What’s the Matter with Kansas? Actually, nothing.

In August 1896, a frustrated and angry William Allen White wrote an article for the Emporia Gazette called, “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” White’s problem was that provincial and small minded businessmen and politicians were keeping an atmosphere of Kansas as a “can’t do” state, to use the modern vernacular. He complained of a migrating Kansas population to sexier western destinations like Denver, Des Moines (I know, that was a strange one for me too) and Minneapolis – to name a few. He argued that, unless Kansas was able to look forward, it will continue to be laughed at or dismissed.

When I first visited Kansas, many of my friends thought I was being a bit facetious about my love for the state. However, when I drive through the state or talk to the people, I feel comfortable and at home. The extent of the average American’s knowledge of Kansas is likely limited to The Wizard of Oz, its place in the middle of Tornado Alley or that it is at the center of the United States. However, there is much more to the people who call Kansas home and the state itself.

I come from the city and being in a rural area makes for a natural adjustment but within this bucolic, pristine state lays the history of the country and the story of the people who settled and worked the land. One of the great things Kansas has to offer is a glimpse back to those times. For example, one can visit the site of the signing of the pro-slavery constitution which triggered the period known as “bleedin’ Kansas” in Lecompton. The Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway was home to a training school and is a step back into the classrooms and buildings that made up the site. Additionally, the Kansas Historical Museum in Topeka is a wonderful display of the state’s history.

However, one of the most magical moments I’ve ever experienced took place in the middle of nowhere in western Kansas, along Interstate 70. I was traveling from Denver to Topeka and had left very early. I reached western Kansas around four in the morning. There was no traffic. On either side of the road stretched prairie and farm land. I pulled the car over and laid upon the hood and starred at the most star-studded night I’d seen in a long time. There was no noise except for the wind whipping through the prairie on either side of the highway. Meanwhile, I watched the sky begin to light up – first a ribbon and then a slow saturation. As light began to infiltrate the night sky, the wonderful and majestic landscape opened up around me. Besides the road, everything would have been as it was in the 1800s. I was experiencing wonders as the first settlers would have.

As I traveled that road for the rest of my trip, I ran into one helpful and generous person after another. I was exposed to just how great the people from Kansas are. Sure, there is the Wizard of Oz and the U.S. center is situated near Lebanon, Kansas. However, there is much more and as often as I’ve been to the Sunflower State, there is much more left for me to discover and I cannot wait.