THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES

50 miles north west of Kansas City, MO.

It was the best of times when the daughter of Atchison, Missouri, Amelia Earhart, in January 1935 became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California. The worst of times was in 1937 when she disappeared attempting her around the world solo flight….until….the Great Missouri River floods of 2011.

The fields of Atchison lie fallow this year. Small lakes and pools ripple on the farm lands where corn stubble should be signaling a bountiful harvest. Big green John Deer tractors sit idle in the water soaked barns and the bible belt prays for better times to come.

Trivia: 1854. Senator David Rice Atchison, for which the city is named, became President of the U.S. for a day when Zachary Taylor refused to take the Oath of Office.

We bedded in Topeka, KS. last night, still racing south, trying to outrun Mother Nature's, deep-dipping into the heartland, cold front.