Ka - BOOM!
Two wonderful things happened to me while I was the
Director of Tourism for the state of Missouri.
Well, actually quite a few more than two but two especially come to mind.
I didn't take either picture and was, for a change, in front of the camera.
My Mom describes me in the photo with
President Carter as "
my son is the one with the gray hair." I helped welcome him to Tom Sawyer's Hannibal, on his way down to New Orleans aboard the historic paddle wheeler Delta Queen.
My other memorable moment was a year later, doing something we've all seen in the movies and on television.
I placed my nervous right hand on the plunger of a dynamite detonator, shouted "3-2-1" and pushed it as hard as I could. It made that familiar
"screeeech" sound and then
"BOOM!"The terrific noise was still ringing in our ears as a geyser of sand and small rocks rained down on a group of dignitaries.
For those who know the Kansas City area, the new Visitors Information Center is built on a hill overlooking the twin stadiums used by the Chiefs and the Royals.
The main stuff that fell from the sky landed on the hood of a parked Missouri Highway Patrol car. Well, he knew we were playing with dynamite.
Labels: Chiefs, Delta Queen, dynamite, Hannibal, Highway Patrol, Kansas City, KC Royals, President Jimmy Carter, Tom Sawyer, Visitors Information Center
Back When I Was A Farmer...
When I was with the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Bureau - in the 1970s - I had a great job. There we were - smack dab in the middle of
America's Bread Basket or something.
I was invited to participate in many things and one of the B E S T was
"Swap A Visit With A Farmer" offered by the Chamber of Commerce. The idea was to make city-slickers more appreciative of what a farmer does for us. And, I guess, vice versa.
My family didn't know exactly where we were going for the "Surprise Weekend" but I drove us to the middle of Missouri one Friday and we met our host farm family. That night we gathered with a few hundred other farmers and families, sat in bleachers and rooted for the hometown high school football game. They won. Things were looking up.
We didn't actually stay in the rambling rustic farmhouse I had envisioned for the weekend. He was rebuilding so we stayed underground - in the basement - beneath the house just barely under construction. He had failed to tell the Chamber about that.
With no windows it was hard to know when the sun came up but when it did, we were already awake and sitting down to a HUGE breakfast. Bigger than the
Grand Slam featured on the menu at
Denney's. Farmers eat like food grows on trees.
There was a drought going on so Farmer Joe and I spent most of the morning making trips to fill a large water tank in the back of his pickup and we hauled water to his thirsty cows.
They got excited when they spotted his truck. Well, as excited as a cow ever gets. They moo-ed back when I moo-ed them.
My young daughter got to ride on the seat on the tractor (without a helmet or a seatbelt as my then-wife pointed out) and that was cool. In fact, everything was cool. The high temperature for the weekend was about 35 degrees. They both caught terrible colds. And there was the incident with the pig knocking her into the mud.
Ok, it wasn't the greatest thing we ever did as a family, but I had a new appreciation for Winter Wheat, Milo and the other stuff Joe was growing and, of course, we were looking forward to when Joe and the Missus would come to stay with us in Kansas City. I could hardly wait.
My house was already built and we had a spare room. Above ground.
Labels: America's Bread Basket, farmers, Kansas City, Milo, Missouri, tractors, winter wheat
Two wonderful things happened to me while I was the Director of Tourism for the state of Missouri.
