On May 2 and 3 the weather broke records all over Kansas, including Lawrence. The new temperature record is 43 degrees, both days, and that’s not a Low, it’s a High. The old record predates me, going back to May 2 & 3, 1944. The old recorded lowest High for these days had been 44 and 45 degrees, but we beat it. Couple those temps with 20 to 30 mph winds, some rain, and you got yourself some Spend the Day in the Trailer days.  Here’s the guy who explained it on Kansas City tv, Gary Lezak.  He reminds  me of me, ‘cuz he’s got a face made for radio!

We got some production from our inside time. I caught a credit card fraud involving stuff I can’t use and didn’t order, did a month of bean counting for Ohmann Theatre, and found a Target that had Kat’s new camera in stock. (Getting your mail C/O General Delivery, BF, Iowa is not as cool as you’d think.) The term “Bleeding Kansas” seeped into consciousness out of some long-ago history course. I did the research. Horace Greely, the “Go west, young man!” newspaperman, coined the term for deadly hooliganism between pro-slave trouble-makers from Missouri and abolitionist trouble-makers from all-over. 56 people were killed in multiple incidents over nearly a year. Historians consider this a prelude to the Civil War. it showed that emotions over the issue were sufficiently high to lead to homicide. In another sense, compare those scant casualties to just the first major Civil War battle, Bull Run: 850 killed and 2,700 wounded. And that was just the beginning.

This is political, and so be it. Every time I hear someone suggest reparations to the descendants of slaves, three thoughts come to mind: 1) Those who suffered most are long gone, 2) Many of us feel lucky to be Americans, and 3) Before the American Civil War, nobody, anywhere had gone out on a limb to try to end slavery. But here, 360,000 Union soldiers gave their lives to free people they had never known. Those lives are full reparation, paid in blood.

The Getaway

Saturday we caught a brief break in the weather (no rain, less wind, still butt-cold) and hooked up the Red Sled to Kat’s Cradle. Our destination was Nebraska City, and another step forward in our boondocking career: a night at Wal*Mart!