To Chanute
Cheryl Unruh
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
On a Saturday morning, Dave and I headed southbound on K-99, the car happily gobbling up white stripes on the highway.
After a long and unforgiving winter, it was exhilarating to see scenery zipping by at 60 mph again. We’d had a week of 50-degree temperatures and when the sun rose that morning, it seemed like a good day to see if Kansas was the way we had left it.
It was. Ditches still held the highways in place and barbed wire still fenced in the cattle. The horizon was a steady line in the distance, just as it should be.
At Madison, we took a left onto K-58, a winding road through the faded buckskin-colored fields of winter. We drove through Lamont, a quiet unincorporated town in Greenwood County.
The Lamont school is gone and along the highway a marker states that it closed in 1966. A preserved cornerstone of the school indicates that the building had been a public works project.
We cruised through Buffalo (pop. 276) in Wilson County. Folks were out and about on Main Street. Two men were having a conversation in middle of the street, one sat in his pickup, the other guy stood near the truck’s door. Three kids, probably siblings, walked down the street, and the post office had in-and-out traffic.
Like many small towns, Buffalo has holes in its business district, vacant lots where buildings have fallen down or burned down or disappeared over the last 50 years.
Off Main is an old diner. I’m not sure if it’s a Valentine Diner or just a similar metal building, white with red trim. The painted name of the old business had faded, but it looked like Dairy Drive-In. The building is trapped inside a prison of young trees that have grown up against it.
Chanute, our destination, was just a short drive from Buffalo — and only about a 90-minute trip from Emporia, unless you stop and take photographs along the way like Dave and I do, then it takes two to three hours.
In downtown Chanute, you’ll find an attractive little park, a tribute to the town’s namesake, Octave Chanute. Mr. Chanute, born in Paris in 1832, was a civil engineer, building the first railroad bridge across the Missouri River. And he was in charge of building railroad lines, including one that ran through this region, so the new town of Chanute was named after him. Mr. Chanute moved on to Chicago and began to work on what he considered “the problem of the ages,” heavier-than-air flight.
Octave Chanute was a mentor and friend to Orville and Wilbur Wright who studied Chanute’s 1894 book, “Progress in Flying Machines.”
The Wright Brothers’ first flight (1903) is the focus of the downtown tribute to Octave Chanute. The main sculpture, up in the air, is a graceful white flying machine with a figure lying on the biplane. On the ground are other figures, spectators.
Our main goal in Chanute was to visit the Safari Museum which tells the fascinating story of Martin and Osa Johnson. In the 1920s and ’30s, these Kansans became famous for their films of natives and of wild animals made during their trips to the South Pacific, Borneo and Africa. (I’ll have more on the museum in a future column.)
On the way home, Dave and I visited Humboldt (pop. 1,854) in Allen County. Humboldt gave the world two baseball stars: Walter Johnson, a pitcher who won 417 games for the Washington Senators between 1907 and 1927, and George Sweatt who played with the Kansas City Monarchs and the Chicago American Giants in the 1920s.
The stone wall around the Walter Johnson Athletic Field was a 1938 WPA project. Another ballpark in town is named for George Sweatt.
On the square in Humboldt stands a monument recognizing the Civil War events here, which included the burning of the town by Confederate raiders on Oct. 14, 1861.
As on any day trip, there was more to see and do than we could manage. Well have to catch the soda fountain in Chanute’s Cardinal Drug Store on another trip.
It felt as if years had passed since our previous meanderings, but Kansas is still there, right where we left it. After that long winter, it’s hard to believe that warm weather is finally here, and I suggest that we all get out while the getting is good.
“Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net. Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
Why do I get the feeling that these articles only further the negative stereotypes about people who live in the middle of the country? Are we all really that enthralled with little parks, diners, vacant buildings, soda fountains, and stone walls? That stuff has been around for decades, people! Two dudes talking in the middle of the street? How classy! Why don't cha move yer stinkin' truck so I can get by, pal?
It seems Cheryl is just giving the coastal folks more ammunition for their stereotypical hate cannons. For the record, I live in Kansas and I'm not fascinated by such trivial things. I don't say things like, "Wow! A hay bale! That's the coolest thing Kansas has to offer! I should write an article about it so everyone knows how cool Kansas is!" Here's a hint: it ain't that cool. I don't see Kansas as you do, Cheryl. Why not report on all the PROGRESS we are making in other places instead of painting us as a dying state that hasn't done anything since the 60's? I don't like to be known for this; it's NOT something to be proud of.
'enry
March 16, 2010 at 2:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Jeez, Henry, way to be negative. I think she's pointing out there's something to see in small towns outside of Wichita and KC. History still lives in Kansas. Without history, we lose track of who we are and how we got there. That's not progress. If you don't like the tone of her columns, you're not forced to read them. Or you could write an editorial about all that you find great about Kansas. Then you could get your message out to more people. Just a thought.
