There’s No Place Like Home – even if it is Kansas

Last summer about this time, Bruce and I were exploring the nooks and crannies of Barcelona after a lovely 12 day Holland America cruise through the Mediterranean, celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.

  All told, we were in Europe about three weeks, visiting friends in Germany, climbing the caldera steps in Santorini, Greece and falling in love with our brief visit to Cinque Terre Italy.

   Since then, we’ve been to Egypt and Costa Rica together.  I’ve been to the Turks & Caicos, Vitoria Spain, and two dozen or more domestic destinations.

Howler monkies in Costa Rica

   So it becomes really unsettling when our friends and neighbors ask “Where are you going next?”

  In the last month, I’ve traveled to Beatrice Nebraska, Vermillion South Dakota and El Dorado Kansas, all on assignments.  Oh, and I can’t forget Marceline, Missouri, Walt Disney’s boyhood home.

   Not every assignment is to the exotic, but there are stories to find and experiences to enjoy in every destination.  That’s our responsibility to uncover the smallest treasures and recognize the untold stories of every place we visit, even if it’s our own backyard. 

   And when I was in Nebraska, I talked with a couple visiting from Germany, so they thought they were somewhere exciting and exotic.  It’s all a matter of perspective. 

  The mantra of Nancy Bray, one of my undergraduate feature writing instructors, was “Every person and every place has a story.  It’s your job to find it and tell it.”

   Of course, that’s easier said than done when it’s a105 degrees and you’re being eaten alive by bugs in a Kansas state park.

I did enjoy some extensive exploration of Arkansas back in May, and today. I have a little story in the Dallas Morning News about one of those little treasures. 

Razorback submarine in Little Rock

   There’ll be more to come from Arkansas, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.  And I am enjoying some quiet time at home this summer, taking care of issues that have been neglected too long.

   But I must admit that my passport is feeling a little neglected in the desk drawer, and it’s been so long since I boarded a plane that the frustrations of air travel don’t feel so traumatic.

  By the time the weather begins to cool again, it’ll be time to spin the globe and see what stories there are to uncover in places a world away from Kansas City.

Wanted: Real People

     The electronic bulletin boards, chat rooms and social media sites for writers, particulary travel writers, are filled with requests for “real people” who have done something interesting – a home swap in Europe, climbed Mt. Everest, participated in tribal rituals in remote Bora Bora – that kind of thing.  It’s not reality TV.  It’s just reality.

     Real people experiences are the richness of any story, and we recognize that as travel writers we’re not real people.  We don’t know what we are exactly, but for the most part, freelance travel journalists are a little bit off the grid, traveling to the beat of our own drums, or keyboards as the case may be.

Abandoned railroad tracks have been turned into biking/hiking/equestrian trails.

  When I was working on a story about the Rails To Trails Conservancy and the beautiful rails-to-trails projects in this country for a story at American Profile, I needed real people who regularly take advantage of these great resources. 

  One of the trails I included in the story is the Elroy-Sparta Trail in Wisconsin, widely accepted as the oldest or first in the country.

   So I contacted my partners in crime in that part of the country, Mary Bergin and Melanie McManus. 

     Mary is a great resource.  She has her own newspaper syndication in that part of the world and has written two books about the little nooks and crannies of Wisconsin.  She is an expert on pie, and since I am a huge fan of pies, particularly raspberry, and since she was raising money to have me bailed out of jail in Egypt, and because she’s not afraid to travel with a teddy bear, I decided Mary is a credible source.  As you read my story in this week’s American Profile, you’ll see the resource that Ms Bergin provided for me. 

  Then Melanie – well, she’s a little over the top with fitness and exercise.  Not an ounce of body fat on her.  She writes regularly for Runner’s World and Bicycling and Shape and the like.  So at the risk of her not being a “real” person in that regard and also because she’s a

Melanie and me at the Sphynx in Egypt, just before I was hauled off to jail.

travel writer, two strikes against her in the real life column, I couldn’t help but use Melanie’s family experience of biking the Elroy-Sparta Trail as the lead to my story.  At least her kids and husband are real.

   The rest of the people in the story, I just found the old fashioned way – calling and talking to people, doing a little leg work, research and such.  It’s called journalism, baby.

  I also included the Old Dominion Trail in the Washington, DC area.  It’s the most utilized rails-to-trails project in the country.

