I couldn’t take it any longer. It was time for a drive. I need to get out for a hike and I found a spot I wanted to see a few months back.

I saw a music documentary about the band Kansas – one of the few good things to come out of Kansas; the other being I-70.

Watching the video brought back many memories of my teen years. I saw them on “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” playing the song “Belexes” and I was blown away. The music they were writing and recording was so far ahead of its time. With the help of other bands like early Styx (pre-The Grand Illusion), Uriah Heep, Nektar, Pink Floyd, and other similarly-styled musicians, Kansas probably got my interest growing more toward progressive rock early-on.

Hearing the stories about how they got signed were the stuff of legend and there are so many of those stories from those days. It reminded me of being a stagehand working all those concerts and being part of the crew that helped them continue to play live shows. I actually worked a Kansas concert in Topeka, KS and another one in St. Joseph, MO.

In the documentary they talked about the back cover photo of the first album – the one with the infamous John Brown painting on the front.

I wanted to find it. Yeah, it’s a nerdy music thing to do, but I found an article about where the band photo was taken. And I’m sure I’m not the first or last to make this visit for this reason. Plus, it’s a beautiful day for a hike!

Besides, I spent one entire day walking 13 miles in London to see music history sites and it was pretty cool. I also saw the Jimi Hendrix Memorial.

The picture was taken in Skyline Park on top of Burnett’s Mound. Any mapping app will take you to the park and it’s an easy trip. I suggest parking in the parking lot otherwise you’re parking along a dead-end street. There are a few miles of nice trails and there are some panoramic views at the top via trail or the road behind the gate.

I found these hedge balls along a trail. I know many people have never seen one so here ya go. These are the fruiting body of a hedge tree. Hedge was OG fence posts before metal posts came along. The stuff is a dense, extremely-hard wood that will dull a chainsaw pretty fast. It’s a yellow- green wood, lots of sap that oozes out of the fruit which are not edible. They are called hedge balls, hedge apples, or Osage orange which probably has a Native connotation.

The North Summit Loop takes you around the Mound but once you get there you’ll know since it’s the highest point in Topeka.

After that, I needed food. Actually I wasn’t starving but I was headed a few miles from the park back to Bobo Drive In for a Spanish Burger. This time I got the onion rings and I didn’t really like them. They were coated in a cornbready breading. I’m not a fan of that – beer-batter is the way to deep fry. But, I ate ‘em. Not gonna waste them but will get the fries next time.

I returned via some backroads. I took a quick detour through Lecompton, KS which used to be the territorial capitol. It’s a small town and it coulda been much different had the seat of state government not moved to Topeka.

It’s a small, quiet town and the buildings are really old. There are some cool-looking old houses and buildings and there are a few shops. I will say that for as small as the town is there’s a lot of local history. I wasn’t sure if anything was open or not but knowing how this stuff operates, it probably was not open for the season yet. I will probably go back when tourists are in season and I’ll get some pictures then.

It would be a good stop on a day or weekend trip when you just want to drive somewhere and are are driving the backroads. There’s not much in the area but the scenery is mostly rolling hills with a highway painted on top – definitely prettier when things are green.

I set out this morning to do what I ended up doing. A nice morning for a hike, a nice day for a drive, and a good excuse for a little splurge meal. Plus I finally got to see Lecompton after hearing about it all these years.

That’s it for this post. See ya next time.

Shawn