March 16, 2010 at 2:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
madpoet,
Write my own column? Phfff... That would require hard work and that's too old-school for me! That way of thinking may have been cool in the 50's, but it's a new age now. Lay back and criticize the efforts of others. Now that's progress!
:-)
Seriously though, I understand where you are coming from. My point is that her column is titled "Flyover People". When people talk about "Flyover States" they are implying there is nothing to do there and you have no reason for going there so you just fly over them instead. I don't think Cheryl's column does much to disprove that implication. If anything, it validates the stereotype. It's unsettling to me that she embraces the negative stereotype. I'm sure some folks find the tales of her travels interesting, but it does little to combat the "Flyover" stigma. Maybe change the title of the column or something...I don't know.
Besides, I tried to write my own "column" (of sorts) on here regarding religion so that people might know not all Kansas are religious kooks, but it seems personal forums are no longer allowed following the redesign to the site.
'enry
March 16, 2010 at 4:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
It is my obversation, that no matter what, there are some people who will not be satisfied, no matter where they live !
March 16, 2010 at 6:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
Oh, and these types of people will absolutely find fault with anything and everything, no matter where they happen to reside.
March 16, 2010 at 6:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
By the way, no one is keeping you from moving to your personal idea of " Camelot" or " Paradise " .
March 16, 2010 at 6:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
Cheryl,
Another well written article. Enjoyed it very much.
March 16, 2010 at 6:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
booker5m (anonymous) says...
Nice one Cheryl. Go back to sleep Henry
March 16, 2010 at 7:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eucharistandcannabis (anonymous) says...
Bravo, Ms. Unruh!
March 16, 2010 at 9:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cheryl (anonymous) says...
Thanks, everyone!
March 16, 2010 at 9:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
But Henry, I find that Ms Unruh's columns do quite the opposite of what you believe they do. Her descriptions do indeed disprove the stereotype of flyover people because in writing about them, she is proving that those who populate this state truly are worthy of comment and not just a groan of "There's nothing out there." We "flyover people" are being given significance by her words.
I would guess that many who pass overhead and stare down on the patchwork of green and brown below might very well love to take a break from hailing taxi cabs and running for subways in order to converse with a friend in the middle of a quiet street.
March 17, 2010 at 7:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
create,
You claim, "We ... are being given significance by her words."
I guess it depends on your definition of "significant". What you, Cheryl, and other true flyover people find significant doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Does finding joy in the simple things make you a simple person? (as the "flyover" stereotype suggests) I don't think so, but I also don't think we should brag to the rest of the nation (in columns like this) about how Kansas has nothing to be proud of other than a bunch of dilapidated towns.
If you want to call yourselves "flyover people", that is fine by me. I just don't like how the column suggests (to the entire world) that all Kansans really are flyover people.
'enry
March 17, 2010 at 10:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
create, Cheryl, and other posters,
HenryVIII has stated his opinion.
HenryVIII likes a good argument.
"IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS" opinions are just that, opinions.
We don't have to agree and we don't have to argue the point.
March 17, 2010 at 11:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
I believe that being proud of yourself, Country, State, County or place of residence, begins, ends and resides within each of us and is unique only to each of us .
And if all you can see is what you perceive as bad, dilapidated, run down or not up to your standards, you will truely not be satisified with anything or living anywhere, except in you own fantasy world, according to your specifications and standards.
I also believe the future is as unknown and unpredictable as it has always been and is not set in stone. The past ( history ) however has already been experienced and has happened and is the only constant in any of our lives. I also believe that, when you wake, get out of bed at the beginning of each day, you only know for sure that you are beginning another day and you do not know what the rest of that day may hold for you. In other words I live for that day and only hope, that the Lord will see fit to let me live long enough to wake and begin anew tomorrow.You can may wish and hope for things for the future, but you cannot make it happen with any real certainty or guarantee that what you desire for the future will actually come to be . Not so, with the past ( History ) , for it has already happened and been saved in writings, teachings, books, pictures and in the memories and experiences of just about everyone !
True, you cannot dwell on the past. But you can learn from the past and mistakes made. If it were not for our past history, we would not be what we are today and may become tomorrow. For, without a past, there cannot be any present or no tommorrows.
March 17, 2010 at 11:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodjoss (anonymous) says...
'Here' is no different than 'There'.
Once we grow-up to that fact, we can look to the mental environments which condition our perception of place.
Washington DC is a beautiful city, but look at the mental 'spew' effervescing from the place. Others can appreciate the 'peace of mind' that allows a community the comfort of place enough to let the citizens stand in the middle of the street.
It's all a matter of perception:
There are those who look at the middle west and it's sparse population as the place where we 'fly over' to get to the other place.
