KANSAS! Magazine | No. 5 2024

2024 | vol 80 | issue 5 | kansasmag.com

SKIES SPACE THE

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TA L E S O F A L I E N S , P I L O T S , A S T R O N A U T S , A N D S TA R - S E E K E R S

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The Thunder Over the Heartland Air Show SOARS into Topeka Oct. 11-13 at the Topeka Regional Airport featuring the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and spectacular pyrotechnic night shows Friday and Saturday nights.

Purchase your tickets and find more info at ThunderOverTheHeartland.com

VISITTOPEKA.COM

Small Town in the U.S. -Travel Awaits

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National Orphan Train Complex Orphan Train Statue Stroll POW Camp Concordia Brown Grand Theatre Nazareth Convent Whole Wall Mural Concordia Broadway Plaza Frank Carlson Library Cloud County Historical Society Museum

Cloud County Tourism 130 E. 6th Street Concordia, KS 66901 785-243-4303 www.cloudcountytourism.com

WHERE ART

MEETS AG 30 Murals in the County

Zoo • Museums • Rodeos • Festivals • Milford Lake • Water Parks Hunting • Kansas Landscape Arboretum

claycokansas.com

785.632.5674

Maxwell Wildlife Refuge Located in the heart of the Smoky Hills

visit our website for more information

MaxwellWildlifeRefuge.com make reservations by email or phone

MaxwellWildlifeRefuge@gmail.com

620.654.7230

Make your reservations today for an up close and personal experience of all the spring babies and wildflowers! Photo opportunities available.

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Features 36

Welcome to ‘Dimension G’

Geneseo hosts an interplanetary party

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Out-of-this-World Space Attractions

Explore space attractions boasting rich history, space travel and more

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Valentine diners captured the spirit of mid-century America

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PHOTOGRAPH Justin Lister

Space-Age Diners

JOIN US FOR

SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2024 GREAT BEND, KS

AIRFEST GREATBENDAIRFEST.COM GREAT BEND MUNCIPAL AIRPORT - 9047 6TH ST, GREAT BEND, KS (620) 793-4168 OR GREATBENDAIRPORT@RURALTEL.NET

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You • • • • • •

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AJ Honey Farms: Honey Bear Bruce’s Bullseye: Sand Plum Jelly Mammoth Mouth: Rainbow Pops MKC Kitchen: MKC Rub Pat’s Beef Jerky: Beef Pepper Sticks R Family Farms: Summer Sausage

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Spice It Up: Mild and Sassy Barbeque Sauce Sweet Granada: Chocolate Sunflower Tonja’s Toffee: Milk Chocolate English Toffee Twisted Pepper Co.: Baked Potato Soup Mix Grannie’s Homemade Mustard: Sweet and Tangy

FromtheLandofKansas.com | 785-564-6759 Supporting local producers and promoting Kansas grown, raised, and produced since 1978.

Price does not include tax and shipping. Shipping available to all 50 states. Call for large orders.

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Departments KANSAS DETAILS

WIDE OPEN SPACES

10 Cuisine Fine Food and Good Eats

20 Stories, Dust, and Pockets Full of Pay 150 years ago, Texas cowboys began driving cattle herds along the newly established Western Cattle Trail and transformed Dodge City with their business, celebrations, and wild ways

PHOTOGRAPHS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) KC Pioneers/Social Apex Media, Justin Lister, Library of Congress, courtesy The Missile Silo Ranch

12 Culture Arts and Experiences 14 Behind the Lens A Conversation with KANSAS! Photographers 16 Kansas Captured Authentic Life in the Sunflower State 18 Reasons We Love Kansas Celebrating Unique Attractions

26 Kansas Speedway Revs Up for ESports A partnership with KC Pioneers brings top-level, next-generation competitive gamers and their fans to race track venue 32 From Kansas to the Stars Investors breathe new life into Cold War missile silos

IN EVERY ISSUE ON THE COVER Flying saucers appear in the night sky above Geneseo.

Illustration by Torren Thomas.

7 It’s All in the Extra Details 8 A Hello from Our Publisher 58 KANSAS! Gallery 64 From the Poet Laureate

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Kansas Tourism, a division of the Kansas Department of Commerce

Andrea Etzel PUBLISHER

Laura Kelly GOVERNOR

David Toland

LT. GOVERNOR & SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

Bridgette Jobe

TOURISM DIRECTOR

SUNFLOWERPUB.COM | LAWRENCE, KANSAS KSMAGAZINE@SUNFLOWERPUB.COM

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KANSAS! (ISSN 0022-8435) is published five (5) times per year

by Kansas Tourism 1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 100 Topeka, KS 66612; 785.296.3479; TTY Hearing Impaired: 785.296.3487.

Periodical postage paid at Topeka, KS, and at additional mailing offices.

Newsstand price $5 per issue; subscription price $20 per year; $36 for two years.

All prices include all applicable sales tax.

Please address subscription inquiries to: Toll-free: 800.678.6424 KANSAS!, 1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 100 Topeka, KS 66612 Email: kansas.mag@ks.gov | Website: www.KansasMag.com POSTMASTER: Send address change to: KANSAS!, P.O. Box 146, Topeka, KS 66601-0146.

Please mail all editorial inquiries to: KANSAS!, 1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 100 Topeka, KS 66612 email: kansas.mag@ks.gov The articles and photographs that appear in KANSAS! magazine may not be broadcast, published or otherwise reproduced without the express written consent of Kansas Tourism or the appropriate copyright owner.

Unauthorized use is prohibited. Additional restrictions may apply.

We are a community of creators, and art is unavoidable here. Curate a trip with live theatre and music, public art, fine dining, eclectic shopping, and outdoor adventure in Salina, Kansas.

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ICE CREAM FOR ALL

PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT) Aaron Patton, Lana Grove, courtesy Ed Dwight, Jr.

RECOGNIZING A KANSAS HERO This May, Ed Dwight became the world’s oldest astronaut to fly in space. The 90-year-old’s suborbital journey, sponsored by the nonprofit Space for Humanity, celebrated Dwight’s contribution to the American space program and his pioneering role as the nation’s first Black astronaut. KANSAS! readers will remember Dwight from our 2021 feature story about his career as a pilot, as an award-winning sculptor, and as a Kansan with deep roots in the Wyandotte community. The story can still be found online at kansasmag.com.

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S T A T E page 56 Junction City

page 36 Geneseo page 16 Scott City

RIDE THE TRAIL! Our story about the 150th anniversary of the Western Cattle Trail—also known as the Dodge City Cattle Trail—includes a custom two-page spread game board. Clip out and stand up these longhorn markers and challenge your favorite cowhand to experience the triumphs and tribulations of the historic trail.

If you have younger readers who like this game, you might also want to keep an eye out for a special young readers’ edition of KANSAS! magazine set to arrive early next year. We’ll have more information in our next issue!

page 27 Kansas Speedway

page 21 Dodge City page 19 Liberal

There’s usually a good crowd at Eureka’s Lo Mar Drive In. But when owners Daniel and Desireé McVey learned that photographer Aaron Patton was stopping by to take photos for KANSAS! magazine, they declared a “free ice cream cone” hour for the last hour of business. Word got out. “We went through 75–78 cones in one hour,” Desireé recalls. That rate of more than a cone a minute matches some of the other free-cone events the drive in holds throughout the year. “We have these free cone days on special days such as whenever a local sports team wins a championship and on April 15, the anniversary of the day that we bought the diner,” Desireé explains. “It has to be a cone, but it can be any size.”

page 47 Greensburg

page 49 Independence

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In Kansas, our skies are boundless.

ANDREA ETZEL

PUBLISHER, KANSAS! MAGAZINE facebook.com/KansasMagazine @KANSASMag KansasMagazine (get spotted; use #kansasmag to tag us)

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY Andrea Etzel

On clear nights, you can escape the city lights to witness the Milky Way. Countless stars dot the ink-black sky and stretch endlessly above, and the moon, sometimes so large, feels almost within reach. It’s no surprise that generations of Kansans have been captivated by the sky and the mysteries that lie beyond.

My first visit to Geneseo was last October. This small town between Great Bend and Lindsborg along Kansas Highway 4 proudly calls itself the “UFO Capital of Kansas.” When I met with Geneseo historian Jim Gray, I immediately knew this was a story for KANSAS! magazine. Since that first visit, I’ve returned twice. My most recent trip was in July for its annual Kansas UFO Day festival. Driving into town, I was welcomed by Geneseo’s new vibrant mural of a cowboy riding a flying saucer (see the image above). Be sure to check page 36 for more about the festival and the new statues of Gort and Klaatu.

As science and technology advance, space exploration sparks our curiosity. Nowhere in Kansas—or even the Midwest—is this more evident than at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. The Cosmosphere offers a unique experience, showcasing the history, science, and exploration of space. The crew of Artemis II referred to the Cosmosphere as the “best space museum on planet Earth.”

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to our readers and subscribers who’ve taken the time to share your thoughts through our survey. Your feedback is invaluable as we strive to continue producing the best publication that celebrates the state we all love. If you haven’t yet had a chance to complete the survey, there’s still time. You’ll find a link and QR code on the next page that will take you straight to it.

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AIRPORT STEAKHOUSE Hutchinson

Look up when entering the Airport Steakhouse in Hutchinson to see the tail of a life-size bright yellow plane attached to the wall. Propellers and large aviation-related photos add to the restaurant’s décor. Once seated, watch United States Army aircraft and private planes land on the Hutchinson Regional Airport runway. The restaurant is known for its steaks, and the ribeye is the most popular among customers, according to general manager Chelsea Strawn. The menu also includes chicken, seafood, pasta and salads, and the restaurant offers a brunch buffet on Sundays. “The staple of the buffet is the homemade cakes, pies and cream puffs that a baker comes in and bakes fresh,” Strawn says. “They are laid out on a 20-foot-long table.” hutchinsonairportsteakhouse.com 620.662.4281

K-18 CAFÉ Lucas

For airplane pilots landing at Lucas Airport, the K-18 Café stands roughly 50 yards from where the planes typically park; for those driving, the mom-and-pop restaurant is conveniently located along K-18 Highway on the east side of Lucas. Open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., K-18 offers an extensive menu of home-cooked comfort foods that includes pancakes nearly as big as the plate, the best-seller chicken fried steak, and made-from-scratch pies (coconut cream is the most popular). Chicken fried chicken is served on Fridays and cast iron skillet-fried chicken is offered on Sundays.

