I'm not in Kansas anymore!
Kansas has a less than flattering reputation among those I've talked to, but I found it charming!
I have been coveting the Birkenstocks that are now made for those with high arches and boast "aggressive arch support". My feet have been longing to be supported aggressively, but after so long without it, doubt the existence of such a champion. So we decided that as long as we were passing through, we should stop in Lawrence Kansas the home of the Footprints shoe store and mail-order catalogue to see this miracle for ourselves. I found the place knowing only that it was in Lawrence and on Massachusetts. As I entered town I remembered that Rochelle Hockney, a family friend had gone to college there and said it was a fun little town. And fun it was! Downtown was full of chic shopping, quaint architecture, and friendly, wholesome faces! Footprints did not in fact have the right size, but we tried a size bigger and the arch support was blissful, so they are ordering the right size and will mail them to me, wherever I may be when they arrive, for free!
I did some browsing, got a birthday present for Gwyneth and a cold drink and got back on I70.
I miscalculated the distance to my destination again, but didn't mind as it had bee rainy most of the day and I would have had to wait to set up the tent anyway. I arrived at Cedar Bluff State Park to find it was in the middle of nowhere and sparsely populated! At first I was nervous about the remote location, as my aunt and grandmother had been regaling me with stories of unsuspecting campers mowed down by crazed pick-up truck drivers in the night. But as John Steinbeck says, there is little reality in the danger of solitude, and I put pessimism behind me and pitched my tent on a waterfront lot!
It was hot and dry and I left the rain cover off the tent, but sweltered through the night in my arctic sleeping bag, having been too tired to get out of the tent one last time to get a sheet from the car.
I awoke the next morning un-mutilated and got on the road without taking a second swim in the goose-poop lined reservoir. By mid afternoon I was in Fort Collins, Colorado at the home of my kindred spirit and sister across lifetimes, Gwyneth. We went with her sisters for a swim in the river, followed by ice cream and a stroll around downtown. I was last here 6 months ago and before that it had been 3 years since I'd seen Gwyneth, but she and in fact her whole family are the kind of people that one slips into easy-going, everyday interaction with, no matter how much time has passed.
I will be here for a few days, eating copiously, laughing and drinking gallons of water to help combat the effects of mile-high elevation.
Author's note: This post has been minimally proof read as I am eager to get back to my hosts, and this computer is set up so that you can only see about a square inch of text at a time; v. laborious!
I have been coveting the Birkenstocks that are now made for those with high arches and boast "aggressive arch support". My feet have been longing to be supported aggressively, but after so long without it, doubt the existence of such a champion. So we decided that as long as we were passing through, we should stop in Lawrence Kansas the home of the Footprints shoe store and mail-order catalogue to see this miracle for ourselves. I found the place knowing only that it was in Lawrence and on Massachusetts. As I entered town I remembered that Rochelle Hockney, a family friend had gone to college there and said it was a fun little town. And fun it was! Downtown was full of chic shopping, quaint architecture, and friendly, wholesome faces! Footprints did not in fact have the right size, but we tried a size bigger and the arch support was blissful, so they are ordering the right size and will mail them to me, wherever I may be when they arrive, for free!
I did some browsing, got a birthday present for Gwyneth and a cold drink and got back on I70.
I miscalculated the distance to my destination again, but didn't mind as it had bee rainy most of the day and I would have had to wait to set up the tent anyway. I arrived at Cedar Bluff State Park to find it was in the middle of nowhere and sparsely populated! At first I was nervous about the remote location, as my aunt and grandmother had been regaling me with stories of unsuspecting campers mowed down by crazed pick-up truck drivers in the night. But as John Steinbeck says, there is little reality in the danger of solitude, and I put pessimism behind me and pitched my tent on a waterfront lot!
It was hot and dry and I left the rain cover off the tent, but sweltered through the night in my arctic sleeping bag, having been too tired to get out of the tent one last time to get a sheet from the car.
I awoke the next morning un-mutilated and got on the road without taking a second swim in the goose-poop lined reservoir. By mid afternoon I was in Fort Collins, Colorado at the home of my kindred spirit and sister across lifetimes, Gwyneth. We went with her sisters for a swim in the river, followed by ice cream and a stroll around downtown. I was last here 6 months ago and before that it had been 3 years since I'd seen Gwyneth, but she and in fact her whole family are the kind of people that one slips into easy-going, everyday interaction with, no matter how much time has passed.
I will be here for a few days, eating copiously, laughing and drinking gallons of water to help combat the effects of mile-high elevation.
Author's note: This post has been minimally proof read as I am eager to get back to my hosts, and this computer is set up so that you can only see about a square inch of text at a time; v. laborious!
posted by Eiren at 10:50 AM
1 Comments:
I knew it was a mistake to tell you about Strange Piece of Paradise and the outlined dangers of pitching a tent in Oregon!
Auntie A.
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