No imagination

Who thunk up this name?  I guess Kan got to go first because the town is in Kansas.  If it was in Colorado, the town would be named Colorass, which I think rolls off the tongue better.

Going west

Being an easterner, southerner, Floridian, never even out of the state until I was 16, I never really got the term, midwest.  For example, here we are in Topeka, which is about the midpoint of America east to west, but it is considered the western edge of the midwest.  Go figure, Census Bureau.  More of an oddity, Ohio is considered the midwest, and it is only two states away from the Atlantic Ocean!

I will have to say the midwest is beautiful country.  If the weather was better . . . .

DNA testing solves problem

I had heard of this before, DNA testing to identify owners who do not pick up after their dogs:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2013/08/24/condos-braintree-and-watertown-using-dna-track-littering-dogs-and-their-owners/eoJ1F6XaEYGlQzaWiv4grI/story.html


But there are some facts in the story worth reviewing.  Sixty bucks to get your dog tested.  Fifty to test the poo.  Good actors do have to put up $60 once in the lifetime of each dog, but the problem gets solved, and bad actors get to pay the lion's share of the solution.

All communities should institute this!

Wal Mart sells it

My Dad favored Jack Daniels Green Label and would come home most every night, fill a large ice tea glass first with ice, then with Jack.  He would sip that drink throughout the evening, usually falling asleep in his Lazy Boy before us kids' bedtime.  I am not doing the same, but I periodically toast the Old Man, now with Jack Daniels Black after having visited America's Distillery No. 1.

And now I learn Wal Mart gets to sell liquor!  In Missouri.  In the store.  Not in a separate store like Florida requires.

I did check, and Jack sold in Wal Mart is not Made in China.

Butterfly Palace

Now we want to get to Rosario to see the Monarchs overwintering.  Nature is fascinating!

Power out but still connected for a while

When cruising by sail we had to of course always think about the source and the storage of power.  Engine, generator, solar panels, batteries, sun, diesel fuel were in the thinking.  When we began exploring America by Benz power never even came to mind.  But here I am with no power.  And I realize I have about two hours of phone and internet unless I go get in the car.  In two years of sailing never had that problem.  A plus for the travel trailer, you can be completely self sufficient?

Hotwire 1-Day Hotel Sale

Hotwire saves us $200 over eight nights in Denver!

I am not sure, a little nervous, how Hotwire comes up with these sales that are so targeted, but we had booked a good hotel for a good price on a hotel website, and then Hotwire offers a one day sale and saves us $200.  The thing is you have to trust the ratings.  You don't get to know the hotel until you book a noncancelable room.  Here we upgraded a half star, and Hotwire and Tripadvisor reviews predict a good stay.