“I’ll come see you if I can make it.” I knew what he meant. Dan was battling serious illness and the Grand Referee had granted him limited precious overtime. I didn’t expect to see him. But he showed up, game … Read More
Good Water Gone Bad
It’s the greatest water park in the world. A summer afternoon at Johnson’s Shut-Ins will make you forget about manmade water parks. That’s because it pushes humans through some of the most hair-raising chutes a body can stand without drowning. … Read More
St. Louis: birthplace of fast food, but…
The Gateway to the West doesn’t have stockyards like its western sisters Saint Joseph and Sedalia and Kansas City. Still, one prime Saint Louis cattle drive steers my tastebuds to Lindbergh Boulevard. Kreis’ Restaurant has been kicking steak house butt … Read More
Pegleg Shannon’s County
Shannon County is a synonym for wilderness, with a few small settlements scattered across the deep woods. It’s a great place to hide, or get lost. From border to border, as the Jacks Fork River slices across its face, Shannon … Read More
‘Til We Meet Again
“I met an old buddy of yours,” I told my uncle Dan. He received the news as I expected he would, since he lies six feet beneath the granite marker that bears the name Daniel W. Drake. There was a … Read More
Cut your cookie
Of all the Joplin icons—Langston Hughes, Bonnie and Clyde, Route 66—I never put mining on the list. But that’s how Joplin got its start back in 1873. I sought to uncover the boomtown you won’t see from the interstate, the … Read More
Boonslick
Drove into Howard County, which originally covered the entire northeast quadrant of the state. Missouri lawmakers eventually carved 29 Missouri counties from its sprawling flanks. But even the slimmed-down Howard County packs a history: The ubiquitous Boone Family. Trail enthusiast … Read More
Two Tom Cats, the Westminster Poets
They grew up a half block from each other. Two of the world’s greatest purveyors of felinity—one associated with New Orleans cats, the other with London cats—spent their wonder years on Westminster Street. Both left this street more than a … Read More
Van Gogh Dakota
Always wanted to drive through a Van Gogh painting. South Dakota may be as close as we get. Endless acres of sunflowers, blooms big as your head. Along a roadside papered with Wall Drug signs, two museum billboards stood close … Read More