Facebook: K18 Café | 785.525.6262 W H E R E

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ake off for Stearman Airfield Bar & Grill in Benton where your window seat offers a view of the airport runway less than 50 yards away, allowing you to see airplanes landing while you dine.

Lily Channel, the bar and grill’s general manager, says both private and military aircraft may be observed from inside the restaurant at Lloyd Stearman Field Airport.

“We have, of course, the seven biplanes based here in Benton,” she says of the Stearman Company’s World War II–era aircraft manufactured in Wichita.

“And every fall and spring, we see military Blackhawks and Chinook helicopters.

As long as there is no precipitation and no wind, we see a lot of aircraft.”

Located in a former airport hanger, the restaurant’s décor includes classic airplane models hanging from the ceiling, an airport gas pump, and photos of biplanes and of DOC, a B-29 Superfortress manufactured in Wichita during World War II. The aviation theme continues on the first-class menu with Pilot’s Fried Pickles and Bomber Chicken Nachos for appetizers and a Bi-Plane Cheeseburger and Fly-Over Philly Cheesesteak as entrees. Wings are also on the menu, as well as Stickback Macs (a variation of mac’n’cheese), and “Fly-Bys,” which include a Stearman quesadilla to honor the former local aircraft company.

Channel says the country fried steak with gravy is the most popular option, often ordered with sweet potato fries or mashed potatoes and served with a vegetable. Other favorites include the slow-roasted corned beef Reuben with sauerkraut and the Charleston chicken wrap.

A favorite pre-departure dessert is the restaurant’s signature 1K1 Chocolate Cake topped with whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle; 1K1 is the FAA’s location ID for Lloyd Stearman Field.

stearmanbarandgrill.com | 316.778.1612

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Above Stearman Airfield Bar & Grill is a full-service restaurant in a hangar on airport grounds.

Opposite Outside seating allows a close-up view of arriving and departing planes.

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Everyone’s Favorite Flying Celebrities While their fictional counterparts are heroes in books and stories, real reindeer await visitors at a farm in Towanda S T O R Y

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nlike the flying reindeer in Clement Clarke Moore’s cared for during the warmer seasons. famous holiday poem and Robert L. May’s book Often, younger visitors who encounter the reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the five registered outside of the holiday season will ask if the animals are on North American reindeer that live at Fulton Valley Farms are loan from Santa. real and ready to greet visitors.

“We say we are a training ground for Santa’s reindeer; The farm, operated as an event center by David and they come here and try to learn all the things Santa needs Betty Corbin, along with their son, Richard, became home to them to do. If they work really hard, they’ll make Santa’s ‘A’ the reindeer several years ago after a holiday wish. team and get a name like Dancer or Prancer, but if not, they “It all started because I wanted to do a live nativity still are Santa’s reindeer; they just aren’t the ones who make vignette, and that’s why we started our Country Christmas the round-the-world trip,” Corbin explains. event,” Betty says, explaining her desire to share her faith’s Another popular question from young visitors is, “Can celebration. “There really is a reason for the season; it’s a they fly?” birthday party and it’s fun, but we have to know why we’re “Our answer to that one is ‘I can’t tell you yes or no having this party.” because we’re not with them 24/7. They might fly when we’re After a successful first holiday event, the family decided not watching,’” Corbin will answer. to add reindeer the following year and, in the process, gained The reindeer are just part of the fun at the farm’s annual a wealth of knowledge about this Country Christmas. Each year, unique species of deer and the over a million lights synchronized specialized care required. to Christmas music adorn the “They are like big dogs with woods, silo, and other buildings. antlers,” Corbin says, adding The farm’s Boot Scootin Barn the reindeer are about the size features a decorated tree nearly of a donkey. “They really are reaching the 30-foot-high rafters.

—BETTY CORBIN fascinating creatures.”

The living nativity scene with Reindeer are completely covered in fur, including their music occurs nightly. Last-minute shopping is done at the noses, with hollow hairs that trap air to keep them wellJingle Bell Emporium. A sleigh pulled by draft horses can insulated in cold climates; in the spring, the reindeer start provide rides for up to 20 people at a time. shedding their thick winter coats for a shorter, cooler coat.

Throughout the rest of the year, appointments must be Reindeer are the only species of deer in which the female made to view the reindeer, Corbin says. Those who schedule has antlers identical to the male’s, though only the males lose weddings, conferences, family gatherings or other events at their horns during the winter. the farm have the option of a private showing.

Corbin says that tells you something about the The reindeer also may be rented for public and private legendary stories. events, such as parades, festivals, corporate parties, grand “How we know the reindeer that pull the little jolly man openings, and birthday celebrations. around are female is because the males lose their antlers in “Our traveling squad, Itsy Bitsy and Sparkle, have been to October or November, and the females don’t lose their antlers seven different states,” Corbin says, adding the twosome even until December or January,” she explains. starred in a movie filmed in Kansas City and have been in But, of course, the holidays are only a short time of the several commercials. “They are celebrities.” fultonvalleyfarms.com | 316.775.1894 year for the reindeer, which must be carefully monitored and

“They are like big dogs with antlers. They really are fascinating creatures.”

A CHASE COUNTY COUNTRY CHRISTMAS Cottonwood Falls

Cowboy Santa and his reindeer will make an appearance at A Chase County Country Christmas on November 30 in Cottonwood Falls. The reindeer, from Fulton Valley Farms, may be seen from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on the Chase County Courthouse lawn; Cowboy Santa will arrive at 4 p.m. to hear wish lists until 5:30 p.m. “The unique thing is you can get a picture of the reindeer in front of our beautiful historic courthouse,” says Chase County Chamber of Commerce executive director Toni Schneider. heartoftheflinthills.com/countrychristmas | 620.273.8469

Opposite Betty Corbin stands with one of her reindeer at Fulton Valley Farms.

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Bruce Hogle A conversation with KANSAS! photographers about their lives in photography @blhogle

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ruce Hogle is a lover of nature, more specifically, unique landscapes. Raised in a small town farm in Kansas, he worked out of state for 40-plus years. Slowly, over time, Hogle found his way back to his roots. Today, he enjoys connecting and documenting Kansas life and landscapes.

What objects do you like to photograph that are not common in other works? I enjoy capturing “intimate

carscapes”—images of vehicles from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and some early 70s. I find the bold lines and sculptured curves make, for me, arresting compositions. Fenders, grills, head and taillights, door handles, hood ornaments and such seem just to catch my eye.

Tell us about the shot that got away. The Perseids in August 2023. First attempt: I spent three nights. One night, it was cloudy; another night, there was a thunderstorm; and the third night, I messed up my focus, so the stars all came out slightly blurry.

What is your favorite Kansas landmark to photograph?

Little Jerusalem for the Nature Conservancy.

Tell us about your best chance photo taken in Kansas. The first weekend

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lake, so I pulled in and drove to the far end. What a sight! We shot from 9 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. the next morning and would have kept at it, except we were exhausted from being up before sunrise that first day. One of my captures garnered one of two honorable mentions in the 2023 Nature Conservancy’s international photo contest in the “Lands” category.

What have you learned from being a photographer that you wouldn’t have learned otherwise? There is amazing beauty in often-overlooked details.

What was your favorite photo shoot of your entire career? Photographing for the Nature Conservancy, on my second-ever pre-sunrise morning at Little Jerusalem, I worked my way down to the canyon floor below to shoot the grasses and canyon walls. After many minutes, for some reason, I happened to look up. The sight took my breath away, and I almost started to cry. The sun had gotten high enough to illuminate the tops of the walls to the west, plus there was an interesting cloud formation rolling. The resulting photograph may not have been my best, but it’s my most memorable.

in April, a few years ago, I was in Chase County with a couple of friends to photograph planned burns.

The first evening on the way back to Cottonwood Falls, after visiting the ranch of some friends northwest of Elmdale, we saw a red glow to the east. I thought it might be at the fishing

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“This photo was captured on Fairleigh Ranch in Scott City. I was taking my brother and sisterin-law’s engagement photos with some of their classic cars, and I couldn’t help but snap this shot of the iconic Jeep Wagoneer overlooking their property. I believe it symbolizes the surprising and beautiful adventures that Kansas has to offer.”

BROOKE BUCK photographer

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Brooke Buck, a lifestyle portrait and branding photographer, has been taking photos since she could hold a camera in hand. As a child, she enjoyed gifting photos to friends and family. Since then, Buck identifies as a natural storyteller.

After years in this trade, she has found her greatest gift is to instill positive feelings in others with her work.

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IN THIS ISSUE

Closer to Flight

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We Love Kansas B Y

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Above This biplane at the Mid America Air Museum is a historical reproduction made in 1985. Joseph Harr donated it to the museum in 2004.

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MID AMERICA AIR MUSEUM | Liberal

On loan from the National Museum of the United States Navy, an F-14 Tomcat at the Mid-America Air Museum in Liberal brings to mind the thrilling air battles in the 1986 Top Gun movie, while a very rare F4U-5N Corsair on loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps recalls the planes flown in the 2022 movie Devotion and the 1970s-era Baa Baa Black Sheep television series.

These are just two planes housed at the MidAmerica Air Museum, one of the largest in the country, with 109 aircraft housed inside a former Beech Aircraft factory hanger and on the adjacent tarmac at Mid-America Regional Airport.

Originally known as the Liberal Army Air Field, the airport served as a B-24 Liberator training base for command pilots during World War II. Now it continues that connection to the past through a unique collection.

