May 2021 Road Trip to Kansas Part Five of Five Series

Cheers! Part 5 is finally done!

Part 5 is Highway 18 - Wilson Lake- Lawrence - Tennessee

I know - I've taken way too long to get caught up with last May, but the last few months have been extraordinarily busy!

We start part 5 in Stockton. It's really strange not to have parents to visit here anymore. Or a reason to come back here anymore. There's no alumni association for 8th grade graduates - my high school is in a different town. We found a place to gas up the car just off Highway 183 - yep the same highway mentioned in part 3! 183 does play an important part in connecting points from my life. We drove to Plainville and turned left onto Highway 18.

I planned the Highway 18 route for one reason - to drive by the prettiest lake in Kansas, Wilson Lake. This highway also drifts southeasterly which was the direction we needed to go to get back onto I-70. 

I couldn't tell you the last time that I was this part of the highway to Lucas. But since I wasn't driving, I was able to observe. Around Codell, a high pointed ridge came in view from the passenger side. The highway basically followed this high ridge. And at Lucas, turning onto Highway 282, we had to cross that ridge to get to Wilson Lake. I just never saw that landscape in this way before -- the perks of not driving.

Wilson Lake is just stunning. An Army Corps dam on the Saline River creates the lake. The Dakota Sandstone is just brilliant in the sunlight. Yep - this is Kansas. I created a reel for my Instagram account from the video I took of Wilson and it racked up 1000 views in no time!

Wilson Lake

282 intersect I-70 at a desolate entrance ramp. We hopped onto I-70 East and towards our next destination: the Country Inn and Suites in Lawrence, KS. Going to Lawrence is like going to Holy Ground for me. The home of KU - the best education out of the four colleges/universities I attended. Mount Oread. Home Sweet Home to Me. My thesis is on the shelf in one of the KU libraries.

The hotel was by far the nicest hotel out of the five we had stayed at on this trip.

The next day was Monday but all of that driving on Sunday put a dent into us. Woo - the Tennessee - Georgia border seemed a long ways away still. Because the hotel was located on Highway 10, we just took it into KC and then back on I-70.  The 3-hour drive in Missouri was ok but wow once we got into Illinois, we were tired but still a long ways back home. In that state of mind, the miles drag by. I was convinced we needed to make it to Paducah - and we did but it was a struggle. We made it to the Drury Inn in time for free food -- that's a plus!

Paducah back home was a shorter trip of 4 hours -- back in time to pick up the dog! Here is picture of going down Monteagle -- three lanes, 6 percent grade, runaway strips. Back in the ridges and plateaus of Tennessee!

Monteagle descent

Epilogue:

Since I won't have a Father's Day blog post from June 2021 -- here is a picture of my beautiful cake resembling a beer mug! 

May 2021 Road Trip to Kansas Part Four of Five Series

 Part 4 is Mt. Vernon - the Farm

Ash Creek valley and the road past the Hunter farm

Part 4 stays in Rooks County. It's not a very far drive from Nicodemus (Part 3) to Mt. Vernon Cemetery. As we drove up Highway 24 east from Nicodemus, we noticed how full Webster Lake was - it was really full of water after the May rain!

Mt. Vernon is where my great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunt, other related family members, and my Dad were buried. 

Me standing next to Dad's grave marker

When we walked over to Dad's gravesite, we left a note, wept a few tears, told him I was back to visit. I noticed that the rock that David left for his grandpa 9-months earlier was still there.

Grandparents

Cemetery road from front gate

Great-grandfather buried on other side

The old family rumor was that my great-grandfather said he wanted to be buried by the family of his first wife and my great-grandmother, his second wife, didn't object. He is buried next to his first wife. My great-grandmother outlived her husband by 24 years -- there was some age difference between the two.

This marked my second visit back to Mt. Vernon after Dad's graveside service. When you are out there, you can hear the wind whistling through the fence wire and the blades of grass yielding to it. Losing a parent and coming back to visit is not easy. I was wondering about Dad -- he was the caretaker for this cemetery for many, many years. What did he think about when trimming around his parents and his brothers gravesites. One will never know now.  

Leaving from the cemetery, we took the very short drive to what was the Hunter farm. Fewer than four miles. My mom had told me about the Hunter home being leveled but nothing hit like seeing it a few years ago. My children saw the vacant site. The one person who had not was the driver - my wife. She knew it but nothing prepares one for the vast emptiness that was a home. It hit her hard driving up to the old driveway entrance.

Used to be a two-story house here with thick limestone walls.

So many generations of family grew up here -- it is like a part of the root is gone within your soul. My great-grandfather built buildings around the area from limestone. The house was originally a limestone house that was added onto many times.

