On my birthday, I jumped on my bicycle and rode a long way, at turns laughing or lamenting my first 67 years…came home with a bucket list for my next 67, if nothing goes awry.
When The Circus Left Town
In 1933, the circus came to town. It stayed for a dozen years, or at least it rested in Rolla, where the Russell Brothers Circus plopped and hunkered for the winter. And each spring, the major three-ring extravaganza rehearsed in … Read More
Devil’s Real Estate
Devil’s Well is a big stomach, says one of America’s preeminent geologist-explorers. It’s Mother Nature’s idea of an indoor pool, except that it’s cold and dark and underground and scary as hell, hence the name. It is the world’s most … Read More
Prairie Spinner Leaves Missouri, Becomes Hurricane, then Returns
If the wind in this tightly wrapped cosmic comma were placed over warm water, it would have a name. Clouds swirl like pinwheel blades as the fast moving prairie low pulls outer bands into its vortex. Over water the storm … Read More
Barbecue Epiphany Leads to World Peace
The credit card machine kept disconnecting. I didn’t have cash, or my checkbook. “No problem,” said Perry Foster, “mail me a check.” Perry Foster’s Bar-B-Que embodied all that is good about humankind: Trust and harmony and world peace. Oh, and … Read More
Rays of Sunshine
It’s hard to overlook Ray’s Diner. On Broadway in downtown Excelsior Springs, Ray’s low-slung exterior shouts the words “Ray’s Famous HamburgerS” stretched across the diner’s face in mismatched hand lettered fonts over an awning that screams in candy cane … Read More
Worldly Courthouse
We took a series of concrete ribbons to New London to roam the Ralls County Courthouse. Built in 1861, its Greek temple look was adapted from the Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson. The courthouse cupola copies the belfry … Read More
A Root Beer Toast to Huck’s Home
I took solace up the hill where a giant water tower-sized root beer mug hovers over the Mark Twain Dinette. They serve giant tenderloins, too, and root beer floats, and Maid-Rite burgers and plenty of photos of the dinette’s namesake, … Read More
Mount Hopmore
The back entrance to Waynesville is guarded by Fort Leonard Wood. But the sentry along the east approach is the world’s greatest frog, if size means anything. Sure, to most observers it looks like a giant rock outcropping, but to … Read More
Life Cycles
She had a good run, this old tree, harboring ten thousand birds and squirrels. Now she’s barren, seems to clutch the sky in despair. But stop. And listen. She’s alive with the staccato sounds of woodpeckers who have rented her … Read More