Remember The Previous Kansas Posts?

Well I stand by my previous posts! Kansas is just not where we like to be unfortunately. The recent heat wave has not helped at all as we are in a campground with tiny, little trees that don't give any shade whatsoever. Last week we had 6 straight days of over 100 degrees. And of course now is the time that we are paying extra for our electric. The A/C runs constantly and just barely gives us any relief.  It is hard for me when I am working at home as the windows and doors are all shut and absolutely no way to work outside in all the heat. I feel like I'm in a cave! But hopefully this week will be better with temperatures only in the 80s.

Last week Saturday we had barely arrived at the campground in Independence Missouri before we had to leave for the Westin in Kansas City Missouri and Bill's work dinner. We got to drive through some interesting neighborhoods between the two to say the least. Upon arriving we found out there was an open bar for the first hour which we thought strange as the project manager had sent out an email stating that there was NO WAY the company was buying drinks. The most interesting part of the dinner was mashed potatoes put into martini glasses and then topped with any multitude of toppings. After dinner we sat in the bar for a few hours with some of Bill's co-workers and they seem like a very laid back, party type bunch. There were at least two of the guys who were driving around the country without any sort of driver's license whatsoever! Not quite sure what they thought they would do if they were ever pulled over in this day and age. The owner of the company, Donny, and the Petsmart project manager, Mack, are both younger than I thought they would be. The gist of the night's speech was that the company is going places and getting bigger and there is more work than they know what to do with. Donny also emphasized that those who are crew leads right now like Bill would be the first people in line for promotions to district manager and project manager as the company grew. Which is great but then Bill has heard stories that people have not gotten raises in three years so maybe more work and promises of advancement soon mean that everything is starting to look up from the recession, at least for Prime Retail? We shall see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_Field_(airport)

Our campground is right next to Forbes Field Airport which used to be an Air Force base until 1973. There is a large gray plane that takes off at various times of the day and looks like it has weather equipment on it. Other than that it is fortunately quiet considering the fact that we are also right next to a train tracks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topeka,_Kansas

Topeka itself is a city about the same size as Green Bay with approximately 120,000. It is also the capital of Kansas. Although we haven't seen any evidence of tornados while here, in 1966 Topeka was hit with an F5 that leveled a large amount of it. The stylist who cut Bill's hair today said that they haven't seen much tornado activity in recent years but my opinion is that the Wizard of Oz wasn't set here for nothing! Topeka is also know as one of the cities in North America that has the greatest variations in temperture, wind and precipitation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education

Topeka was the site of the historic Brown v Board of Education decision in 1954 in which the Supreme Court stated "Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does." This verdict would be the catalyst for integration and the Civil Rights movement.