The Katy Trail at Sedalia, MO

   And then I included Missouri’s fabulous Katy Trail, the longest in the country.  Actually, my adoration of the Katy Trail was the inspiration for pitching this story in the first place.  There’s a big cross state ride on the Katy June 22-26, which I’ve never done, but hey, there’s still time for YOU to sign up.

The Katy Trail near Rocheport.

   So the story is out in American Profile this week.  With a circulation of 8 million or more, hopefully some of you will be seeing it in print form. Except in the Eckert household in Holland Michigan.  I understand it was a little soggy and Mr. Eckert trashed my brilliant efforts.  Shame, shame.

   But for the rest of you, as you read the article and admire Bruce’s photo from the Katy Trail,  you can say “AhHa, now I know the story behind the story.”  Not quite Paul Harvey’s “the rest of the story, but you get the idea.

Summer Deals in the Smoky Mountains

The last post, we talked about gas prices going up just in time for summer vacation season.  It surely is gonna be a great vacation season, because prices continue to rise at the Phillips 66 station closest to our house, where I often visit each day for a fountain Dr. Pepper.  Fountain is always better than bottled, BTW.

My friend Tom Adkinson says that 75 years ago you could buy 25 gallons of gas for what one gallon costs today.  Now I haven’t researched and verified that for myself, but it sounds about right.  Generalities are too often the norm in today’s journalism, and if this was anything more than my personal blog, I would check it out.

And of course, most of my readers don’t know Tom Adkinson. Is he a credible source?   Those who do know him might find him a little suspect,

Fly fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains

 a shady character who enjoys standing around in mountain streams harassing innocent, defenseless little fish.

However, Bruce likes him because he is considerate of photographers and packs a red shirt that looks great in photos.

So Tom calls me this morning to tell me about the price of gas 75 years ago.  I was expecting belated birthday greetings, but instead Tom, who does public relations for the community of Pigeon Forge, TN, right outside the gates of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, had spent my birthday researching all things 75 years ago.

That’s because that great park is turning 75, which we’ve talked about before.  But Tom calls because Pigeon Forge has come up with this pretty cool celebration of the park’s birthday (not mine Tom?  Let’s work on that next year). 

Click on the website www.pf75.com   There you can register for a chance to win $75 worth of gas, $75 worth of go-cart rides and other fun stuff in Pigeon Forge, admission to Dollywood and all sorts of stuff.

It’s a pretty good deal and a pretty great place.  And next year, Tom will have an even great package celebrating MY BIRTHDAY!

Economic Stimulus We All Deserve

  It’s officially summer vacation season now, a date not recognized so much by school calendars, vacation calendars or seasonal calendars as by the prices at the gas pump.  Yep, last week, they popped up a good 50-cents over what they had been.

   That was just in time for me to make about an 800 mile round trip to southern Illinois for a graduation event,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

followed by a visit to the highest point in Missouri – Taum Sauk Mountain State Park – while doing some scouting work for one publication that shall remain nameless at this point.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Fortunately, that publication reimburses my mileage at the government-allowed 55-cents per mile – a really nice perk not always offered travel writers.

   And that’s good for another reason:  I’m taking off this week on another scouting expedition for this publication, driving into South Dakota to explore some state parks, go kayaking and poke around in a few art studios.  The outing should put a couple thousand miles on the little red Cougar, always my favorite mode of transportation.

So I’ve got my hiking stick packed, along with the new Off clip-on bug repellent (I’ll let you know how that works out) and my favorite little traveling companions.

It should be a fun week.

 

However, if I weren’t heading north on I-29, I would certainly consider heading to Brown County Indiana, a great place because it has more log homes per capita than any other county in the US, and of course, Bruce and I want to live in a log cabin some day and this week, Brown County is having a log cabin open house and tour.

And then we would probably head down to the Smoky Mountain National Park because June 15 is the 75th birthday of that beautiful natural resource and well, you just can’t get enough of those great silent places.

  Or, we would head west on I-70 to Telluride Colorado for any of the many blues, jazz, food and doo-dah festivals that makes Telluride so much fun.

So we’ve done stories on all, so I hope you’re clicking on those little highlighted lines and making us lots of money.

  But in the meantime, get your road map out and figure out where your vacation, your work, your dreams and your favorite mode of transporation will take you this summer.

   It’s our patriotic duty to stimulate the economy and our spirits - one tank of gas at a time.