Day 19 #TeslaNashvilleRoadTrip
Leaving St. Louis, heading to Kansas City. 251 miles in Pat Metheny Country. Big sky Missouri
The Index of all 30 posts from day 1 of our #TeslaRoadTripUSA is HERE.
Left St. Louis around 9 am with around 220 miles of charge. First stop for supercharge was with 33 miles left in the tank. Nearby was a BBQ Smokehouse. “let’s have early lunch there.” Inside was a lot like I imagine attending a Church service would be.
The Christian energy was unmissable in he decor and the demeanor of the guests and staff. Some were clearly influenced by meth or opioids, or both. Christian imagery was abundant as we entered, crosses, reminding us that Jesus died in enormous pain for our sins. We joined some 30 guests, mostly in pairs. We noticed each time a server brought out the food order the people at the table joined hands and prayed.
Looking closer we noticed two of the guests shaking. Emaciated, with brown teeth. The ‘opioid hang’ we concluded. Either that or the meth morning after. The opioid crisis is especially evident round these parts. (The South and Mid West.)
We have come across many locals looking the worse for wear, facially tattooed by the effects of long term drug use. Opioids and Meth especially. The Sackler legacy of billionaire success is painfully obvious round these parts.
We left with the car charged to 328 miles. It took some 40 minutes to charge it to 328 from 33 miles.
Driving through Missouri I chose Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden’s ‘Beyond The Missouri Sky.’ Music that suited the amazingly colorful skyscapes perfectly.
We passed a road sign to Lee’s Summit. Where Pat was born. I thought that was cool. As will anyone aware of who Pat is in the guitar musician firmament. Pat was playing Jazz in Pizza joints in Kansas City from the age of 14. He is revered in KC like no other.
"Lee’s Summit native Pat Metheny has always felt his Jackson County upbringing gave him the perfect setting to develop his talent. “I’ve often theorized about the midwestern geography affecting an aesthetic, the sheer amount of space that exists, that leaves lots of room for things to happen, and for people to dream up stuff.”
I enjoyed this interview with Pat, sumarizing his extraordinary journey as Missouri’s greatest musician. Certainly the finest musician to attend Lee’s Summit High.
Pictures from the car driving through wide open Missouri
As usual, the billboards are all bought up by the same two customers. Prosperity Jesus salesmen and Lawyers. Often both the same thing.
We arrived in Kansas city with this Pat Metheny song playing. Spiritual. In Kansas City we saw a Garden advertised on Trip Advisor as the #1 attraction in Kansas City. Located close to our Hotel it made a pleasant afternoon walk in the balmy sunshine.
There we learned about Kansas residents, Ewing and Muriel Kauffman. Wealthy Socialists from Kansas who gave back to the city where they made their fortune by bringing them a famous baseball team. The Royals. Of their business model they said; ‘Those who produce share in the profits’.
When poorboy from a poor family Ewing Kauffman was 11 he had to leave school for a year. A heart valve would not close completely. During this year, Kauffman taught himself how to speed read. It was not uncommon for him to read one to two books a day. How Ewing learned to love reading.
In later years, Kauffman believes his success in the pharmaceutical business stemmed from his ability to read and learn. Out of bad things good.
The Kauffman’s donated a free public garden to the City of Kansas, along with their generous gift of a Baseball team. The Gardens serves as their final resting place. Splendid gardens. Nice experience.
There is a splendid Art garden, the Donald J Hall sculpture park that appears after you walk through the picturesque Historic district of Kansas City. This enormous metal tree catches the light. A tremendous work by Roxy Paine, (b. 1966). Called Ferment, 2011. There is a fabulous wood sculpture by Ursula von Rydingsvard, American (b.1949). Called Three Bowls, 1990. Wood art painted black to allow aging to turn it silver. Creative use of time in the artistic process.
I sneaked a stolen picture of a lovely couple relaxing in the beautiful woodland surrounds, as my version of photographic art in this environment. After the park you see The Rodin sculpture at the KC Museum. Former home of timber barons Robert A. Long, donated by his heirs to the City.
Here’s a wide shot of the art garden. The University in the background. The glass labyrinth to the right. The art of Robert Morris, American (b. 1931). Glass Labyrinth, 2013. Glass, steel, bronze and stone, 50 x 50 x 50 feet
For dinner we walked downtown, reading about Kansas City. Crime. Drugs. Poverty. Jesus. Kansas City like so many beset with crime in the south and mid west have four commonalities. Jesus. Drugs. Racially affected Poverty and gun crime.
Data from Kansas City, MO Police show of the 127 homicides the city has seen so far in 2023, 60% stem from arguments, retaliation, and drug deals gone bad.
Instead of resorting to guns, the city urges everyone impacted by gun violence and other crime to turn to their Partners for Peace program to learn how to solve their grief and disputes without killing.
Johnson added, “Once we meet with the contacts or our referral’s we ascertain their needs and if their is an aspect we offer grief counseling, therapy, conflict resolution training, anger management training, soft skills training.”
So. Instead of addressing the real problem, they analyse it and give jobs to ‘experts’ whose role is to avoid the core cause with band aid distractions from actually solving the problem. Which is; the four principal causes.
1.) Jesus Law.
2.) Gun Law.
3.) Drug law. And
4.) The legacy poverty of racial discrimination.
All of which could so easily be remedied with no more than the will to remedy.
In 2021, Kansas City, MO had a population of 503k people with a median age of 35.4 and a median household income of $60,042. Between 2020 and 2021 the population of Kansas City, MO grew from 491,158 to 502,597, a 2.33% increase and its median household income grew from $56,179 to $60,042, a 6.88% increase.
The 5 largest ethnic groups in Kansas City, MO are White (Non-Hispanic) (55.5%), Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (26.3%), White (Hispanic) (4.22%), Two+ (Non-Hispanic) (4.04%), and Other (Hispanic) (3.7%).
Confusingly Kansas City Missouri, where we are, is not the only Kansas City in walking distance of where we are. Kansas City, Kansas, (abbreviated as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County.
It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 156,607 making it one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is situated at Kaw Point, the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers.
Kansas City is situated on the edge of the "Tornado Alley", a broad region where cold air from the Rocky Mountains in Canada collides with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the formation of powerful storms especially during the spring. A few areas of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area have had some severe outbreaks of tornadoes at different points in the past, including the Ruskin Heights tornado in 1957, the May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence and the Tornado Outbreak Sequence of May 2019.
Walking from dinner we saw these religious types on the lovely green near downtown. On closer inspection we saw they appear to be selling puppies. They have a very religious energy. We wondered if they were Amish, with the scarfed heads. The young dogs are barking and appear distressed. The women, two carrying infants, present a guilty demeanor, seemingly under duress. Puppy Mills are another symptom of christian-poverty. Unregulated Prosperity Jesus Capitalism at its unsightly American worst.
The view of Kansas City MO from our room window.
Tomorrow we visit Kansas.