Having grown up in Wichita and driven back and forth from there to Montana and Idaho many times over the years (o.k. decades) I can relate to this. I’ve seen the first Pizza Hut, the world’s largest ball of twine and the concrete teepee I’ve been by (but for some reason not in) the underground salt museum. I don’t know how I missed the giant Van Gogh easel as I’ve driven by Goodland countless times on I-70. One thing (at least) Zippy missed that I’ve been to though is the Garden of Eden, which is strange given it’s proximity to the world’s largest ball of twine. I’ve also seen M.T. Liggett’s political sculptures which are strange enough to put even Zippy a little bit on edge.
Your thought provoking blog once again prompted me to explore the imponderables that had been laying in my subconscience for a couple of years. “How come on my last trip past Oakly KS in December I didn’t see the sign for the World’s Largest Prairie Dog?” Google says the Road side attraction closed in 2007 with the retirement of the farmer that ran it and he couldn’t convince anyone else to take it over. I think I saw the billboard that had blown down laying in the weeds. Shelly’s sonnet of Ozymandias “Behold my mighty works , ye mighty and despair!” Somehow comes to mind…
Steve, I’m no expert but I’m thinking this must be the first time that Ozymandias and the World’s Largest Prairie Dog have been paired in a discussion. I remember the WLPD well. Since I’ve avoided driving I-70 in recent decades, I’m not surprised that I didn’t know it had closed either.
I never heard of the easel or the Salt museum before either, but since the easel was erected around 2001 and the museum has only been opened to the public for about 8 years that may be why. Someday maybe it would be interesting to see since dad worked in the salt mines up there once upon a time. Although I kind of envision dad just saying, “It’s just a big hole in the ground”
Randy, dad actually took the Salt Museum tour a few years before he died–maybe just to confirm it was in fact just a big hole in the ground.