“Most air museums focus on a particular category of plane or time period,” says Bob Immell, the museum’s director. “What makes ours different is about one-third are military, about one-third are commercial-built general aviation, and about one-third would be called experimental; in other words, they were not built in a factory, and that makes us a very rare museum to have a balanced collection like that.”

Among the rarest airplanes that landed on display at the museum is a custom-built Rearwin Cloudster produced for Pan America Airways to train pilots on instruments in the early 1940s.

And Immell can easily list other rare attractions.

“We have one of the world’s smallest flyable jets in our museum that we own.

We also have the second experimental class airplane ever to fly about the world in our museum, and we also own a B25 Mitchell bomber from World War II that is a beautiful airplane. The B25s were the kind of plane used for General Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo,” Immell says. “And we own a Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber like President [George H. W.] Bush got shot down in during World War II. So we have a variety of pretty amazing and rare airplanes.” visitliberal.com/mid-america-air-museum facebook.com/midamericaairmuseum 620.624.5263

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COMBAT AIR MUSEUM | Topeka

With the Kansas Air National Guard and the Kansas Army National Guard both based at Topeka Regional Airport’s Forbes Field, the Air Guard’s KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling tanker and the Army Guard’s Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter frequently fly over the Combat Air Museum, one of a small number of major aviation museums in the country located on an active airfield.

The museum displays 47 aircraft, including a Lockheed EC-121T Warning Star radar plane, a Boeing CH-47D Chinook cargo helicopter, and a recently acquired F-15A Eagle (used only for flight tests) that complements the F-14A Tomcat fighter jet. The two hangers also house the largest collection of replica World War I aircraft in the Midwest, historic aircraft engines, military aviation art, and a hands-on flight simulator. combatairmuseum.org | 785.862.3303

AVIATION HERITAGE MUSEUM | Coffeyville

Housed in a hangar constructed by the government’s Works Project Administration program in 1933, Coffeyville’s Aviation Heritage Museum displays Funk airplanes, a Breezy experimental plane with no side, and more. Two of the three Funk Aircraft Company airplanes on exhibit were manufactured in Coffeyville in the 1940s after residents Bill and Raymond Jensen bailed out Howard and Joe Funk’s Akron Aircraft Company, which had filed bankruptcy in Ohio. Among the displays are exhibits on the Tuskegee Airmen (African American military pilots and airmen) and the WASP (Women Air Service Pilots), both from World War II, and memorabilia from Coffeyville Army Airfield (a World War II training base) and local pioneers in aviation. The museum recently hosted a traveling NASA exhibit and is planning similar events. coffeyville.com | 620.251.2550

KANSAS AVIATION MUSEUM | Wichita

The control tower of the original Wichita Municipal Airport Terminal, built in the 1930s and now the home of the Kansas Aviation Museum, offers a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. Because Wichita is known as “The Air Capital of the World,” the museum features exhibits on the city’s aviation companies and more than a dozen airplanes, including a B-52 D bomber built in 1957 and six vintage aircraft from the 1920s through the 1940s. Other exhibits include Women in Aviation, the history of African American contributions to aviation, the evolution of engines and propellers, and general military W H E R E I N K A N S A S ? aircraft history. Visitors to the Play on a Plane event on September 14 can walk through several of the planes on the ramp, peek into the cockpit of the B-52 D, and participate in familyfriendly STEM activities. kansasaviationmuseum.org Liberal Wichita Coffeyville Topeka 316.683.9242

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Stories, Dust

& Pockets Full of Pay Kansas

Pecans

150 years ago, Texas cowboys began driving cattle herds along the newly established Western Cattle Trail and transformed Dodge City with their With a combination of native and grafted business, celebrations, andvarieties, wild waysKansas orchards produce a full harvest of this favorite holiday nut

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his year marks the 150-year legacy of the Western Cattle Trail, also known as the Texas Trail or the Dodge City Trail, a cattle industry road connecting Texas ranchers with Midwestern railroad depots and processing centers. Originating in 1874, the trail shaped the nation’s westward expansion and the development of Kansas, particularly Dodge City.

With the end of the Civil War in 1865, Texas cattlemen could market their cattle to prosperous and populous Northern towns, but they faced a formidable task in driving their cattle to these thriving markets. The ranchers had no direct railroad connections, and driving the cattle all the way to market was impractical because towns and communities were in the way and the cattle would lose too much weight from the lengthy journey. Their best solution was to walk the cattle to the nearest railroad shipping point, usually in Kansas, and then ship the cows the rest of the way.

The first route they created was the Shawnee Trail, running from Texas to Kansas City, but expanded settlements and farmland soon made that trail impassible. The ranchers then followed the Chisholm Trail, leading into Abilene.

Following the conclusion of the Red River War in early 1875 and the punitive relocation of the Comanche and Kiowa onto reservations, more settlers poured into central Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle. This influx of farmers and ranchers, coupled with the Quarantine Law of 1875, forced Texas ranchers to drive their cattle further west and pick up a trail established just one year prior by John T. Lytle, an experienced cattle driver. This route brought cattle to the railheads in Kansas and Nebraska along a more western but still practical route.

The Trail’s Most-Traveled Years This Western Cattle Trail quickly became a pivotal component of the cattle-driving industry. It originated in the hill country of Texas near present-day Kerrville and branched off at several points northward, including Dodge City.

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Originally, Dodge City was founded partly due to buffalo hunting. However, the hunting started only after the buffalo became nearly extinct due to mass slaughter. At this point, Dodge City needed another source of income to survive.

The sighting of the first large trail herds at the Point of Rocks on the outskirts west of Dodge City in 1874 sparked hopes and schemes for a significant economic boom.

The cowboys who drove these herds spent two or three months traveling at cattle-pace of about 12 miles a day. With their remarkable resilience, their hardy longhorns grazed for food and paced themselves by instinct.

The cowboys had other instincts.

By the time they reached Dodge City, they were ready for a good time, and had some money to make it possible. The 15 or so men employed on the average drive were each paid $30 to $40 a month—and Dodge City was there to give them what they wanted.

Saloon keepers catered to the prospects of cowboy coin by giving their establishment a Texas flavor with names such as Nueces, Alamo, and Lone Star.

But it wasn’t just drink.

After enduring a month or two on the trail, battling dust, heat, storms, and elevated water and subsisting on coarse meals, which often consisted of beans, bacon, and coffee, the cowboys looked forward to well-deserved leisure. Arriving at a town at trail’s end, a cowboy first bathed, shaved, and donned a fresh outfit—likely including quilted-top, tight-fitting dress boots with the pronounced lone star at the top and a new Stetson 10-gallon hat.

Many also got rowdy, sometimes fighting over money, a woman, or some unfinished business from the journey. These altercations, while sometimes resulting in gunfights, were a regular part of cowboy life and became part of the Wild West’s mystique.

To keep the cowboys from simply bypassing the city, the merchants of Dodge stocked their shelves with goods a cowboy might need. Merchant

Above Nat Love, who rode as Deadwood Dick, is known for his colorful (if not entirely truthful) tales of life on the trails.

Opposite The Dodge City Cowboy Band gathered for a portrait in 1885, when the city was near the peak of its cattle trail wealth and infamy.

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THE KANSAS PORTION OF THE WESTERN CATTLE TRAIL Running from South Texas to Nebraska, the Western Cattle Trail crossed from the south to the north border of Kansas. Just before entering Kansas from the south, the trail went directly northwest of May, Oklahoma, where it crossed the Beaver River (also known as the North Canadian River), fording on the sand bar at the mouth of Clear Creek. The trail then passed near Laverne and Rosston and entered Kansas just east of the Cimarron River, striking across the stream at Deep Hole Crossing. At Deep Hole, the cowboys sometimes stopped at Red Clark’s Long Horn Roundup Saloon just before traversing the Cimarron River.

Continuing north to Dodge City, the trail veered slightly eastward from the Cimarron River to the south side of the Arkansas River and into the vast grasslands to fatten the cattle. If cattle were to be sold, the final section crossed into Dodge City over the Arkansas River northward to the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway railhead stock pens. On many occasions, after the cowboys visited Dodge City, the cattle herds continued to travel north into Nebraska, where they often could find a better market in Ogallala. This trek took them over the Kansas line in Rawlins County, where they met the challenge of the Republican River. Notably, not all cowboys took the same route north. Kansas historians Gary and Margaret Kraisenger have documented three separate trail branches into Nebraska.

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and civic leader Robert Wright advertised That night at twelve o’clock, we reached his store as a haven of abundance, offering Dodge City, where I had to lay over for “the largest and fullest line of groceries and twenty-four hours. I thought everything tobacco west of Kansas City.” His store also would be quiet in the town at that hour of provided groceries, clothing, Studebaker the night, but I soon found out that they wagons, Texas saddles, rifles, pistols, Bowie never slept in Dodge. knives, and building hardware.

They had a big dance hall there which As the cattle-shipping season of 1876 was to Dodge City what Jack Harris Theater loomed, the Santa Fe Railroad Company was to San Antonio. I arrived at the hall in quickly built a sizeable new stockyard in time to see a gambler and a cowboy mix up Dodge City, and civic leaders assured the in a six-shooter duel. drovers that Dodge was Contrary to popular ready for them. The first belief, the cattle drive great herd from Red River LEARN MORE was not a slow, mundane arrived in Dodge on May journey. It could be an 12, 1877, and from that day, To learn more about the adrenaline-pumping Dodge City became a fulladventure filled with Western Cattle Trail and fledged cattle town. danger. Stampedes, life in Dodge City during The Western Trail was a constant threat, the heyday of the cattle paramount in transporting could be triggered by trails, visit the Boot Hill an estimated 3–5 million thunderstorms, prairie Museum in Dodge City. Keith longhorns, of which an dog holes, and sheer Wondra, the curator at Boot average of 75,000 head of fatigue from the journey.

