I had a doctor appointment today in south KC, and on the way back I took a detour.

I went through an older, gentrified area of Kansas City, KS. It was an area I knew from years ago – an area that both of my parents grew up in.

I saw many familiar places that I had not seen in decades. One place was a little neighborhood market back in the day. When I was a kid, we would go there sometimes because they had a big wooden case with jars of penny candies of any kind you can imagine. The guy behind the counter would give you a little paper bag and then you would ogle all of the jars of candies to pick out what you wanted. A pretty big deal for a kid at that time! Each candy was 1 cent apiece hence the name, and they weren’t those teeny little Tootsie Rolls – they were the regular size ones. All the classic candies were there, and some no longer exist I imagine. (Trivia – the candy Sixlets were in little “tubes” of six for a penny and these were always a favorite of mine!)

I did not go past my grandparents’ houses this time. I did that last year and it was kinda weird for me seeing how old and run down things had gotten. Both houses were built by my grandfathers. It can remind one that they are not getting any younger, but at least there are still the memories.

I went this way back home not as a trip down memory lane, but to see my cousin who works at the restaurant pictured above. I do remember going to this place as a kid so it has been around a long time. One thing I do remember from those many, many years ago is they had a comic book machine inside the door. You would insert a dime and two pennies in the slider, push it in, and get your comic book. To this day it is the only vending machine I have ever seen that took pennies other than maybe an old gumball machine..

Christy’s Tasty Queen has been around since 1957 and is famous for their pork tenderloin sandwiches – a real Midwest thing. They are always the size of a dinner plate, sticking out from the bun several inches all around. I have had them before where the only room on the plate for fries was on top of the tenderloin. You could order an extra bun and split it between two people.

I always try to order a special when I eat someplace, but I really should not have deep-fried breaded pork. A burger is a little better for my health, but it was a planned splurge day so I got the classic – a cheeseburger & fries, which they are also known for. Thin burger cooked on a flattop…hell yes I am all over that like a fat kid on a cake. Topped with mustard, onion, pickle, & lettuce (unfortunately they didn’t have any tomatoes). The burger was old-school delicious and the fries were crunchy due to the coating on them.

I talked to my cousin only briefly since they were slammed with a full parking lot as you can see by the picture. It was packed and people had to drive past until parking opened up. If you are in the area I recommend stopping by for some classic diner food. I would avoid the lunch rush though!

I continued on homeward and saw some more familiar places; there was a little store a few blocks from one of my grandparents’ houses, and I used to walk down there (it was safe for a kid to do so back then). Hot Wheels cars had just come out so I would go there whenever I had an extra 99 cents to get another car for my collection. I might even grab a candy bar too.

I have been a language nerd for a long time, even as a kid. I have always especially liked a play on words. Farther down was a place that the name used to crack me up even as a 10-year-old kid – Earp Meat. They supplied McDonald’s with ground beef; ironic how that name really came to describe that chain but with a different spelling. Then there was the Strongheart dog food plant where many dead animals ended up. Just like Earp!

Next to that used to be a giant department store called Sav-On that had everything in it. This place stuck out not only since I remember going in there but I believe they were the first place in KC to have one of those giant fiberglass slides – the ones about 50 feet tall. You would slide down on a burlap bag.

Behind Sav-on was the Kansas River (sometimes called the Kaw River). The area around it was generically called “The Bottoms” and seems to me anywhere along the river was called that. We would go there and go four-wheeling after I got my first Jeep. It was a busy place on weekends with off-roading drunks and dirt bikes…until some mystery barrels unearthed themselves from the sand & mud. They were roped off for a while, but more popped up and after some research they were deemed to be more than likely toxic so the whole area was forever closed.

It was certainly a trip down memory lane; not necessarily a happy trip, though. Things were just so run down everywhere. I guess it is that Circle of Life thing. I have not spent much time in the area in many decades, and some parts longer than that.

Things change – it’s just the nature of life. After being away so long I really never thought much about seeing these places again.

Don’t know if I will again.

🏕️

I finally got the inside of the trailer organized. The last hurdle was finding some short plastic baskets of the right size to put in the cabinets and those were delivered a couple of days ago. I got the last few things put in their place after getting those installed.

The baskets serve two purposes – one, to keep things from sliding around inside the cabinets. Second, it distributes the weight to keep the bottom of the inside of the cabinet from sagging and stay flat. To help with this, I also try to keep the heavier stuff like canned goods to a minimum in overhead cabinets and try to store them down low in a drawer.

Unfortunately, I have had too much going on to get out yet this year. But, I usually avoid that this time of year anyhoo because of the crowds and the stupidity that sometimes comes along with those crowds. I did get out on some day hikes this year so that has been really good.

I have also been kinda busy working around the house plus the weather has sucked with the heat as bad as it has been. It would be like camping on the sun. Just like rain or storms, I am not gonna pay to camp and end up sitting inside my trailer all weekend. I can do that for free at home. I find many people camping don’t get out in the woods – they sit around in their RVs and campsites or they are out doing the touristy things during the day.

I am also still watching four of Meghan’s dogs so I can’t really go anywhere without taking them and that won’t work out well in a campground – one is a Russian bear hound and she is rather large and intimidating. I don’t really want to camp with six dogs , and I am sure others don’t either.

Oh yeah…I got the new stairs for my trailer ordered and installed. That was a $300 “learning opportunity” when I forgot to fold the stairs up before backing up. I will certainly be watching that more carefully from now on. At least it was easy to fix – I was able to just line up the new hinges with the old ones bolted to the floor and the pins slid in without a problem. I will tie something on the handrail if the stairs are out as a reminder to fold ’em up. I have seen some gadgets online that go on your steering wheel to remind of various things before leaving but thee’s no need to overthink it.

I will get the usable parts off the old one to keep as spares just in case. The remaining damaged piece will go in the pile for the scrap metal person.

Thanks for stopping by! Until I post again…

Shawn