“Would you go down Rocky Falls in that?” He pointed to a submarine in the yard at River’s Edge Resort. “Not on your life,” I laughed. “Although today there might be enough water.” Earlier that morning, we had hoped to … Read More
Dance Like Nobody…
Who’s watching this guy dance? Critics…otherwise known as potential mates. Yeah, the competition is fierce. This competition has been going on since way before Dancing With the Stars. And probably longer than 5,000 years. But if America’s got talent, … Read More
Best Show This Side of the Bolshoi
It’s not just the prairie chickens. Yeah, they dance big. But so do the prairie grasses, whose roots run deep in this community. And the prairie flowers, whose seeds can survive wildfire. The prairie is a salad bowl for buffalo, … Read More
Retirement Reversal
He said, John, in your life, there won’t be 10 people that you can really count on. That may be true for most of us. But he was a teacher. And one of his most important lessons wasn’t something from … Read More
Dogbutt on the City of New Orleans
Dogbutt reminded me about the time we drove to Centralia, Illinois, and jumped aboard the City of New Orleans, headed south. At Memphis, a fraternity joined the trip and settled in the club car for a night of partyin’ and … Read More
Rafting the Mississippi
It isn’t a big raft. In terms of cubits, it’s a two-by-four. But it has a big back yard, a mile wide and 1800 miles long. And it became the summer palace for a big thinker who has no … Read More
Save the Planet
These regal creatures once numbered a billion, back when Edgar Winter first sang “Save the Planet.” Now their numbers are down to 30 million. Damn, Edgar, is anybody listening?
Bringing the Backroads to the Classroom
Just spoke to 70 fourth graders. Captured their attention with my prairie chicken dance. We talked about finding wild Missouri. Their eyes got even wider when I told them about joining a producer from Saturday Night Live to raft the … Read More
World’s Greatest Dog
The world’s greatest dog? I had a while to think about it, sitting at Mizzou’s veterinary hospital. Our dog Baskin was ill with life-threatening symptoms that propelled us to this hospital. There we sat, among other needy dogs and their … Read More
Turkey. Squirrel. Me.
Deep in the woods, Turkey Camp is the perfect venue to hunt turkey. But the turkeys are safe, mostly. The closest most camper-hunters get to birds happens when folks take a pull on the fifth of Wild Turkey that passes … Read More