by kenny

After leaving the Ressels we set out for a big day. First stop was Kansas's Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Well we didn't really stop, but we did drive through it, and it was beautiful. We had expected Kansas to be simply a place to drive through, check off our list of states we've visited, and never go back. Most of Kansas is beautiful, surprisingly lush and green. The sky touches the ground and the air is filtered by prairie grass. The wildflowers and fireflies are quite amazing. If you stay on the main freeways, the drives are boring, but if you get off those roads and drive through towns you will find more life than expected. We have come to find that true of most states actually. We will be going back to Kansas.

We headed directly north as fast as we could because we needed to be near Topeka, Kansas by 2 PM to get a tour of a missile bunker that has been converted into a personal residence, called Subterra Castle. Ed Peden bought this decommissioned missile bunker in Kansas for about $40,000. Now it is worth over a million dollars. Ed took us on a sometimes jaw-dropping tour for about an hour. Jaw-dropping because the bunker is just so immense. The room where the missile was stored was cleaned up (and there was a lot of cleanup!) and converted into a massive garage and workshop. The command center was turned into a living room and the rest of the building was built into their living space. About 90 percent of the house is underground which keeps the house a consistent cool temperature. We were glad to have visited and we learned a bit more information that will be useful in forming our own community. The owners feel that the site has a lot of bad energy associated with nuclear destruction, so they hired some people to live with them for 3 to 6 months changing the negative energy into positive energy. We didn't really get that impression, but we were impressed with the positive, peaceful improvement they have made at Subterra.




From the missile bunker we headed west to Lawrence, Kansas to visit the Deleware Street Commons which is an example of co-housing. Co-housing is sort of an off shoot of intentional communities which are more appealing to mainstream America. It is more appealing because it boils down to a gated community with no gate, no annoying rule telling you how your property should look, and only about 20 families. With that size you get a community of people that know each other. The people that buy into the community know what they're getting into. This creates a community of relatively like-minded people, but also allows for freedom of the indiviuals. Everyone owns their own house, yard, and makes and keeps their own money. There is a shared meeting house for general purposes, shared meals, and bumping in to each other when you check your mail. Houses are positioned in a circular formation with the front facing each other with a shared common yard. There is also a shared garden. When we walked up to community, many of the residents were outside talking to each other, kids were playing, and gardens were growing. We met a few of the residents and were given a tour by one of them and she explained how co-housing works and more specifically how Delaware Street Commons works. So today ended up being a really informative day for us about our future community. We don't want to be so care-free as the missile silo without any form of rules, but we also don't want to form a gated community, albeit a small one. And we also want to provide a community for people who can't afford it. Unfortunately, DSC seemed to me like a place that you have to be well off to enjoy.

It was late after visiting the Delaware Street Commons and drove as fast as our little moho could go to Kansas City, Missouiri to check out IHOP. Nope not that one, this one. International House of Prayer has been offering continual prayer and worship 24/7 since . Each hour they pick a different theme to focus on during prayer. The worship team changes every hour as well, but the music never stops as the bands enter and exit the stage seamlessly. We were there for about three hours during the night and the place was packed. We went to sleep in the parking lot but around 2 in the morning we were awoken by security and told we not allowed to park over night on the premises. So we left IHOP's parking lot and spent the night at Wal-Mart.

by laura beth

Josh Ressel is a friend of ours from Saint Barnabas. He's originally from Salina, Kansas, and we were able to meet and visit his parents in Wichita. We only meant to spend one night, but ended up staying 5 nights. Vince and Faye are some of the most wonderful, generous, and humble people I've met. They live in a wonderful big old house. They fed us, sparked good conversation, and Faye took us to a farmer's market and a nice brewery for lunch. We spent the 4th of July with them. We had a BBQ with Faye's brothers and their families, and watched fireworks in Peabody, Kansas. One the way to Peabody we stopped at one of Faye's favorite spots, on a piece of land that was her father's. It's just a small portion of a larger wheat field. There is a beautiful meadow there, surrounded by a creek lined with trees. It's completely serene. As we drove in, the fireflies starting flickering beneath the tree, and we started a couple of spotted fawns. It was an amazing place. I thought it was kind of magical.

Anyhoo, Peabody knows how to celebrate. On the way from the wheat fields towards Peabody we couls see fireworks going off in the distance. So we sped up to get there as we were missing the show. Then we could see fireworks going off in all four directions! Small towns throughout Kansas were starting there firework shows and we were missing them all! So we parked and when we get out of the car we discovered that the show had not even started. The fireworks that we had seen, which are the fireworks we are used to, were being set off all over town right out of people's front yards! Amazing! It was like the opening scene in Avalon where the main character arrives to America on the Fourth of July and walks the streets with fireworks going off all around him. Kenny has never really believed that scene and thought it was just a bit of Hollywood flare. That scene is mild compared to what we witnessed in Peabody.


This was Peabody's 88th annual celebration, and it was by far the best small town fireworks show I've ever seen. Peabody's population is roughly 1, 400 people, and I bet all of them (times 5!) were gathered around the local high school baseball diamond at the city park for the show. After dark, the field lights shut off, and the sky lit up with tons of huge blasts. It seemed to us that they had started with the finale. Throughout the night, they alternated the sky show with fireworks piece sets-the kind that are built on a wooden frames and spell something out or make a specific image. Apparently Peabody has the largest piece set display in the state-around 20 of them! It was really amazing. Just when we thought it couldn't get better, the finale came in the form of canons shooting off huge blasts to the tune of Johnny Horton's The Battle of New Orleans. As we walked away, even more blasts lit up the sky, almost like they found a box of fireworks they somehow forgot to set off. To make it even better, people were setting off huge fireworks in their yards. Obviously Kansas' fireworks regulations are no where as strict as Oregon's. It was the largest, longest, most spectacular display either Kenny or I have seen. This is a little recording Kenny made with his phone. The quality is poor, and it only shows a fraction of a fraction of the 2 hour light show. But you get the idea. If you listen close you can hear us laughing with disbelief at the sheer scale of this small town fireworks display.