Leaving the old farm site, we headed towards Stockton. Part five will pick up from there back to Tennessee.

May 2021 Road Trip to Kansas Part Three of Five Series

Rooks County, south of Palco

We left Great Bend on Sunday, May 23rd and drove in a big semi-circle for most of the day to finally end up for the night in Lawrence, Kansas, home of Kansas University. Parts 3 - 4 - 5 will detail that Sunday.

First up - Hays, Ellis, Nicodemus.

We took highway 96 out of Great Bend to reach highway 183. Highway 183 played a big part in my life: it was the highway through Stockton, through Hays, runs near a sister's house, and was the highway that led me to a new life between my 8th grade and Freshman year.

When we got to south of Hays, we took the alternate bypass around to head to Frontier Park. This road takes one pass the historic Fort Hays site but we weren't heading to see the fort; we were headed to see the buffalo! 

Baby calf on the ground

Calving season was upon us and we saw baby bison romping around their large pen. We thoroughly enjoyed the show they put on for us!

We decided to forego driving on 183 and instead took the bypass all the way around Hays to I-70. On I-70 we put the metal down and drove the short trip to the Ellis, KS exit. It was spitting rain on us but that was the only time we ran into rain for the whole day. 

I played against some team from Ellis during school. The home of Walter P Chrysler of Chrysler fame is in Ellis. We took the exit and drove on county blacktop for several miles, weaving through Ellis County and then into Rooks County. We crossed the Saline River into Rooks County and again in part five.  

Many of the homesteaders and settlers of Nicodemus took a train to Ellis and walked on foot towards Nicodemus. Probably pretty close to the road we were taking from Ellis to Nicodemus. I was able to ride through Palco, a little village I had not seen in a long time and probably won't for a long time if ever.

We took Highway 18 to Damar and saw the beautiful twin steeples of the Catholic Church in Damar from the highway. Then we took another county blacktop to Highway 24. By this time we were only a mile from Nicodemus. Nicodemus is very important to me - I have written about this National Historic Site many times. I'm just going to post a lot of pictures for the rest of this blog post. But I'm going to end my text by saying -- I love Nicodemus!

The NPS ranger said I heard correctly: the old dugout was used by Nicodemus settlers after 5:00. 😢

Nicodemus Historical Marker

Fort Hays Historical Marker

May 2021 Road Trip to Kansas Part Two of Five Series

The B-29 Memorial Plaza, Great Bend, Kansas

While we were staying in Great Bend, we visited the B-29 Memorial Plaza located at the Great Bend municipal airport. Located at the airport entrance, the Plaza is dedicated to everyone involved in building, flying and providing support for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

In July 1943, a Kansas wheat field was being converted into the Great Bend Army Air Field - runways, hangars, barracks, and other facilities were being built. To fly the B-29s, 11-men crews were trained for each plane.

Other nearby B-29 airfields were Smoky Hill, Pratt, and Walker. Great Bend was chosen for the memorial site due to the number of original base structures that still exist and Great Bend agreed to donate the land for the memorial.

Great Bend Army Air Field is significantly historic as it was in the first group United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bases for training in the summer of 1943. The pictures at the Plaza depicted the great amount of construction that happened to convert Kansas farmland to a B-29 Superfortress airfield. Along with Walker Army Air Field near Victoria, Pratt Army Air Field near Pratt and Smoky Hill Army Air Field near Salina, the initial 58th Bombardment Wing was formed.

The memorial honors bomber crews not only in Great Bend but also the nearby airfields on bronze plaques and bricks. It was an interesting discovery about American military history and the use of Kansas farmland. One of the runways is used as a dragstrip in today's world while the other two runways are still used for municipal air travel.

Walker Airfield acknowledge with plaque.

May 2021 Road Trip to Kansas Part One of Five Series

Kansas Flint Hills Beauty

Because of COVID and life, May 2021 signified two years since last visiting with Mom. We decided in March to plan a trip to Kansas and to see Mom. This series will be divided up into five parts to make it easier for me to tell every nuance of the trip!

We left a day early on May 19 and spent the night in a familiar hotel in Franklin, TN. I was able to give a plaque to the Tennessee PTA president.

The next day we took a different route out west -- I-40 to Jackson, Jackson to Dyersburg. This was the first time I crossed the Mississippi River on I-155 out of Dyersburg. We then cut across country through Poplar Bluff to Springfield, MO. We drove near Corning, AR where the children's great-grandmother had raised her family. We stayed at our pre-trip reservation hotel at Springfield.