Hill Museum, states that cattle were shipped out of The terrain could change “Dodge City’s economy has Dodge City annually from dramatically, especially always revolved around the 1875 through 1885. The when crossing several cattle trade. The permanent last recorded herd to use rivers during the spring cattle trail exhibit at Boot the trail was in 1897 when flooding season. Cowboys Hill Museum depicts the John McCandless drove not only had to be skilled agencies required for his herd from the Texas riders and ropers but processing and looking after Panhandle XIT ranch, also had to be prepared the cattle. It also features the largest fenced ranch to navigate encounters a hand-painted mural that in the world at that time. with wolves, farmers, and brings longhorns to life as McCandless, a cowboy Indigenous people, who they emerge from it.” turned Texas Ranger, a often saw the cattle drives steadfast trail boss, led his as an affront to their way of BOOT HILL MUSEUM ranch’s last big cattle to life. They also confronted 500 W Wyatt Earp Blvd drive as the syndicate was the looming threat of cattle Dodge City shutting down operations rustlers, who would have 620.227.8188 | boothill.org in Texas and selling off the no qualms about killing a remaining land. cowboy to take the herd.

Cowboys rode the Western Cattle Trail The Cowboys Who Rode It for less than 25 years in all, but the heritage Much of what we know about life on of the Western Cattle Trail can still be seen the trail—and just off of it—comes from today in the Western United States, with accounts by the cowboys who rode it. Andy historical markers, museums, and annual Adams, Reed Anthony, Charles Siringo, and events commemorating its significance. The Nat Love are just some who left behind vivid, trail continues to captivate the imagination colorful memories and first-hand accounts. of people around the world, serving as a Jack Potter, a traveler who rode the rail reminder of a short-lived, bygone era when system into Dodge City, wrote in “Coming cowboys drove their herds north to the Off the Trail in ’82” about the nightlife he cities, arriving with stories, plenty of dust, experienced while making a short layover. and pockets full of pay.

Opposite The Dodge City business district in 1875 had yet to grow significantly from the impact of being a primary stop on the Western Cattle Trail. All of that would change in the coming years.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY Kansas State Historical Society

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HOW DEADWOOD DICK (ALMOST) STOLE THE FORT DODGE CANNON Nat Love, or Deadwood Dick, is one of the most famous cowboys who rode the Western Cattle Trail. His autobiography tells of growing up enslaved on a plantation in Davidson County, Tennessee.

He left after the Civil War and arrived in Dodge City, where he joined a group of Texas cowboys, several of whom were also African Americans, and began driving cattle from Texas to Kansas.

Love’s stories are believed to contain a generous amount of exaggeration, but they certainly read well, and there is no doubt that he rode the trails and saw and experienced something similar to what he described, such as this “wild life” adventure he got up to after driving cattle into Dodge City: After our herd had been delivered to their new owners, we started out to properly celebrate the event, and for a space of several days we kept the old town on the jump.

And so when we finally started for home all of us had more or less of the bad whiskey of Dodge City under our belts and were feeling rather spirited and ready for anything.

I probably had more of the bad whiskey of Dodge City than any one and

was in consequence feeling very reckless, but we had about exhausted our resources of amusement in the town, and so were looking for trouble on the trail home.

[O]ur way led past old Fort Dodge.

Seeing the soldiers and the cannon in the fort, a bright idea struck me, but a fool one just the same. It was no less than a desire to rope one of the cannons. It seemed to me that it would be a good thing to rope a cannon and take it back to Texas with us to fight Indians with.

Getting my lariat rope ready I rode to a position just opposite the gate of the fort, which was standing open. Before the gate paced a sentry with his gun on his shoulder and his white gloves showing up clean and white against the dusty grey surroundings.

I waited until the sentry had passed the gate, then putting spurs to my horse I dashed straight for and through the gate into the yard. The surprised sentry called halt, but I paid no attention to him. Making for the cannon at full speed my rope left my hand and settled square over the cannon, then turning and putting spurs to my horse I tried to drag the cannon after me, but strain as he might my horse was unable to budge it an inch. In the meantime the surprised sentry at the gate had given the alarm and now I heard the bugle sound,

boots and saddles, and glancing around I saw the soldiers mounting to come after me, and finding I could not move the cannon, I rode close up to it and got my lariat off then made for the gate again at full speed. The guard jumped in front of me with his gun up, calling halt, but I went by him like a shot, expecting to hear the crack of his musket, but for some reason he failed to fire on me, and I made for the open prairie with the cavalry in hot pursuit.

My horse could run like a wild deer, but he was no match for the big, strong, fresh horses of the soldiers and they soon had me. Relieving me of my arms they placed me in the guard house where the commanding officer came to see me. He asked me who I was and what I was after at the fort. I told him and then he asked me if I knew anyone in the city. I told him I knew Bat Masterson. He ordered two guards to take me to the city to see Masterson. As soon as Masterson saw me he asked me what the trouble was, and before I could answer, the guards told him I rode into the fort and roped one of the cannons and tried to pull it out. Bat asked me what I wanted with a cannon and what I intended doing with it. I told him I wanted to take it back to Texas with me to fight the Indians with; then they all laughed.

SOURCES Jack Potter, “Coming Off the Trail in ’82,” in The Best Cowboy Stories Ever Told, edited by Stephen Brennan (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2011), 411–12; Nat Love, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love: Better Known in the Cattle Country as Deadwood Dick, By Himself (Los Angeles, 1907), 106–107. Available through Duke University Libraries, Documenting the American South, https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/natlove/natlove.html.

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RIDE THE WESTERN CATTLE TRAIL! Cowboys spent months riding the Western Cattle Trail. And though there were welcome days when the drive was a slow and uneventful journey, many other days were adrenaline-pumping adventure filled with danger. Put on your best cattle-driving hat, grab a standard six-sided dice and a longhorn cattle marker from page 7, and get ready to race your favorite fellow trail rider through the dangers and triumphs of the Western Cattle Trail. The player who shouts out “Dodge City, here I come!” the loudest goes first.

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Kansas Speedway Revs Up for ESports A partnership with KC Pioneers brings top-level, next-generation competitive gamers and their fans to race track venue Kansas Speedway’s Kenny Delaquila (left) teamed up with KC Pioneers’ Sam Kulikov to bring esports racing to the Speedway.

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ansas Speedway typically excites fans with the roar of engines, but in the past few years, it has also brought excitement through the push of a button—several buttons, actually.

For the past three years, the Speedway has been partnering with Kansas City gaming group KC Pioneers to bring top-level esports gaming competitions to the venue.

“Gaming, as long as you have the right partners and equipment, you can do it anywhere,” says Sam Kulikov, co-founder and chief marketing officer for KC Pioneers, the metro area’s esports league.

Established in 2019, the KC Pioneers compete as an international esports team whose different rosters compete in various leagues and tournaments. Kulikov describes the Pioneers as a “high-level piece of gaming” with global reach. Many of its top players, such as 19-year-old Lachlan Gordon, an Australian who competes under the name SuperLachie, come from abroad. Just as Kansas City’s professional baseball, football, and soccer clubs recruit from across the globe and nation, so do the Pioneers.

But the franchise has—and continues to develop— Midwest roots, and part of that process is deepening ties with the KC Speedway.

“Gaming is a vehicle to do super unique things. The main thing is, we want to stand up a unique gaming experience that shows people we’re really invested.”

—SAM KULIKOV

PHOTOGRAPHS OF ATHLETES COURTESY KC Pioneers / Social Apex Media

“It’s a really awesome opportunity for us to build a great business and build a vehicle for city pride,” Kulikov says of the collaboration.

Making the connection The KC Pioneers hold two events per year in coordination with Kansas Speedway, a May event to highlight eNASCAR and the gaming division and a September Rocket League tournament.

“With NASCAR, it started just out of a genuine curiosity,” Kulikov explains.

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Ray Smith, NASCAR’s director of gaming and esports, reached out to KC Pioneers three years ago and invited them to Kansas Speedway. The initial meeting, including the track-level tour, was “eye-opening for everyone,” according to Smith.

“I think with NASCAR, if you’re an outsider, you have no clue till you get on pit row, and then you’re just like, ‘Oh my goodness, I should not even be allowed to be down here,’” Smith says. “So I think it was really eye-opening of how open our sport is and how much access our sport gives.”

A growing relationship After the first year, the Pioneers wanted to find out how to “dig in deeper” and envisioned making “some really great content with NASCAR and eNASCAR,” Kulikov says.

“The team they had is really a breath of fresh air as far as collaboration,” he adds. “They’re great to work with—very honest, authentic real people.”

The second year saw the Pioneers partner with eNASCAR, sign new team members, and land the national convenience store QuikTrip as the first main sponsor of an eNASCAR program. The competitions included meet and greets and one-on-one opportunities for fans.

“What we see is that NASCAR really believes in gaming, and that’s why they developed eNASCAR,” Kulikov says.

“Ray’s team is so committed and attentive to their people, their players, and that makes it a much more enjoyable and scalable product.”

The following year, 2023, KC Pioneers hosted the Rocket League 3v3 event at the Kansas Speedway midway. The Army National Guard partnered with the competition that welcomed more than 20 teams from around the country.

Kenny Delaquila of Kansas Speedway said the central NASCAR team and Smith started the relationship with the KC Pioneers, and that ultimately trickled down to the track level, where he came in. Delaquila said the Kansas Speedway team is involved in the “day-to-day” of crucial event tasks, such as running Wi-Fi, hardwiring computers, and avoiding crashes (the computer kind).

“There’s potential sponsorship money on the line and stuff like that,” Delaquila says. “We can’t have PCs going down. So that means really having the boots on the ground at the Speedway and making sure that we’re communicating with everybody and making sure that everybody is tied in on every meeting.”

For Speedway events, Kulikov says they set up unique gaming spaces with viewership chairs and matches featuring the best teams from around the country, including competitive college teams from the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas.

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The term “esports” is a general name for competitive video gaming. The games include fighting matches, shooter-style showdowns, and more.

Often, a competitive esports player will be competitive in several games but specialize in one or two.

“A player can be competitive across multiple games, just the same way as Bo Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Deion Sanders and others excelled at multiple sports,” explains Pioneers co-founder Sam Kulikov.

