Saturday, September 17, 2016

Paradise “Found” in Missouri (Day 30)

We traveled East Main Street [I-70], Kansas most of today, turning south on a scenic auto route at Topeka to bypass the Kansas turnpike and most of the Kansas City area  The rain of the previous night followed us throughout much of the day, becoming a downpour by 2 p.m. and continuing until our arrival here at Lake Paradise Resort and RV Park in Lone Pine, Missouri.

Driving East “Main Street,” Kansas was just as spectacular as the drive along West “Main Street [I-70] Kansas the day before.  There were still hundreds of windmills, fields of hay, sorghum, milo and corn to be seen—and the skyscrapers (grain silos) in every hamlet along the way.  Just west of Topeka, there has been an attempt to restore the original prairie (Prairie Research Natural Area).  Driving along this section, I pictured the buffalo in great numbers trampling through that tall grass and wallowing in the ponds, and the covered wagons of the pioneers traversing this wide and open space.  What brave souls they must have been!  Kansas is not flat—there are rolling hills throughout and some are named:  Flint Hills, Rolling Hills, Smokey Hills.  Traveling through Kansas is a real treat, even on the Main Street [I-70]!

Lake Paradise Resort & RV Park, Lone Pine, Missouri is a bit lonely tonight and that suits me  fine!  The summer season has come to an end and there are only a few other folk here.  Tonight, as I walked along the lake,  I saw an eagle soar above the trees on the other side—and spied a Great Blue Heron at the water’s edge.   I think it is time to take another day off the road and enjoy this “Paradise.”  I might even “go fishing!”
Tonight, sitting here in “Paradise,” I read a few lines from my reading notes of Kazantzakis’ “The Odyssey—A Modern Sequel.”   I love his use of words, like “his heart filled wth myriad wings and playful thoughts and fragrant herbs,”  or “his words arose like water lilies in his mind’s warm murky pools.”  Can you picture that?  Can you feel that?  How I wish I could express myself like that—here in Paradise, MO.

“The man of many travels climbed, and his heart filled
with myriad wings and playful thoughts and fragrant herbs.”

“The more a soul grows old the more it fights its fate!”

“His lips moved and his words arose

like water lilies in his mind’s warm murky pools.”

No comments:

Post a Comment