The Heartland Tour or The Innards of America, Day 9
Writing by treason on Tuesday, 22 of August , 2006 at 10:44 pm
“…Some place where there isn’t any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It’s not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It’s far, far away — behind the moon…beyond the rain…”
I tend to look for signs. When we were approaching Dodge City earlier on our trip I looked out the window and saw an enormous rainbow over the plains. But then I saw Dodge City. Again, not to tarnish the fine city of Dodge, but it’s not a place I would want to call home.
T stopped in Colby, Kansas to run into a store. When he came out he handed me a postcard that has one word - Kansas - and nothing but sunflowers under a blue sky.
“Is this the one?”
“It is.”
On his first trip to Kansas he scoured the state for the perfect postcard because I told him all I wanted was for him to send me a postcard from Kansas. Simple as that. I checked the mailbox every day and never received the card he insisted he mailed. Because simple just isn’t all that…well, simple.
T felt he had to find just the right card. He finally did. He wrote the perfect message on it. He took the card to the front desk, bought a stamp, and asked that it be included in outgoing mail.
It had the perfect photo, the perfect message, and just the right amount of postage. What it didn’t have was my name and address.
It was five o’clock when we got into Colorado yesterday afternoon. I saw a sign that says: “Happiness is a crock of beans.” Food for thought.
In Kansas, Dorothy has a house in Liberal; in Colorado, there’s a river called the Republican. There’s something odd about that. It’s like when I told Todd that Missouri’s a blue state.
“Is not!”
“Is too. Very blue. Kansas is red.”
“But it doesn’t feel blue.”
“It’s blue.”
The plan was to spend the night in Limon. Put de Limon de coconut. I’m reminded of the scene in Field of Dreams when “Moonlight” Graham asks Ray Kinsella:
“And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true?”
Ray tells him that there is a place and he can take him there, but “Moonlight” tells him he can’t go. He just can’t leave Chisholm, Minnesota.
“This is my most special place in all the world. Once a place touches you like that, the wind never blows so cold again.”
Limon isn’t that place for me. All I could imagine was a voice asking:
“What form of Satan brought you to Limon?”
It’s no fault of the town, of course, but I’ll always remember that this was the place where I received the message about my friend back in Albuquerque.
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