“The underlying factor is certain players have an aptitude for handeye coordination, strategic thinking, communication, etc.”

One of the KC Pioneers’ most successful rosters, QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming, competes in Rocket League games, where teams of three players drive simulated cars in an autosoccer field, complete with spin-outs, rocket-powered jumps, crashes, and memorable goals.

The eNASCAR team races in virtual simulations of NASCAR cars and tracks, with programmed factors such as headwinds and tailwinds that require competitors to adapt and strategize.

LEARN MORE

For more information, visit www.kansasspeedway.com www.kcp.gg

Anticipated Event Looking at the Speedway’s calendar of events, Delaquila says that the esports competitions at the Speedway are getting to the point where fans anticipate the competitions.

“People are starting to expect it now, I feel like,” Delaquila notes. “And we’re getting some traction in the market, so it’s only going to make it bigger and better.”

Delaquila adds that the Speedway benefits from “capturing the attention of younger fans” who participate in esports and eNASCAR, showing them the uniqueness an unprecedented access it provides.

“Even last year, with just kind of leveraging the Pioneers’ in-market trust, we brought out 24 teams, 76 participants for that Rocket League tournament in the first year,” Delaquila says. “So, clearly, we’re wanting to [build on] people trusting the Pioneers, but also trusting Kansas Speedway, that we’re going to put on a great event and we’re going to offer something new and different that not a lot of tracks, if any, offer.”

“Gaming is a vehicle to do super unique things,” Kulikov says. “The main thing is, we want to stand up a unique gaming experience that shows people we’re really invested.”

For Smith, partnering with the Pioneers brings NASCAR the assurance that they are working with a group who knows how to plan and execute a showcase esport event.

“They know how to get the equipment. They know how to get 40 or 60 PCs and all the controllers, and they know how to set up the tournament and the bracket,” Smith says, “and they know the best format that’s going to attract players.”

Smith adds that the Pioneers demonstrate an authentic commitment to the community.

“They’re not really just selling merch or making content,” Smith says of the esports franchise. “They’re ingrained in the community with the Royals and with other entities setting up tournaments, and they just don’t do just the online play with Rocket League as a lot of other groups do.

They are ingrained in their backyard.”

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From Kansas Stars to the

Investors breathe new life into Cold War missile silos

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY The Missile Silo Ranch

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ack in 2008, Robert Czyszczon was at home in Tampa Bay, Florida, browsing eBay for historical relics, when he came across an artifact for sale that came from a decommissioned missile silo. His interest was piqued. “I started wondering, are these things really real?”

Czyszczon went down the research rabbit hole and found a man in Topeka, Edward Paden, brokering the sale of missile silos. Czyszczon got in touch with Paden, who sent him a list of silos available to purchase.

“I’ve always been fascinated with underground bunkers—what boy or guy isn’t? Everybody wants a man cave or a Bat Cave,” Czyszczon says.

But purchasing a missile silo means buying with cash because no bank will finance a loan for that kind of property. So, Czyszczon put the dream on the back burner.

When the global pandemic hit in 2020, a friend reminded Czyszczon of his dream to purchase a missile silo, joking that they could all shelter there for the duration of Covid-19. Czyszczon contacted Paden, and luckily, he was still in the missile silo business. That summer, Czyszczon and his family loaded up for a cross-country vacation from Florida to the Grand Canyon, stopping in Kansas to look at missile silo sites. On their way back from vacation, the family stopped again to let Paden know they wanted to purchase the site near Ellsworth.

“It’s been three years of a lot of work and a lot of money,” says Czyszczon, who is in the hotel and restaurant business. The entire missile silo had to be gutted and cleaned, with all new interiors installed for the living quarters. The site’s only utility was electricity—all the plumbing, sewage and Internet had to be installed. “We put in a solar farm so the site is self-sufficient,” Czyszczon says.

The result is the Missile Silo Ranch, which has three bedrooms and three baths, as well as a movie theater, a

Above Now an Airbnb, the facility once held the U.S.’s first ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile). Opposite A tour group explores the historic 1959 Cold War–era property.

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Atlas Ad Astra Adventure Resort Matthew Fulkerson became interested in missile silos when he was ten years old. He had been out exploring and came across Ed and Dianne Paden’s decommissioned Cold War–era Atlas E Missile Base outside Topeka. Eventually, Fulkerson would go to work for Ed Paden in acquiring and selling missile bases, communication bunkers, and other properties left behind by the Cold War. In 2013 he was taking photos to market a missile silo site just outside Wilson and fell in love with it.

“There are fantastic views of Smoky Hills with the Post Rock Wind farm, and it’s real close to Lake Wilson, which is one of the cleanest lakes in the state,” says Fulkerson. Its location just off I-70 was also a plus. “I thought, this is a hidden gem for tourism.”

Though Fulkerson isn’t wealthy, he has a background in international business hotel and restaurant management. “I never thought I’d come back to Kansas, and yet, here I am, doing hospitality here, now.”

Currently, Fulkerson lives in a little house on the property he has dubbed Atlas Ad Astra. Fulkerson, who has sought out investors interested in funding the rehab, began gutting the property in 2017. Benjamin Moore sponsored 100 gallons of paint for the site, and Airbnb has invested $100,000 to help make it one of their “OMG Destinations.”

Currently, Fulkerson rents out camping spots on the property and has converted part of the site to an Airbnb.

Fulkerson reinvests all the Airbnb funds, camping fees and tour admissions into renovating the property. The 24-acre site offers primitive camping sites for $35 per night, and the Airbnb stays are $350 per night. Eventually, he wants to provide RV hookups.

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The Kansas Tourism recently awarded Atlas Ad Astra $80,000 so that Fulkerson can develop the Educational Center for Space Habitat Studies.

“My goal is to turn this into an educational center where I can teach people about the sustainable technologies we would need to be able to set up a lunar base on the moon or a colonization project on another planet,” says Fulkerson.

He thinks humanity must figure out how to continue to have clean air and water and grow fresh food, regardless of climate change, war, or natural disasters. “I’m partnering with companies from around the globe to feature their products and technologies here in this place,” explains Fulkerson. “If we can learn to be self-sufficient up on the moon, then we can learn to be completely self-sufficient down here on Earth, no matter what comes our way.”

Fulkerson also envisions a space-themed adventure resort for people of all ages and incomes.

Eventually, he wants to develop the entire missile silo, which is large enough for several floors of loft or apartment living space. But he estimates it’s a $35–$40 million project, so he’s always looking for more investors.

“It’s been a lot of fun. I get to meet people from all over the world and share with them our history, but also the potential of our future.”

To find out more about this quirky Kansas destination, visit atlasadastra.com.

Above Just 10 miles east of Ellsworth, visitors explore one of the first-ever “super hardened” missile silos, built to withstand a 200 pound-per-square-inch blast.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY The Missile Silo Ranch

full-sized bar, an outdoor shooting range ( firearms included, but feel free to bring your own), and a full-sized kitchen. Of course, down below, visitors can explore the historic silo itself, where much of the equipment from the 1960s remains.

“It’s like a time capsule,” says Czyszczon.

The cost is $25,000 per night, with a two-night minimum stay.

“I always thought it would be cool to open a [cool] Airbnb like no other,” says Czyszczon, who is hoping to entice celebrities and other wealthy folks to the property.

Czyszczon has reached out to Kansas City’s professional football team and would love it if Travis Kelce and his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, visited the Missile Silo Ranch, where there are no cameras and no paparazzi.

The site is also appropriate for weddings, hunting trips, and corporate retreats—it’s on 20 acres and has its own helipad. “It’s pretty much an adult playground.”

For more information about overnight stays and tours at the Missile Silo Ranch, visit themissilesiloranch.com.

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J u s t i n Lis te r & A n d r e a E tz el

now

entering:

‘Dimension G’ Geneseo hosts an interplanetary party

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FOR THREE YEARS, Geneseo has hosted the Kansas UFO Day Festival, a celebration that draws on the area’s legends and historic dreamers.

On the festival day in July, the Rice County town of some 220 people holds a parade, offers UFO-themed handmade crafts, and serves up alien-themed foods.

“There is absolutely nothing in the state of Kansas like this, so that sets us apart as something unique,” says Jim Gray, a local author and historian who created the festival. “We like to call Geneseo ‘Dimension G.’” That space-age rebranding of Geneseo reflects the character of the Geneseo Museum and the eccentric visionary responsible for it.

Located in the former home of Dr. Elmer Janzen, the museum holds artifacts from Geneseo’s history along with artifacts from Janzen’s personal collections.

“Dr. Elmer Janzen was an eclectic, allaround genius. He had a number of different degrees. He never married, so he had lots of time to devote to Geneseo, and he collected the photographs from family albums and put them into slides,” Gray says. “We have over 8,000 slides that are mostly Geneseo families and the surrounding area.”

Janzen’s personal collections at the museum include UFO- and alienthemed memorabilia and artwork from the 1950s to the 1970s, a rich and prolific time for the sci-fi genre. “It’s a little snapshot into the culture of the 1950s and 60s UFO movement,” Gray explains.

“It’s a very interesting time period.”

Gray first encountered Janzen’s collection when he was growing up in Geneseo and attended the museum as a kid. What intrigued him most about the UFO part of Janzen’s collection was an exhibit about (continued on page 40)

GORT AND KLATUU One of the main events for Geneseo’s 2024 Kansas UFO Day Festival was the dedication of two new space-themed statues to the Geneseo Museum.

Veteran artists Bruce Bitter and his brother Brent created the statues of Gort and Klatuu, characters from the 1951 sci-fi thriller The Day the Earth Stood Still, from their B&B Metal Arts studio in Hoisington.

The Bitters began their project by studying photographs of both characters, determining the measurements of torsos, arms and legs, as well as costume details.

Bruce said he was thrilled not only to be making the figures for the Geneseo Museum but also to be working with his longtime friend Jim Gray. “This is something unique, that when I tell people I’m making Gort the Robot and Klatuu, and Geneseo is the UFO capital of Kansas, everyone just smiles,” Bitter says.