The next morning after a short drive from Springfield, we were in Kansas. The beauty of the Flint Hills is just astounding -- tall grass prairie as we drove highway 400 towards Wichita. Then we got onto Interstate 35 and enjoyed being able to go faster than 55 mph! But it was only a short thrill as we had to turn onto highway 56 to head towards Great Bend where we would be staying for a couple of nights.

We stopped at Fort Zarah just a few miles outside of Great Bend along Walnut Creek. Fort Zarah was built to protect commercial traffic along the Sante Fe Trail. It didn't last very long and the abandoned buildings were used by ruffians of every type.

All that remains of the fort is a deep depression into the ground. Picnic tables were built for visitors.

We checked into the Angus Inn at Great Bend, met my sister and mom in a different town. Sister went back home while we enjoyed eating pizza and visiting with Mom at the local Pizza Hut. 

The next day we went out to sister's farm house for a great tasty lunch, went through a bunch of family pictures, and visited with our nephew. It was a great day and a great visit with family and with mom!

I discovered after the fact that two of my high school friends were at the Angus Inn the same time I was there! Such a missed opportunity! Would have loved to visit with Anne and Tracy after so many years from Smith Center!

Parts Three - Five will detail several stops taken on one day, Sunday, May 23rd where we basically drove in a semi-circle for most of the day. A lot of details and hopefully short blog posts for each!
Part Two will detail a brief visit to a memorial while we were staying in Great Bend -- the B-29 Memorial.
All parts written by Dwight Hunter

Puppet 2005-2021

Puppet died April 8, 2021. 

November 16, 2005 - April 8, 2021

I was working from home when I noticed that Puppet was struggling walking and keeping his head straight. I knew that he was close to the end. We all knew he was close to the end for a while. He was blind, and for many months, he felt his way down the hallway. 

Puppet was a Christmas gift to my wife from Nanny and daughter and was born on the same day as my wife. The kids and family basically grew up with him from middle school through graduate school. On April 8, when we took him to his vet, we knew it was it. He didn't respond to me holding him, his breathing was ragged, his mouth remained partially opened. The vet knew immediately there was nothing that could be done - a blood clot had paralyzed him. He quickly passed away before the second shot was even fully administered. 

When COVID-19 sent me home to work in March 2020, Puppet quickly became my office mate sleeping next to my computer chair and listening to my Apple Music playlists on Alexa. But things changed in November as his blindness left him to sleep and mostly stay in one place, by the front door.

Here are my Facebook posts:

April 9

So many Puppet memories over the 15 years, but one that comes to mind today, was seeing the sheer joy on his face as he ran down the hallway when I said “back door.” He knew that meant backyard time! (goodbye Puppet ❤️)

April 24

A big thank you to our local animal clinic who sent a card signed by staff and doctors sending their condolences for Puppet. How cool is that! Some of the staff knew puppet for years. I do miss having him when I am home working—my office mate. 🐾❤️

There must be a lot of dust in the office because it is getting difficult for me to write. Goodbye Puppet - wow do I miss you! 

Wife's work sent message balloons with condolences -- so sweet!

Puppet came home to rest a few weeks after his death. I wanted him in a beautiful, wood box. 

Bye Puppet - we love you!

Birth Order Indeed Makes a Difference for the Baby

 A few years ago, there was a book published about birth order that caught wide attention. The premise of the book was that first born children tend to have certain characteristics not readily as found in other children of the same family.

I thought of this book when I read the biographies of my Dad's two brothers. Their lives were completely different than the baby of his family - my Dad. And the same is very true for me - my child and teenage years were very different than for my siblings.

I remember my Dad telling me about his frustrations trying to convince his sister that his childhood was completely different than her. My aunt did have set ideas about her childhood and wasn't about to change them for any reason. But of course his childhood was different -- he was home alone, his mother would stay several days a week at the school house to teach. And most importantly, how the same events were seen differently from different ages. That makes it all different.

For all practical purposes, Dad was the outsider in his family among siblings. Four or five years of separation as the baby of the family might as well be twenty years among siblings. I think any baby of the family with a few years of separation feels that way; I know I did. The last one at home. The isolation that comes with that. The parents become different. Cousins marry or move away.  Relatives die. Fewer large family gatherings.

For example, Dad's eldest brother knew both of his grandfathers. Dad was only two when the last of their grandfathers was alive. For Dad, he was only 8 years old when 1941 came around; yet, both of his brothers were drafted -- one sent to the Azores and the other to Europe in a communications group. His brothers came home different men. But Dad must have emulated his eldest brother a lot. Instead of going to high school where buses would take him and the school provide hot lunch, he chose to hitchhike to another high school just like his eldest brother did. It just dawned on me that his brother probably was living in the same town as this high school. 

