I only did this once. On a lonely west Texas highway, where the flat boredom is punctuated by a battle between oil wells and windmills, we came upon a left lane hog in a nondescript sedan with heavily tinted windows. … Read More
Despite Sheridan, Bison making comeback
General Philip Sheridan’s statue stands on the New York state capitol grounds. Why do we honor this man who orchestrated the systematic genocide of the millions of bison on the American plains? Missouri’s Highway 13 cuts through a rogue’s gallery … Read More
Back Door Branson
It bothered him like a gnat, the red dot on his chest. He knew it wasn’t a rash because the dot danced in a tight circle on the outside of his grimy wife-beater undershirt. He tried a few times to … 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
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