Kansans might know the Bitter brothers’ work from their Earth steel globe statue in the Steve Fossett Plaza at the Salina Regional Airport.

The Plaza is a memorial for the pilot of the same name who completed the world’s first solo, nonstop, unrefueled, fixed-wing flight—which started and ended in Salina.

ARRIVE

a man named James Hill, from Seymour, Missouri, who owned two dogs he claimed to be from Venus. There are photographs of Hill with his dogs and tufts of hair supposedly from the dogs. “As a kid that really intrigued me,” Gray laughs.

Decades later, in 2018, Gray became president of the reorganized museum board and set to work with other residents to rejuvenate the old museum.

“The spacecraft collection was a little bit of an embarrassment to the community.

It was sort of Geneseo’s little secret that no one talked about,” Gray recalls. But he knew the museum was exactly the kind of quirky, unique attraction that could bring visitors to Geneseo. So far, that notion seems to be proving correct, with the festival doubling in size and attendance every year.

Gray hopes more believers and enthusiasts continue to join the celebration every year. No encounters with aliens are guaranteed—or even required.

“What’s interesting about Janzen is he never had his own experience,” Gray notes.

“He just kind of documented all these other people who did. He was kind of hoping for one, but it never happened.”

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JIM GRAY’S GENESEO UFO EXPERIENCE In the summer of 1972, Jim Gray and his then-girlfriend, Robyn White, were driving about four miles south of Geneseo when suddenly, the inside of the car lit up.

It was, Gray recalls, “the most brilliant white light you can imagine.”

Gray adds that he then looked up through the windshield and saw a light “retracting” into the sky.

“It didn’t just go out. It kind of followed itself up into the sky—straight above us. The thing is, it was a very dark night, so I didn’t see where it came from. I didn’t see any kind of a [craft] body above us—it was just darkness,” he says. “We were really spooked.”

Gray drove Robyn to her parents’ house in Geneseo, where they sat on the front porch to talk about what they’d seen. They watched in amazement as a dust devil suddenly blew up out of nowhere and came bounding down the street. This was just minutes after the strange light from the sky.

“Dust devils generally kind of wander and move around a little bit, but this went straight down Main Street, right past us,” Gray says. “And I looked at her and I said, ‘You’re going in the house.’”

That was the end of that date, but the couple would be married about a month later.

Left Jim Gray, shown here holding hands with the statue of Gort the Robot, created for the Kansas UFO Day celebration.

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OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD

SPACE ATTRACTIONS Explore space attractions boasting rich history, space travel and more STORY BY Debbie Miller

PHOTOS BY Jason Dailey

ILLUSTRATION BY Torren Thomas

Above A SR-71 Blackbird supersonic spy plane greets visitors as they enter the lobby.

Opposite Science-enthusiasts enjoy Astronaut Camp at the Cosmosphere.

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last off to explore planets, rockets, and famous spacecraft at the state’s cosmic attraction, the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. The renowned space museum’s unworldly exhibits launch visitors into Kansas’ starry skies and galaxies far, far away.

The state claims another celestial curiosity: a veritable meteorite minefield in Western Kansas. One of the world’s largest pallasite meteorites, a 1,000-pound specimen from outer space, is displayed at the Big Well Museum in Greensburg near where the giant mass landed.

COSMOSPHERE A Hutchinson astronomy enthusiast, Patty Carey, beamed the city’s first planetarium show in 1962 inside the poultry building at the state fairgrounds, with only a used projector and folding chairs. The makeshift planetarium, the first in Kansas, moved to Hutchinson Junior College in 1966 before the facility expanded in 1997 to become the current Cosmosphere.

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Today, the Smithsonian-affiliated science center and museum draws space buffs to its galaxy of galleries. It’s home to the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow, a high-tech planetarium, two-story dome theater, fired-up rocket lab and handson CosmoKids programs. Its collection of U.S. space artifacts ranks second only to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

In the lobby, the journey begins with a walk beneath the looming wings of a sleek and stealthy SR-71 Blackbird, a supersonic spy plane.

Visitors can ride along with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels in the lobby’s flight simulator before launching into the Cosmosphere’s centerpiece, the Hall of Space Museum. Its combined collection of U.S. and Russian space artifacts—the world’s largest— documents the intense race between the two superpowers. Rockets, spacesuits, training gear and other artifacts from both programs help tell the story.

The Hall of Space’s standout exhibit, the Apollo 13 command module, Odyssey, recounts the drama of the nearly disastrous 1970 moon mission. The museum boasts crafts from the first three human-carrying space programs—Mercury, Gemini and Apollo—plus a Soviet Vostok capsule flown on an uncrewed mission.

Currently under renovation, the Hall of Space remains fully open, with most artifacts on display.

“The entire museum is walkable, and visitors still get the full experience,” explains Chuck McClary, Cosmosphere public relations coordinator, about the year-long renovation. “Throughout 2024, we’ve focused on updating our building for the future, future-proofing us!”

By the end of 2024, the museum will house a new interactive rocket gallery with real rocket engines used to demonstrate how rockets work. Watch for improved signage and more interactive exhibits, too.

Two long-standing museum attractions zoom in on starry skies and feature films. In the pitch-black Justice Planetarium, stars projected on the overhead dome teach about constellations, planets and other heavenly bodies. Moviegoers will be immersed in the action at the wraparound, two-story Carey Digital Dome Theater with 4G digital projection. The Dome showbill includes gripping documentaries, such as military, wildlife and space science releases.

Kids have a blast, literally, in Dr. Goddard’s Lab, known for its cool experiments and explosions. For even more aero adventures, kids can climb into a miniature Orion spacecraft and build air rockets and Mars habitats at the action-packed CosmoKids.

“Kids think they’re just having fun, but they’re also learning at the same time by discovering science on their own,” McClary says about the Cosmosphere’s newest addition, CosmoKids.

He looks forward to continue telling the story of the space race in fresh ways.

“Reading about it in history books is one thing, but when you look at the actual spacecraft, the real suits, and the genuine tools, you’re only one degree of separation away from the person who was actually there. We hope these renovations make that realization even easier than it was before,” McClary concludes.

The Cosmosphere is open Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit cosmo.org for more information.

In addition to its daily operating hours, spaceenthusiasts looking for a deeper understanding of all things science and technology related should consider participating in one of the many Cosmosphere Camps available.

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Just 53 miles east of the Colorado border on I-70

WESTERN KANSAS’ METEORITE FAME It’s not that the sky is falling in Western Kansas.

Instead, the wide-open and cultivated countryside, with few trees and rocks, makes prime meteoritefinding grounds.

The region first drew meteoric attention in 1890 when Eliza Kimberly and her husband unearthed heavy black rocks in their fields. Professor F.W. Cragin of Washburn College in Topeka traveled by train to verify Kimberly’s extensive collection of what she was convinced were meteorites. Upon arrival, Professor Cragin, knowing that their contents were rare, verified and purchased several of her collection.

It turned out they were uncommon, stony-iron pallasite meteorites, which were then named and are known today as Brenham meteorites, named for the now-abandoned Kansas town of Brenham, near where they were found.

Since then, the Brenham region in Kiowa County has continued to be bountiful territory. In the 1920s and 1930s, famed meteorite hunter Harvey Nininger, a geology professor at McPherson College, uncovered scores of finds. In 1949, a Hutchinson man, H.O. Stockwell, discovered the 1,000-pound heavyweight using a homebuilt metal detector mounted on a wheelbarrow. At the time, his meteorite ranked as the world’s largest pallasite.

The biggest Brenham specimen yet, a 1,400-pounder, was excavated in an Arkansas wheat field in 2005 by professional hunters Steve Arnold and Philip Mani.

Stockwell’s 1,000-pound treasure eventually landed in nearby Greensburg’s Big Well Museum. Rebuilt after Greensburg’s devastating 2007 tornado, the museum preserves the 1888 Big Well, a 109-foot-deep, hand-dug engineering wonder built as the town’s water source.

Visitors spiral deep into the well to learn local and well history and recount the horrific tornado and the town’s sustainable comeback.

A display of the 1,000-pound meteorite, named the Space Wanderer, and Stockwell’s metal detector anchor the museum’s ground level. The giant stone itself took a spin in the powerful tornado before later being located under a collapsed wall and eventually returned to the new museum.

Museum director Heather Coyne Bailey explains that the meteorite, an oddity that makes Kiowa County special, is still attracting attention from academics.

“The Space Wanderer means a lot to the people in Kiowa County because it’s a huge part of our early settlers’ history [and] the ancient history of Kiowa County,” Bailey says. “Locals still keep an eye out for meteorites in the fields and pastures.”

To learn about museum hours, admission and more, visit the bigwell.org or call 620.723.4102.

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MISS ABLE HISTORY-MAKING SPACE MONKEY:

An unlikely astronaut, a Kansas monkey named Miss Able, rocketed the U.S. into the space race in 1959.

Her successful ride in a Jupiter nose cone paved the way for humans to explore the cosmos.

Miss Able was born at the Independence, Kansas, Ralph Mitchell Zoo in 1957 and lived an unheralded early life there with her rhesus monkey troop.

But when, in a far-away realm, the Soviet Union successfully launched its Sputnik satellite, the United States felt itself falling behind in the space race and accelerated its research. It turns out that Miss Able was the catalyst.

“After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the U.S. went into overdrive to make up ground in the race and responded by hurrying to send animals to space to prove that surviving space flight was physically possible,” explains Ralph Mitchell Zoo director Scott Patton.

When the U.S. Navy issued an urgent plea for rhesus monkeys, the Independence Zoo sent several candidates. After extensive evaluation, the Navy selected Miss Able and a female squirrel monkey named Miss Baker for their flight to test the biomedical effects of space travel.

At 18 months old, Able and her counterpart were fitted with spacesuits and helmets with built-in sensors and were launched in a Jupiter rocket from Cape Canaveral on May 28, 1959. They climbed to an altitude of 360 miles and traveled 17,000 miles in 16 minutes, reaching speeds of 10,000 miles per hour.

