Crossroads

  It was 10:00 p.m. My car, thirsty for petrol, urged me to exit the interstate and find fuel. Just ahead, Kingdom City waited with the tools to fill my tank. And my stomach. Kingdom City isn’t really a city. … Read More

Greed, Pride, and the Lake of the Ozarks

Much of the development at the Lake of the Ozarks can be traced back to one event. Flash back to the late 1960s. In a move that forever changed the face and fortune of the lake, then-Governor Warren Hearnes entered … Read More

Hope and Change

Canton lured me back for an overnight, where I went to a free show at the college. A young comedian mesmerized the crowd with juggling and jokes, then the juggler asked the young lady sitting next to me to assist … Read More

Pony Bob

The arrow smashed into his jaw, knocking out five teeth. He kept riding. It was his second wound, delivered from his pursuers. He had jerked the first arrow out of his shoulder, and kept riding. Now Pony Bob’s mouth had … 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

Cuisine Along the Katy

Fresh cut flowers sprout from vases atop linen tablecloths. Real silver serves up the best fare this side of the Savoy. The attention to detail befits royalty.  In movies, mysteries and memories, the railroad dining car is the centerpiece to … Read More

Turtle

 Morning rush hour murders your nerves. Worse for turtles. I saw one the other day, stranded on the center line of a busy expressway. He was upside down, legs fully extended, grasping at the sky. His chances for survival were … Read More

Comeback in Harrison County

There used to be millions of ’em. Until General Joe Sheridan came along and slaughtered them all. His job was to move the native American tribes out of Missouri. So he killed off their major livelihood. Buffalo, he said, “are … Read More

There’s a reason it’s called Blue Spring.

Many floaters miss the stunning blue water of Blue Spring, even though it’s only a quarter mile from the Current River, an easy hike beside the spring’s rushing stream. The water’s vivid color comes from dissolved limestone suspended in this … Read More

Ride with the Devil

In new Pattonsburg’s Old Memories Café I found the best blue plate special this side of the senior center. In that café I found something else: murals commemorating Ride with the Devil, painted by Elanor McMahall. The murals are vivid … Read More