On the tingling eve of the big high school football game, drama was being played out in thousands of U.S. cities and towns. Girl students swirl like autumn leaves as they lived and breathed their hopes and fears in high-pitched whispers. The biggest men in school, the football stars, brooded over their assignments and the hundreds of friends who were counting on them. Mass pep rallies in front of school or on practice fields built up the excitement. Coeds mooned over their heroes in class and the popular girls set their caps for coveted dates with the team’s star players.
The tension of the adult world – even college football – seems tame beside the bubbling pressures of high school football. In Lawrence, Kan., a city of 33,000, the pressure is even greater for the Lawrence High Lions have the longest current winning streak in schoolboy football – 45 games. As Lawrence, on the weekend reported in these pictures, prepared for its big game against Shawnee-Mission North, the 1,100 students urged the ream on with usual fighting, go-get-‘em slogans. But the players themselves faced things a little differently from most. Booted in the strict religious environment of Kansas, they attend a prayer meeting and Bible discussion at a barn outside of town, where on of them wisecracked, “He who playeth hardest beateth Shawnee-Mission North.”
To call this a recipe is an overstatement, nevertheless I like it and so does my kid. It will pump your levels of vitamin A so high you’ll get an X-ray vision.
Here goes: peel some carrots (I used 2 lbs) and shred them using any available method (I used food processor). Here is a hint: if you are planning to shred carrots by hand, do not buy a whole bunch of small ones, you will regret it. Add salt, maybe a tablespoon or two of mayonnaise and as much pressed garlic as you can handle. Bam!
P.S. Mayonnaise haters need not comment; it’s French and, therefore, delicious.
So I was driving around yesterday, getting some bugs embedded in my windshield on the rural highways of Kansas. Now is a time to do it: it’s not too hot to roll the windows down and let the smell of prairie spring fill the stuffy cabin of your car, turn the radio full-blast and hit full speed hoping that the local Barney Fife is relaxing after the church on Sunday. The sheer size of Kansas is hard to comprehend, several hours of driving is still a local trip and although it’s mostly endless farmland, there are many points of interest along the way.
But first things first – a Lawrence strip-club now features an Ed Hardy room. Gentlemen, start your engines!
Little further down the road there is an establishment called “Tee Pee”:
One of the “tee pees” is marked with flood marks from various years on the nearby Kansas River.
Turning North on Hwy 59 it’s a short drive to Oskaloosa, KS – home of the Old Jefferson Town – a collection of old buildings and structures moved to one place from all over Jefferson County.
There is a school and a church, a lonely bandstand replica…
…a rusty bridge…
…and a jail where a local Otis Campbell could’ve spent a night or two.
Today Sam Peppard would’ve been able to sail right to the next fence. Kansas ain’t what it used to be…
Oskaloosa City Square is not very different from other small Kansas towns like Burlingame or Ottawa.
People in the 19th century believed in stability so much that they didn’t hesitate to chisel the word “Bank” on the building. Bank wasn’t moving anywhere.
They would be surprised to see a “Chunkie Dunker’s” diving pig occupying one of the windows.
Although “lending with a heart” is still residing in the building.
An old water tower dominates every view.
Masons built this building in 1886.
HWY 92 is being guarded by the local post of the American Legion (brought to you by Coors).
Overlooking the shores of the Perry Lake , the city of Ozawkie,KS is mostly famous for its sign.
Nearby you can grab a monster burger…
… and get a New Kids on The Block -styled haircut from the stylist/owner Gail Dillenbeck.
Is it me or is it really the State of Texas hanging over the cowboy on the right?
Valley Falls turned out to be a neat little town, with its own downtown…
…where “Buy American!” turned into local “Shop Valley Falls 1st”.
No New Kids on The Block here, Punk cuts hair in this town.
Valley Falls has its share of historic buildings…
…but many are no longer in use…
…and wrenches are not clanging anymore behind the friendly window signs.
Here is a piece of unsolicited advice to the KC Star: you want people to buy your paper? Name it “The Vindicator”. You can’t not subscribe to “The Vindicator”.
Cows are peacefully grazing where the Battle of Hickory Point once raged.
Nowadays there is no time for battle, Kansas Farmers are busy feeding “128 people + you”, or did “Kansas Agri Women” figure this out when we were all still skinny?
And why fight if this is what you see out of your window every morning.