The Navy ship U.S.S. Kiowa retrieved the spaceship and found the two resilient primates in good health, earning status as the first animals to survive space flight and leading the way to manned flights.

Healthy upon return, heroine Miss Able unexpectedly died soon after from a medical procedure complication. But her fame lives on at Ralph Mitchell Zoo’s Monkey Island, once home to her and her rhesus buddies and playful white-faced capuchin monkeys today.

The zoo opened in 1925 in Independence’s Riverside Park. Monkey Island was added in 1932 during the Great Depression as part of a WPA project.

“Monkey Island was built to hold rhesus monkeys like Miss Able, but the real purpose was to provide work for unemployed local men during the Depression,” Patton explains.

Today’s historic structure is much like it was when Miss Able frolicked there, with the centerpiece limestone castle surrounded by a moat. Vegetation resembling the primates’ natural habitat, climbing structures, heat and air conditioning are added comforts.

A life-size bronze sculpture of Miss Able climbing a branch was unveiled at Monkey Island in June 2024 during Miss Able’s Summer Blastoff celebration.

The inaugural festival marked the 65th anniversary of her historic flight.

Independence plans “[Miss Able] to host the Blastoff represented a celebration each summer. win for the United Elsewhere, the town States when there pays tribute with nods was much political such as the zoo’s Miss Able Avenue address and Miss uncertainty—a Able’s Snack Shack, as well huge morale boost as a mural at the football for the whole stadium depicting Able country during gazing at the starry sky in the Cold War.” her space suit.

“It’s a very popular –SCOTT PATTON photo op,” says Patton.

Sixty-five years later, Miss Able and Monkey Island remain a space-age attraction.

“We get people from all over the country who are interested in space history and come to find out more about Miss Able and see the island,” Patton says.

“Miss Able cemented the Ralph Mitchell Zoo as a place in history, and we’re very grateful to her,” he adds. “She represented a win for the United States when there was much political uncertainty—a huge morale boost for the whole country during the Cold War.” The Ralph Mitchell Zoo is open daily, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., April through October, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., November through March. Admission is free.

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or those looking for a taste of nostalgia from a bygone era, it’s time to check out the vintage Valentine diners still serving food in Kansas. Wichita’s Valentine Manufacturing Company constructed portable, selfcontained, prefabricated metal units from the late 1930s into the mid-1970s. Approximately 2,200 Valentines were built and shipped across the country; more than 90 remained in Kansas.

After many years of wear and tear, many are gone, some are showing their age and a few are standing strong.

Valentine diners are a testament to the man who built them and his desire to provide a path to the American dream. Blair Tarr, retired curator for the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS), explains that Arthur Valentine operated diners in Wichita and built an industry that encouraged others to be their own boss.

Arthur’s original business plan allowed struggling entrepreneurs to buy units on installment plans, so early models contained wall safes where owners deposited their payments for monthly pickup.

Smaller units, which could be staffed by just one or two people, also helped keep operating costs low.

Tarr admires Valentine’s entrepreneurial spirit. “He was always trying something new, changing with the times,” he explains. KSHS’s website describes 12 different Valentine diner models. Valentine also manufactured ice cream shops and, later, liquor stores, drive-up banks, service stations, tourist cabins, and car washes. He built toll booths for the Kansas Turnpike during the late 1950s.

J. Greg Kite, president of the Historic Preservation Alliance of Wichita & Sedgwick County, Inc., has written that the Valentine diners are particularly significant for their limited numbers and the unique role they played beginning in the 1950s as motorists took to the roads in greater numbers and would stop for meals.

“These diners contributed to the growth and economic development of the state of Kansas as they did for towns and cities across the country,” writes Kite. “Therefore, because they were such an important part of our history and heritage, these one-of-akind diners must be saved and preserved for future generations.”

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LoMar Drive In

Eureka | 916 East River | 620.583.7810 This 1952, brightly colored burger bar includes the original walk-up window, now enclosed for customer convenience; inside seating has also been added. LoMar’s specialties include loaded 100% beef burgers and hand-cut fries, but the diner is perhaps best known for its dairy treats. A Taylor Soft-Serve Ice Cream machine cranks out cones, cups of ice cream, hand-blended milkshakes and malts made with real malt powder. Owners and operators Daniel and Desireé McVey tout other ice cream favorites, including Tornados (soft-serve ice cream mixed with a large selection of candies), Peach Milkshake (a LorMar original milkshake made with real peaches and the same secret ingredient used by the original owners, Loy and Mary Browning), and the Marshmallow Nut Cup.

LoMar Drive In Marshmallow Cup Yield 1 serving Ingredients • 1 (9-ounce) clear plastic cup or any clear cup/glass • 4 ounces (½ cup) marshmallow crème • 4 ounces coarsely chopped roasted and salted peanuts • 6 ounces (¾ cup) soft-serve ice cream, vanilla, chocolate or twist Directions 1. Drizzle 2 ounces marshmallow crème around the inside of the cup.

2. Sprinkle 2 ounces of the peanuts around the sides of the cup, allowing them to stick to the marshmallow crème.

3. Fill cup with 4 ounces soft-serve ice cream (most popular is vanilla).

4. Pat the cup 2 to 3 times lightly on a hard surface to shift the ice cream into the cup more evenly and push out any air pockets. Fill the cup with the remaining ice cream, allowing a gap around the inside rim of the cup, forming a peak in the middle.

5. Drizzle the remaining 2 ounces of marshmallow crème over the peak, allowing it to drip into the open gap.

6. Top with the remaining peanuts.

7. Add a spoon and serve immediately.

Grinder Man

Wichita | 510 E Pawnee | 316.264.3462 | Cash only Sandwiches were a mainstay at early diners, but Paul Doyon changed things up a bit when he opened Grinder Man 54 years ago. “We were about the first to bring sub sandwiches to Wichita,” he explains. At that time, the business was located in a 10x20-foot Valentine unit with a walk-up window on South Broadway. His operation moved about three blocks away in 1982 to an A-frame Valentine model with add-ons that include a seating addition on the front and a drive-up window on the side.

The diner’s Grinder sub, filled with Genoa and capocollo salami, cheese and all the fixings, has always been its number one seller. “It’s the type of sandwich my wife and I grew up eating in Rhode Island,” Doyon notes, adding that the Hero is their second-best seller.

For several years, the diner has averaged about the same volume from month to month. Loyal staff members, such as Nora Donham, who has worked at the eatery for 39 years, provide friendly service that also adds a heaping helping of ambiance to the place.

At age 87, Doyon still shows up for work each morning and says the diner’s success is due to the fact that “Grinder Man is a neighborhood staple that people can depend on.” One customer describes the place as “one of the best hidden gems in South Wichita.”

A Grinder Man Classic: The Tuna Salad Sub The Grinder Man Tuna Salad Sub is based on a sandwich that Paul Doyon’s Italian grandmother made for him back in Rhode Island. It features simple ingredients punched up with chili sauce and crunchy celery. Like all Grinder subs, it is served on locally baked white or wheat Italian rolls.

Yield 4 to 6 servings Ingredients • 3 small (5-ounce) cans waterpacked tuna, drained • 10 ounces (1¼ cups) mayonnaise • 2½ ounces (heaping ¼ cup) chili sauce • 2 ribs of celery, finely chopped Directions 1. Combine all ingredients and lightly mix.

2. Serve on Italian sub rolls with lettuce.

Stacy’s Restaurant

Junction City | 118 W Flint Hills Blvd | 785.238.3039 At its current location since 1954, the Valentine Double Deluxe model of Stacy’s Restaurant still retains its diner look but has added booths to the original interior and expanded to two dining rooms and a separate kitchen.

The diner’s retro vibe complements its classic comfort food menu, including roast beef sandwiches, mashed potatoes, tater tots, homemade vegetable soup, corn dogs and batter-dipped fries, as well as daily specials such as fried chicken. Mary Sanders, who has owned and operated the place since 1968, believes her diner is a place where people enjoy congregating while eating a home-style meal.

Looking Back Many of the state’s Valentine diners are now only memories.

During the late 1950s, Anna Ritter ran the Orient Café in an altered Valentine diner located at 1227 S. Seneca, Wichita.

Her daughter, Paula NiBride, recalls that, like many other diners, “it was a working-class place. Her customers were the county workers from across the street and the men from the railroad next door.”

In addition to burger baskets, the Orient Café offered daily specials with mashed potatoes and gravy, a vegetable— usually green beans, corn, or peas—a little lettuce and tomato side salad, and a hot roll. Coffee or tea was included.

“Mom’s specials that you don’t see much anymore were things such as spaghetti red [a chili con carne–type sauce served over American Beauty spaghetti], Swiss steak, hamburger steak with mushroom gravy, hot meatloaf sandwich, and salmon patties on Friday.”

The diner is no longer in operation.

The Kansas State Historical Society has extensive information about the state’s connection to Valentine diners.

You can read about the history and background of Valentine diners at https://www.kshs.org/18731 and browse a list of all known Kansas Valentine diners (including some open locations that aren’t diners or cafés) at https://kshs.org/18729.

FRIGID CREAM Ness City | 501E. Sycamore St. | 785.798.2424 Believed to be an original Valentine ice cream stand, this remodeled diner has been serving ice cream and burgers for more than 50 years.

BIG SKY BISTRO Parsons | 1500 Main St. | Opening soon This Valentine Burger Bar model has undergone a major renovation and remodeling and is set to reopen soon.

FRIGID CREME Dighton | Long St. | 620.397.5512 This ice cream and sandwich shop is housed in a Valentine Burger Bar drive-in model.

BOB’S DRIVE-IN Meade | 801 Carthage St. | 620.873.2862 This remodeled 1968 diner offers breakfast all day with burgers, sandwiches, traditional Mexican fare, and oldfashioned limeades and shakes. A game area provides entertainment for locals and travelers.

