years ago, but never really knew him. I learned a lot about him today. Mr. Doggity gave the family eulogy, and did a great job. I know how hard that is to do, because I had to do it myself a month ago. There were around 80 people there at the Church during grain harvest season. It's hard to get farmers to show up for anything when there's work to be done, but many of the town folk showed up. I saw the sun come up in my rear view mirror around Lawrence, KS, and drove through a driving rainstorm just outside Lawrence on the way home. In between I saw a lot of cool stuff: I passed three extremely long trucks carrying rotor blades for a new wind electric turbine somewhere in Kansas. I saw four combines parked in a circle like covered wagons with a pickup truck in the center as farmers ate their lunch off the tailgate, no shade, on a 100 degree day. I got lost in a five mile long cornfield because KDOT was laying oil down on the highway and I didn't want to get oil all over my car. I eventually got past the oil and back to the highway. I met John's best friend, a 93 year old guy in a wheelchair who literally helped build the church we were worshiping in. I met Cheryl's family, and everyone was so nice and kind it was unbelievable. Kansas is a very, very big place. I got home and took a three hour nap after a 500 mile round trip.
Things I learned about John, the departed man of honor. He lived his whole life in Jewell, except for his time in the Army. He was the youngest of four brothers, one was killed in WWII in the Pacific. He loved big band music and kitties, and was married for 66 years before losing his wife Rosalie a couple years ago. He sang in the church choir, and often was asked to sing at weddings and funerals in Jewell at the church. His farm has been in the family since right after the Civil War. He owned an Allis-Chalmers Gleaner combine. I once worked building Gleaner Combines in Independence when I was young. John was a Mason. A bunch of his Mason buddies showed up and did a Mason ceremony as part of the funeral. He was a gentle soul, genuinely nice guy, and lived a long full life on his farm. I took a few pictures, I'll attach them. Thanks for all the travel tips. I did end up in Jordy Nelson's family bar! Pictures: Sign in front of the church. Trinity UMC Jewell Inside. Tank in the park at Clay Center, KS. Nelson's Landing Bar in Leonardville, KS, Jon McGraw autographed Chiefs jersey on the wall inside the bar.

It sounds like you really enjoyed your trip to North Central Kansas, which is my little corner of the world. For as much as people bash on Kansas, it really is a pretty good place to live. I hope you enjoyed your stop at Nelson's Landing.

When I went out, I went I-70 to Salina, then North on US 82 to Concordia, US 24 to Beloit then KS-14 to Jewell. I was hauling ass. I went KC to Topeka in about an hour 15 mins, because you can do 85 on I-70 at 6AM on a Saturday. Ft. Riley is HUGE. There's a bunch of helicopters parked right next to I-70, and the fort runs for miles to the North. Stopped in Junction City at the slowest McDonalds in the world. Salina's civic center is named after Tony's Frozen Pizza...who knew? And it seems like there's a lot of Kansans who became astronauts. Hey, I know lots of kids growing up want to get the Hell out of Kansas, but outer space it taking it to the extreme. US 24 Highway runs just a few blocks north of my house in Independence. The highway runs from Pueblo, CO to Detroit, MI. It was pretty cool to be cruising down a stretch of US 24 out in the middle of nowhere Kansas and know that road would lead me right back to my front door :) On the way back I had all day to get home. Subie was running fine in the heat, no issues, so I took US 24 all the way back to Topeka, then picked up the KTA there. Nice drive, and that's how I ended up at Nelson's Landing. Thanks to you guys for the tips. Every once in awhile, its great to fill the car up, hop in and take off... and go faster miles an hour!

Here's the bar inside Nelson's Landing. Note the Chiefs helmet hanging under the K-State sign. No KU stuff anywhere, but now that Jordy signed with the Faid, there's Raider stuff all over the joint. That really sucks, but it is what it is.

Maybe you can do a rendition of ten things about Kansas trip?



Less than a month away for training camp but we need our fix.

Every summer I think about whether or not I want to do keep doing "Ten Things." Most of you guys are over-informed already because of all the different social media that follow the Chiefs, not sure what I have to say is relevant or adds anything of value any more. And it seems like as each year goes by, more trolls and sharp shooters like to give me a rash of shit in the threads. Guess that's just the cyberworld now. Usually I make up my mind during Pre-Season. We'll see. It should be fun with Mahomes barring injury.