I just saw another very interesting story about travel, this time it was calling BS on travel influencers. You know – those conceited pouty-lipped-picture asshats who don’t travel to do anything other than boost their own egos.

I first witnessed this horrific behavior in Pearl Harbor back in 2014. A young woman I saw stopped and jumped in front of anybody and everybody just to take the requisite duck-faced selfie. She basically was telling not only anyone in her way of her self-perceived awesomeness that she was more important than they were, but also gave a great big middle finger to the place. And, she didn’t see or learn anything about the powerful history. She was not even looking at anything other than where to pose.

And, of course, there are those so vain they even fake a trip using a toilet seat and a picture as a phony airplane window. I posted about this stupidity previously and I find that as ridiculous as it is fake – just like the people doing it. I look at these people as feeding misinformation – lots of it.

And people buy into this shit.

I don’t pretend or try to influence anything or anyone through my blog. I go to places and try to take my readers along as a friend and not as a follower. My pictures are authentic and I’m rarely, if ever, in them. Phoniness is not an option. I don’t post to feed my ego or make money. Making money would be nice but I’m still doing it for free after 12 years, just sharing my travels and other things I post about. I don’t have thousands of followers or make money, but that’s okay. I just post as a creative outlet and, as I said before, it was started to keep my family updated on some aspects of my life and what I was up to.

Do yourself (and the rest of us) a favor. Quit supporting them. Stay away from the phonies. Find good travel sites or TV shows with good people who travel with a purpose other than being conceited and making Botox money. Hopefully they would vanish if people would quit supporting them.

Better yet…get your own ass off the couch and go someplace. It’s NOT about pictures – it’s about the experiences, the food, the people, the smells and sounds. It’s not about duck face social media, which has basically ruined some of the pristine areas of the world just to feed an insatiable ego. I have even found IG tags as graffiti on historic buildings in the forest. WTF is wrong with people?

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I took a short drive through the West Bottoms area of Kansas City a few days ago to see what had changed while I was on the way to someplace else.

The West Bottoms area was where the stockyards were and they were just south of the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers – the Kansas River splits the city in two; the other side of the water is Kansas.

It’s always been an industrial area but I understand there’s a renaissance going on there. No, not jousting and turkey legs…the area is being revitalized with shops, restaurants, breweries and such.

The stockyards were a maze of fences and gates to guide the cattle from where the farmers dropped them off to the appropriate railroad cars to their, ahem…final destination. I remember going there to drop off some cows with the neighbor who was a farmer. I was about nine years old.

In the building pictured above was the Golden Ox, a restaurant that was located on the lower floor of the left side of the building. It was oh-so conveniently right next to the stockyards. It was built to cater to ranchers and farmers bringing their cattle to market.

There were three big-name old-school steakhouses in the KC area during the time I was growing up. There was The Black Angus, The Hereford House, and The Golden Ox. I was in The Golden Ox as a kid with my family, and The Hereford House at an office party in the 90s.

Ironically, I have never liked steak and I really don’t eat much red meat these days. I probably had a burger as a youngster and had shrimp at the party. I know…blasphemous to some.

However I do remember going in these places – it was polished brass railings, big tables, fancy wood, and red/gold velour wallpaper. Real Old West fancy – very traditional – with dedicated staff who had been there for decades. Even more ironic is that I know so much about these places!

I also saw an old building to the left of where I took the above picture. It looked like it was a dock with several doors that the railroads would use to load & unload freight and/or passengers. It looks like it was converted to individual offices. There are still quite a few empty buildings and spaces in the area I drove through.

I will have to get back to the area and explore some more. I just took a spin through the stockyards area south of I-670 but I want to see the north side to see what’s going on. Maybe get a few more pics of the area.

Without duck lips.