This has been our first trip to the Midwest, and we are definitely pleasantly surprised. I would come back to Wichita in a minute. The landscape is green, the people are friendly, even the cities feel like small towns, and fireflies are everywhere. It really is wonderful in Kansas.

by laura beth

We made a really quick trip through Oklahoma, stopping first at a tiny roadside chapel on a muddy county road just outside of Dickson. Apparently built by a man as a memorial to his deceased sons, the chapel has two short rows of tiny pews, an altar with a Bible, and stained glass windows. When you walk in and shut the door, a generator starts, and hymns play. It was so tiny, I could hardly take a photo in side of it, but it was really precious and worth the out-of-the-way drive.

Then it was on to Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The memorial was definitely one of the best I've seen, primarily due to its simplicity. We didn't go into the museum. I'm not usually a big fan of memorial, for personal reasons that I won't share here so as not to offend anyone, but I did think this one was nice. While we were there, we noted that although Oklahoma City is a large city, the downtown area really closes up shop early. At seven o'clock on a Sunday evening there was no traffic for miles around. Not a single moving vehicle. It really felt like a small town.

We drove on to historic Guthrie, Oklahoma, hoping to have a drink at the Blue Belle Saloon, the oldest bar in Oklahoma, where Tom Mix tended bar in the early 1900's. But it was closed for the evening. Apparently, however, it is the place to be according to this site! After driving the brick-paved streets and admiring the beautiful brick architecture, we slept in the Walmart parking lot. The next morning we visited a couple of old graves. One belonged to Bill Doolin, founder of the Wild Bunch and member of the Dalton Gang. The other belongs to Elmer McCurdy. Elmer was an outlaw and train robber who was shot and killed in Oklahoma. After a serious of strange events, his mummified body was found at a Long Beach California amusement park, and eventually returned to Oklahoma in the 1970's. He is buried next to Bill Doolin in the Boot Hill section of Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie. Read about Elmer here.

We left Guthrie and headed for Kansas, hugged on the highway by cornfields as far as the eye could see. Although we didn't spend more than a couple of days in Oklahoma, I was impressed with its beauty. It wasn't at all what I imagined. The soil is red and the landscape is green, and the towns are quite charming.

by laura beth

We just had to go to the Pest Stop in Plano on our way back through Dallas. It's a pest control business, but may be better known as the Cockroach Hall of Fame or the Cockroach Museum. The shop is tiny, but big on style, and the owner, Michael Bohdan was happy to tell us his story:

The pest business was slow, so to drum up some interest, Michael advertised a $1000 prize for the biggest cockroach in the Dallas area. Apparently this caught the attention of the Johnny Carson Show. After Micheal's appearance on the show with the winning roach, the pest control product company Combat, hired him to judge dressed-up roaches for a promotion. Michael ended up keeping the contest entries, which now adorn his shop. He has made several appearances in the media and entertainment world, and "Hollywood" still looks him up from time to time. Apparently Samantha Brown is coming for a visit soon.

There are some super clever and intricate roach scenes. I really enjoyed "Don't Drink & Fly" (even though roaches don't fly), "The Combates Motel" (modeled after the Bates motel from Psycho), and :"Norman Roachwell".

Michael is a super friendly guy, and made some general statements about retiring someday. We talked about traveling, and he seems interested in Arizona. He also seemed like an honest business man and cares about his customers. It's primarily a do-it-yourself shop. As customers came in he would excuse himself from visiting with us and gave them prompt attention and fair advice on how to take care of their pests (everyone was having carpenter ant problems) easily, efficiently, and in the least expensive manner. I was honestly impressed with his customer service. So if your in the area and have roaches or ants, look up the Pest Stop in Plano on West 15th.

by kenny

We went to a Christian compound near Waco. No, not that one. The Trinity Institute in Tehuacana (teh-WAH-kana), Texas. Trinity is run by Jim Parker, a professor of Apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, for the last 18 years. It is modeled after Francis Schaeffer's Labri, which is a place for spiritual seekers to come, rest, and ask questions about all things spiritual. On the Trinity property is a historic building called the Texas Hall (originally built as the Presbyterian Trinity University from 1869-1902, then used as the Methodist Westminster College from 1942-1950). The hall is amazing-built of limstone, four stories high, and going through a badly needed major restoarion (as money allows). It houses a small local historical museum and an art gallery, and some of the rooms are useable for visting groups, weddings, videos, and photo shoots. The property also includes a big house with an awesome enclosed porch with many swings, as well as an old student boarding house. If ever in this part of Texas (the highest point between Dallas and Houston), you should stop by and check it out.

Trinity Institute has been opened up to anyone who is seeking spiritual things. The Institute also has an artist-in-residence program. Any artist is welcome to stay there free of charge for however long they want to pursue their creativity, Christian or not. Musicians, painters, screenwriters, photographers, what have you. And they do. Sometimes for a few days. Sometimes for over a year.

We visited Trinity because this sort of thing is what we hope to provide in the future. A place were artists and friends can come to live, free of charge, to focus on their craft. Trinity has been successfully doing this and we were able to ask a lot of questions and let our minds go wild with the possibilities. It was really uplifting to be in an environment where our dreams were being accomplished. Maybe we are not crazy after all. It is being done, so perhaps we can do it too.