I wonder how Dad felt in his sister's biography of one of his brothers that she wrote that Dad went to her school. When she wrote the biography, Dad had already graduated from a different school. 

I wrote this for another blog post on a family history blog:

My last 12 months being an everyday resident and livin’ on the Hunter farm was – different, way different. I was by myself – a lot. Both of my sisters by this time were graduated from high school and starting their own journeys in life. Dad was in the midst of converting his career from a farmer to a minister. Mom and I would travel to the different churches he would preach at each Sunday. Occasionally, we would attend our church in town, but more often than not on any given Sunday, we were at the Mt. Pleasant church or the Baptist church.

I was the only child still going to K-12 school. The first day of 8th grade was memorable – the school bus never came for me. Mom had to take me into school. After school, I tried to get on my old bus with Mr. Bedore but was told I was no longer a rider and that another school bus was picking me up. I don’t know how many times, I had to run down to the bus in the mornings as the new driver conveniently forgot about me. And being the last person picked up, trying to find a seat. The same thing repeated on the way home, being dropped off way past the driveway to the house and having to hike back. So, yeah, 8th grade was not that great of a year as a bus rider. Thankfully, Dad was creating a path for all of us to exit the farm.

After Bible Study, sometimes, I was the only one left of the students as I waited on Mom to arrive to pick me up. A year earlier, her lateness would have been no problem – I could have easily walked the half of a block from my 8th grade teacher’s house to where my Aunt Kathy’s house was and waited there for Mom, or my sister Vick could have picked me up. But alas, my life during the 1975-76 school year was very different. There were no Arbogast families in Stockton. Plus, cousin Billy had moved from Woodston to Cawker before 8th grade and was even further removed from seeing him.  Billy and I would have been in 8th grade together at Stockton as the Woodston 6-8 school had merged with Stockton that year. Not having any cousins around in town/school made life much more isolated.

And it wasn’t just relatives moved away from town. I recall mom and me leaving Webster’s supermarket and her Aunt Violet turning her head to avoid seeing us. Mom was so disappointed saying aloud – she ignored us! I often wondered if that was the price to be paid for planning to leave Stockton – being ignored and isolated.

As you can read - even my 8th grade year in the same place where my siblings grew up - was way different for me. And at the age where things are remembered.

Dad's mom died during his senior year in high school. That had to be a tough thing to overcome alone when everyone returned back to their lives and he was still in school.

A friend of mine on Twitter recently tweeted that feeling when your 21 months younger sibling lives on another planet. For me and my Dad, it was several years difference - might as well be a different galaxy.

One Year Later – Here we are Pandemic

It is past time to vent about politics and COVID-19.

About a year ago (March 19) I stopped driving to campus to show up for work.  I was one of the last ones in my department to do so. I began working from home exclusively from mid-March – mid-August.

COVID-19, SARS virus, had spread around the world via air transmissions and killed people. A lot of people.

Over 500,000 alone in the United States. And counting.

I had to live through the despicable misinformation: It’s a fake virus / It’s only a façade to destroy the president / It was created in a Chinese lab / It’s not transmitted through air / Singing doesn’t make it more spreadable / It doesn't kill people. Living through that constant spin of disinforming cacophony was too much.

We had a president who did nothing or very little and primarily lost his re-election because of that inaction. It was by far the weirdest presidential politics I had ever seen. Just unfathomable.

The joy of seeing long lines of American citizens waiting hours to vote. The stamina to defend the right to vote no matter the obstacles. And belligerent court cases were tossed out one by one. No one believed the election was rigged except for the lunatic fringe who stormed the Capitol, broke windows, desecrated the holy temples of the House and the Senate, obscenely destroying offices, killing police officers. Yet the electoral college votes were accepted. No riot stopped democracy in action.

In mid-August, my department returned to each person showing up on campus at least 2-days a week. Even with the increasing COVID numbers in November and the campus going into a partial shutdown, my department continued to show up each workday while other departments went home to work. We were still there. We continued to support students often the only ones parking cars in the back lot November – January.

There were all kinds of societal stressors. Working from home. Teaching from home. Disrupted schedules. Canceled sporting events. We found out how important in-person elementary school instruction was to the economy. Children wearing masks. Adults wearing masks – except for those who didn’t believe the virus was real. We had friends who freaked out and went to the other extreme too scared to breathe or to function. I’m not sure which drove me nuttier – the disinformers/the fake theory supporters or the extreme fear people – it would be a close call.

I went through stress – I missed family. I missed opportunities to see family, my children, my mom. Each of us had similar missed opportunities. We all grew tired of Zoom calls and virtual meetings.

The one thing a friend of mine told me during the fall is still ringing true in my head – we will never be the same again.

We will never be the same again.