Des Moines Isn’t Boring, Really, I Mean It

by Kevin Burton    Did you know there is a Memphis, Missouri?    Fewer than 2,000 people live there. We came perilously close to joining them on vacation two weeks ago.    We had planned to see the big Memphis – the BB King-Jerry Lee Lewis-Johnny Cash Memphis – but a flood warning for the …

Mark Twain And Hannibal To The Rescue

by Kevin Burton    Thirty-six little hours before we were to set sail for Memphis, my wife Jeannette checked the weather.    And we never set sail for Memphis.    The National Weather Service had issued a flood warning covering Memphis at exactly the same time we had planned to hit town. That sort of …

I Scream For This Belated Ice Cream Post

by Kevin Burton    If I  say “better late than never” do you say “amen”?      Well in this case, my wife does.    National Ice Cream month was last month, July, not August.  That I didn’t squeeze out a participatory post in honor of the occasion is a black mark against my blogging record. …

Feeding Body, Mind And Spirit On The Road

by Kevin Burton    Got an unexpected comfort on the road last week that filled the stomach and the heart.    There isn’t much I don’t like about being on the road. I can see why so many people have written so many love songs to the road and the road life.    I’ve spent …

Our Democracy Could Use Another Truman

by Kevin Burton    Not sure what I expected in advance from the Harry S. Truman Museum in Independence, Missouri, but I ended up in tears.    Truman was the Vice President thrust into the presidency just 82 days into his term, following the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945.  By then the tide …

Yo, Hartville, Ready For Your Closeup?

by Kevin Burton    Apologies right up front here, because Garrison Keillor would do this story better than I.    The US Census Bureau announced Nov. 16 that Hartville, Missouri, population 594, is the “center of population” for the United States.    Here is what that means, according to the Census Bureau release:    “If …

White Castle: The Little Burger That Could

by Kevin Burton    Once again, White Castle burgers hit the spot!    I found out last Friday that the next day, Saturday the 18th was National Cheeseburger Day.    Too late though. I already had my blogs planned for the weekend. What to do?    I thought it over carefully and came to conclusion …