GRANDSTAND BURGERS Overland Park | 4942 Merriam Dr. | 913.362.0111 The Kelly burger, one of this diner’s specialties, is a double cheeseburger with ham and bacon, served with fries, onion rings and a large drink. Customers order inside with outside eating available in a picnic area. A plaque inside this small diner identifies the structure as a portable steel Valentine; it has been located on this spot since the 1960s.

CHICKEN CHICKEN Wichita | 2419 E 13th St. | 316.295.3848 | Cash only This brightly colored and renovated mid-century Valentine Burger Bar was designed for walk-up and drive-up traffic.

Reopened in 2021, the diner offers fried chicken tenders and wings, fried okra and an array of sandwiches for daytime or late-night customers.

COOKEE’S DRIVE-IN Pleasanton | 102 E. 12th St. | 913.352.8789 This diner’s Americana classics include fresh ground beef hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, soda, shakes, malts and slushes. Jukebox music, black and white floors and gleaming chrome stools add to the ambiance of this updated diner. Established in 1962, its parts were transported on two flat-bed trailers; when bolted together, they became an instant dine-in restaurant.

THE DINER St. John | 106 N. Main | Under renovation As a young boy, Jesse Mosman rode his bicycle by The Diner in St. John and dreamed of owning it one day. Fast-forward 26 years, and Jesse bought not only the eatery but also the 1900s gas station next door. Then the renovations began.

Recently, Mosman has focused on removing awnings and enclosures—add-ons that obliterated the look of the original 10-stool Big Chief model. Another challenge is replacing the diner’s large window. Mosman says the renovation is taking time and money, but with lots of help from his family and the support of the community, he’s committed to saving pieces of his town’s history. “I didn’t want to see them torn down and turned into empty lots,” he explains.

MR. TACO / TACOS ALEX Wichita | 711 W. 25th St. N. | 316.663.5019 | Cash only This diner’s authentic Mexican selections include an assortment of tacos, tostados, burritos, and carnitas. The building’s small Burger Bar model, complete with a white stripe near the top of the structure, offers counter service (no indoor seating), drive-through ordering and pickup.

HOTROD HANGOUT, SPEED SHOP & DINER Galena | 201 S. Main | Opening soon When Brian Haden discovered a Valentine diner in Herington, it was his chance to make a dream come true.

“I’ve always wanted to own a diner on Route 66,” he says.

After saving the diner from the crusher, he eventually moved it to Galena and began renovations. Haden plans to have Hotrod Hangout, Speed Shop & Diner operational by the end of 2024. “When customers walk in the door, I want them to feel like they are walking into a 1950s diner, complete with the original wall safe emblazoned with the Valentine logo, and dishes reminiscent of the era,” Haden says.

PETE’S Smith Center | 114 E. Hwy 36 | 785.686.3223 Barbeque, burgers and sandwiches are on the menu at Pete’s. Although the diner has been significantly altered and expanded, the current window and door placement provide clues to the appearance of the original Valentine diner.

SNACK SHACK ON JOHNSON DRIVE Mission | 6018 Johnson Drive | 913.381.3200 Now covered with siding, the square diner was probably a 1950s Double Deluxe model, twice the size of earlier models.

The current menu is reminiscent of early diners and includes hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream.

SPORT BURGER DRIVE-IN Wichita | 134 N Hillside | 316.350.7679 | Cash only Diners have always been a place where you can get the most for your buck, and that’s true of the Sport Burger Drive-In that operates out of a Valentine diner, a Little Chef model originally built in the late 1950s. Recipient of Best of Wichita award “Best Cheap Eats 2023,” this diner offers burgers made from lean beef, seasoned with a 40-year-old family recipe, and griddle-fried to order as you wait. Combined with fries and drinks, the sports-themed combos or single burgers have vehicles lined up for blocks.

Eat at Valentine Diners a c r o s s t h e s t a t e

ACOSTA’S & NIETO’S CAFÉ Hugoton | 110 4th St. | 620.544.4004 This diner serves traditional Mexican food in a remodeled Valentine diner. It features both lunch counter and table seating. The diner offers daily specials and a Sunday buffet.

AMANDA OVERTON FRANKLIN COUNTY

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Retrograde Motion Blame it all on Mercury retrograde—the missed call, our luggage making the flight but not us, the forfeited deposit, how an old argument about time exploded, sudden supernova, instead of dying down into frozen silence.

Except I can’t, not after last autumn, when peering through the 30-inch observatory telescope in Louisburg, we saw Mercury look like a blushing gibbous moon, not after learning retrograde is an illusion. It only appears to be moving backward, the swifter planet whipping counterclockwise around the sun in eighty-eight days, three to four times for each earthly orbit.

Relative motion, not absolute. Mercury isn’t why we are moving away from each other with such speed, as much as I want to lay blame at something else’s feet, but now I recall the apples you placed before me that autumn afternoon, before sky gazing, how I went one way while you went another, searching for greater ripeness within reach, and though we wandered without looking

red-yellow cheek of a Honeycrisp apple against your shirt, then offered it to me. I stepped closer. Gravity, after all, simply comes with mass, with having a body, celestial or not. The greater the mass, the greater the pull. What tethers the moon is the same force that draws an apple to earth in a straight line, holds Earth and Mercury in different periodic orbits around the sun. But it weakens with distance.

Once, your gravity bent starlight around you.

Now all I see is your retrograde motion, not knowing when we will be in alignment again. Do I sleep or wake?

I smell apples slowly rotting under the trees.

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Hyejung Kook’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in POETRY Magazine, Shenandoah, Poetry Northwest, Denver Quarterly, Verse Daily, The Massachusetts Review, Pleiades, and elsewhere. Other works include essays in The Critical Flame and Poetry as Spellcasting (North Atlantic Books, 2023) and a chamber opera libretto. Born in Seoul, Kook now lives in Prairie Village with her husband and their two young children. She is a Fulbright grantee, a Kundiman fellow, and co-editor of the creative arm of Barahm Press.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY Adobe Stock/ Clonedginger, Hyejung Kook

for each other, at the end of a row we found ourselves face to face, weighed down by what we had harvested alone. The paper bag tore as you set it at my feet. You rubbed the sun-warmed,

Chanute

Martinand andOsa OsaJohnson Johnsonwere werefilmmakers, filmmakers,photographers, photographers,naturalists naturalistsand and Martin authors.

In the early 20th explored then-unknown lands Africa, Lizzie Le Blond: Queen of thecentury, Mountain,they a permanent exhibition space dedicated toofthe authors. In the early 20th century, they explored then-unknown lands of Africa, female mountaineer who hadand to climb in Victorian skirts to capture stunning landscape the South PacificIslands Islands British NorthBorneo Borneo bringing theU.S. U.S.knowledge knowledge the South Pacific and British North bringing totoofthe photographs that rival---and pre-date by over three decades---the works Ansel Adams. of this of cultures and sights never before seen.

Learn more about the adventures of cultures and sights never before seen. Learn more about the adventures of this pioneering couple theMartin Martin andWomen.

Osa Johnson JohnsonAfrica, Safari Museum Beauty in Motion: Bundu Masks of the Mende Throughout hundreds of pioneering couple atatthe and Osa Safari Museum ,, whichmasks alsoare houses the largest collection West AfricanArt Art theevents.

Midwest. wooden dancedthe by alargest thousandcollection different peoples for ceremonies andinin ritual which also houses ofofWest African the Midwest.

Chanute

and Osa Johnson were filmmakers, photographers, Only men are usually permittedMartin to engage in these activities, but the Mende womennaturalists stand as and authors.

In the early 20th century, they has explored then-unknown lands of Africa, Other attractions in Chanute include: the lone exception. The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum the largest public collection Othertheattractions in and Chanute include: South Pacific Islands British North Borneo bringing to the U.S. knowledge of these stunningly ornate masks in the world.

• Summit Hill Gardens Soap Shop of cultures and sights never before seen. Learn more about the adventures of this

• Summit Hill Gardens Soap Shop and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, couple atMartin the Martin Chanute Art Gallery Both exhibits are featured at thepioneering world–renowned and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, •• Chanute Art Gallery which also houses the largest collection of West African Art in the Midwest.

111 N Lincoln Ave, Chanute, KS 66720.

Chanute Historical Museum •• Chanute Historical Museum Other attractions in Chanute include: Chanute is also home to The Chanute Art Chanute Gallery, featuring a beautiful quilt show during Wright Brothers-Octave Memorial Sculpture • SummitChanute Hill GardensMemorial Soap Shop Sculpture •• Wright Brothers-Octave October, 2024.17 N. Lincoln Ave., Chanute KS 66720 Chanute Art Gallery Howard’sToys Toys for for• Big Big Boys Boys Automotive Museum Museum •• Howard’s Automotive • Chanute Historical Museum Other attractions in Chanute include: Cardinal Drug Store Old-Fashioned Soda Fountain • Wright Brothers-Octave Soda ChanuteFountain Memorial Sculpture •• Cardinal Drug Store Old-Fashioned • Summit Hill Gardens Soap Shop• Howard’s • Historical Howard’sToys Toys for Boys Automotive Museum Museum •• ARCY ARCY Spray Painted Mural forBig Big Boys Automotive SprayMuseum Painted • Chanute Historical •Historical Cardinal Drug Store StoreMural Old-Fashioned Soda Fountain • Cardinal Drug Old-Fashioned Soda Fountain • Wright Brothers-Octave Chanute • Serveral Large Downtown Murals • ARCY Spray Painted Historical Mural Memorial Sculpture

Conveniently located located Conveniently Conveniently located in the the heart heart in 21 N. Lincoln ~ 620-431-3350 in the heart 21 N. Lincoln ~ 620-431-3350 21 N. Lincoln ~ 620-431-3350 of Southeast Kansas information@chanutechamber.com ~ www.chanutechamber.com of Southeast Kansas information@chanutechamber.com ~ www.chanutechamber.com of Southeast Kansas information@chanutechamber.com ~ www.chanutechamber.com

Step into a world where art and illumination merge to create a truly captivating experience using innovative lighting techniques.

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