There are those who visit metropolitan areas (Chicago is my fav.) and say 'Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there'.
I don't know, but sounds to me like a day trip to Chanute would be fun - but that's why I choose to live where I do.
March 17, 2010 at 1:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
This brings to mind a funny story a friend told me years ago. He was going to college up at KC and his roommate was from (gasp!) New York City. My friend would visit a friend who lived out in the country when he went back home. So his car was dirty when he got back. He convinced his roommate that only big cities in Kansas had paved streets. He strung him along for quite a while, too. I laughed so hard I cried. It's all about your expectations. Just like those film makers in the midst of the Flint Hills saying how flat Kansas was. Compared to the Rockies, maybe. They couldn't see the beautiful hilly landscape right in front of them they were so stuck on the stereotype of flat Kansas.
March 17, 2010 at 3:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sunshine (anonymous) says...
Cheryl, I always love your articles and this one really made me smile. I lived most of my life in Chanute, from 4th grade until my oldest son was in the 4th grade. I remember the first time I visited the Safari Museum. My cousin worked there so it was a treat to visit her at work and get to see the museum. My mom was born and raised in Chanute, so I'm really glad that I had the chance to see where she grew up and attend the schools that she went to, even had some of the same teachers. I also remember going to Cardinal Drug store for some of those real old-fashioned sodas. Today I rarely make it back to Chanute to visit, but I'm always glad to know that other people have actually heard of it and have even been there. I also lived in Buffalo for about 3 years, right on Main Street. My youngest son was born during that time. I loved living there and met many wonderful people there. My sons visit their grandparents there and keep me up on the happenings of the old town. I am so glad that you and Dave visited Buffalo and mentioned it in your article. Old towns like Buffalo, Kansas deserve to get mentioned every now and then because too often they are overlooked. An interesting side note: My mom used to tell me how she and her friends used to drive to Buffalo to hang out when they were teenagers. They would cruise up and down Main Street, antagonizing the one police officer the town had. It always made me laugh to think of my mom going all the way to Buffalo to cruise Main Street. Then there is Humboldt...another town that has some great memories for me. My husband lived there when we were dating and any time I am in the area, I drive by the old house that my mother-in-law used to own and live in there to see how its new occupants are treating it. Thanks for your article Cheryl; it was a great trip down memory lane for me!
March 19, 2010 at 9:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I enjoyed your comment about perpective, goodjoss.
Several years ago, it was my particular joy to teach a young man from Taiwan who was here on a student exchange. He stayed with an elderly couple who lived pretty far out in the country.
The other kids often asked if he was comfortable with such an elderly couple, and with living so far from town. He would laugh in response when he explained that he came from a city of eight million people where it was always noisy with chatter and he could never find a dark enough spot to use his telescope. "This place," he said, "is perfection. I am happy."
I myself am from a very busy metropolitan city, Honolulu. I choose to live in quiet Emporia without traffic jams and high crime where the cost of living allows me to have enough walking around money to spend as I choose.
March 19, 2010 at 10:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Free4all (anonymous) says...
I think this was a great article that brought back some good memories of when I lived in Chanute and Humbolt. Sometimes when you live in towns such as these you begin to be blind to the nice things and the history that surrounds the town. My wife and I enjoy traveling to small cozy towns around the area and uncover the hidden treasures each have to offer. Makes me look forward to retirment so we can do this more often.
People like Henry do there learning from a lazy chair and a 32in TV. I feel bad for him because he seems to have such a closed mind and cold heart that it is unlikely no matter what happens in life he will find something to complain about and be unhappy with. If he had a free day or 2 my wife and myself could take him to some nifty places and maybe help open his eyes and his heart to the important things in life.
After each of our trips we feel so refreashed inside after weeks of school, kids and work. We are constantly looking for new treasures and believe our next one (we ran into lat week) will be Weston Mo.. We came across this dandy town after making a wrong turn and now planning a stay at a B&B.
I believe Henry does have a normal life but just has a hang up of making absurd comments to get a reaction and is probably the only real attention he gets. Have a good day all, love to here more stories from this couple and if we ever get the knack of artfull writing maybe we will begin our journals too.
Robert (Bob) Grey
March 19, 2010 at 12:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HenryVIII (anonymous) says...
Bobby,
I feel bad for you because you only have a 32" TV. A TV can show you things from all over the world and beyond. You have the typical "flyover" attitude where you think the only important things are outside your window. You "flyover" people need to have a more worldly perspective. I guess it makes sense that all the close-minded, intolerant, Christian, conservatives are in the flyover states. What you like/have may not be that great in comparison to the rest of the world. Learn that and you might find yourself better received by the rest of the world.
32" TV? Come on now, don't insult me! :)
'enry
March 22, 2010 at 9:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )