Inland, Dreaming of Waves

And she's off!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

One of my goals on this trip was to seem some of the tiny museums in Kansas, but I managed only one: the Prairie Museum of Arts and Culture in Colby, Kansas.

I tried to see the High Plains Museum in Goodland, but it was closed, because it was Sunday, or permanently, I couldn't tell. I did go see the giant copy of one of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, though. Here it is.

I also took pictures of some of the farming buildings in Goodland. I like their looks.

The Prairie Museum, I discovered, was both inside and outside. I also remembered, upon entering it, that I had been there before, though I couldn't remember when.

First I paid, then I toured the outside buildings, and then I sped through the collection in the main building. My favorite building was the schoolhouse. The desk could hold two people; so you couldn't sit alone. There was a large wood-burning stove. I wished it had been my schoolhouse. I also liked the house—it was nicely decorated. It had a display about rabbit drives. In the mid-1930s Kansas was plagued by hordes of black-tailed jackrabbits, so the town would hold hunting drives to keep the population down.

The 1930s were also the decade of the Dust Bowl and the beginning of the golden age of comics. Hey, maybe Superman would put the soil back together, eh?

The most impressive building was the Cooper Barn. I walked up to it and pulled the door out sharply, expecting it to open, but it didn't. Finally, after a lot of banging around, it occurred to me that the doors might slide, but when I tried to slide them, they didn't budge. I had to drag a staff member out with me to get them to open the doors, and she commented that it looked like part of the door had been broken. I wondered if I had broken it when I was trying to open it like a regular door. That would be so typically Beth.

It was very windy.

It was a Sunday, so the museum closed at 5. After I had my fill of the outside, I went into the Kuska Gallery, pausing to enjoy the way the building had been built into the land, almost like the sod house on the property, and to pet the hungry cat that I was not allowed to let in.

The gallery had all kinds of crap, or treasures, depending on your point of view. The woman who had collected most of it, Nellie McVey Kuska, was a local monument, and apparently pushy and a bit of a klepto. She had the most amazing collection of dolls. More black Barbies than I've ever seen, a few Japanese dolls, dolls with porcelain faces. It was overwhelming the 30 or so minutes I spent on it. It was also amazing.

Past Colby, I listened to KHAZ radio (The Haze) for a while and enjoyed the country sound. I meant to go to the Oil Patch Museum in Russell, and maybe another one, but didn't have time.

South of Russell, on my way to Cheyenne Bottoms and my campground, I passed tons and tons of similar oil rigs: blue with red heads. They were as beautiful as an oil rig can be, but I kept whizzing by them, thinking, "Should I take a picture?" Highway 281 is a really nice drive. I recommend it.

Now I'm sitting in an unimproved campground on NE 60 Road, north of Great Bend, KS. I wanted to get here before dark and bird at Cheyenne Bottoms, but I got here just as the sun was going down and set up my sleeping bag in the back of my truck. It wasn't cold when I arrived, but it's getting colder and slightly breezier by the minute. There are strange noises from the trees and bushes near the creek, or whatever it is. I feel a little bit like I'm in the Blair Witch Project. Some strange bird—perhaps an owl? I hope so—is calling now.

Now that call was loud.

I can't see much beyond my feet because the combination of my computer and the lantern lights only the inside of the truck back. But I'm going to keep working because I don't think I can go to sleep.

I'm looking forward to birding Cheyenne Bottoms in the morning.

Now back to Women and Peace.

OK, now there's something that sounds like a cat. And probably it is just a cat, a house cat. But I'm going to shut myself in the back of the truck just the same. Are there bobcats in Kansas? I'm quite sure there aren't any mountain lions.

I'm a wuss. Just think if I were backpacking somewhere and had nothing between me and nature but a tent. Or worse yet, had to sleep on the ground. Though that seems like a bad idea in a place like Colorado, where there are lions and bears around.

It's 10:30 and time for bed. The wind is getting quite strong.

posted by Price of Silence @ 9:41 PM