The only reason I stayed in Kansas City overnight was to get these vaccinations for Ecuador which I willily didn't get fefore I left. Ok so I got off the train at 10pm. It arrives in on Troost Street and I imagine its like a semi popular city street. I get a taxi to my hotel. And I say hotel as hostels aren’t invented yet it seems and requiring a downtown location requires more $$$$. So $98 later I got a bachelorette pad with a king bed, cable tv and a raging storm outside. I spent the night sorting out bus routes and sorting out my bags and watching some really average tv. I found the greatest bus which would take me from 10th Street and Main all the way to 95th and Antioch in the suburb of Overland Park, which as I later discovered is actually in Kansas State.
For $2 I got there safely by about 9:15, and found a small group of shops which I could buy a box and card and send my package (of mostly my stuff) to Ma. In completing that task and making my bag lighter I proceeded to the Passport health clinic and filled out some paperwork. I was about an hour and a half early, but I really didn’t have anything (and it was raining, my bag was heavy yadda yadda). But I got the vibe she wanted to sit around her office, sitting on face book and making long-distance calls to her boyfriend, so she suggested I got to McDonalds which is like 1km away. Fine, so I left and across from Maccas was some shops that I stalked around and a home depot. Until now I hadn’t been into home depot and imagined it was like IKEA, however it turned out to be a massive hardware store which came in handy as I bought myself a dick-headlamp. Exiting Home Depot I found someone’s wallet on the ground (making my count: 3 wallets and one phone discovered) and to increase my bank of good karma, handed it in.
I made it back to the clinic ready for my Yellow Fever vaccination, however to my surprise the doctor had put together an entire encyclopedia of diseases and “what can go wrongs” of Ecuador. She did the hard sell with diaorrhea, malaria, Typhoid , suitable bug spray, rabies and Meningitis, but I held strong and ended up opting for the Yellow Fever - Typhoid combo which, with the consult fee cost me $260.00 for two pricks and complimentary mint… I drew the line on the educational DVD. Cool. So having the most expensive dead-arm in the world, but having a feeling of achievement of immunity to death in Ecuador, I proceeded down the road to try and find a set of shops or a bus.
I knew all well that there would be no bus out here… my original bus would not return until 3.15 and it was only 12.30, and I don’t know what waiting is. So I walked, I found a shopping centre which had both Macy’s and Sears, and I walked through Macy’s to get to the plaza area. The mall turned out to be a ghost town. Abandoned shops, shops half-open, shops with signs saying you must be over 12 to enter, wholesale only, empty fountains and escelators which weren’t moving. It was interesting to see, but a quickly legged it outta there. Continuing east, I thought I had walked a fair whack already with not much to show for it, and decided to head north up Nall Avenue (Without my trusty hotel-issued, double sided map I would be epically screwed, and picked my route using only the roads and landmarks which appeared on the map). I was disheartened to find the hills which kept on appearing before me and I was getting a little thirsty too. I few JO-stops appeared, but knowing the bus-line they wouldn’t appear any time soon. So I continued, unaware I was walking in Kansas State. As I rounded the bend onto 83rd I continued, with the energy knowing a set of shops was coming up. I found a bakery and bought a vitamin water and a scone to re-fuel.
Continuing on I went up a street which infact didn‘t have a name on the map, but was a line nonetheless, then right onto 75th and 75th onto State Line road… the border between Kansas State and Missouri. A landmark on the map told me that the “Meyer Circle seahorse fountain” was coming up and I felt that (just in the case of Mystic Pier, Boston), I must seek out this amazing landmark. I seemed like forever walking from 75th to 63rd, but low and behold a park appeared, as I dragged myself to the fountain I was both astonished and (again, as Mystic Pier) incredibly disappointed at what I had found… a tiny fountain depicting a naked boy standing on a snail. Thanks Kansas… I peed, refuelled, ate an orange I stole from the hotel and carried all day, and set off again.
Disappointed in Kansas (it was on their side) and went right onto 63rd in Missouri. More walking and I cross a green strip dividing the road lanes. A metro bus stop was located here and I felt comfort in knowing I was close to more bus stops. As I peer right, way (100m) in the distance I see this epical fountain if wonder and mystery… I had found the Meyer circle seashorse fountain! I needed to see the fountain up close and trudged through grass to glance at the tower of water. Upon getting my evidential photo, I turn around and head back to 63rd. In doing so, looking back to 63rd, the mythical metro bus appears… just my luck. As it powers into the distance of 63rd street I am left to walk the line east.
The road gets busier and I see activity in the distance, Walking on the left-side I am aware a black guy is rapping to himself on the right and then he starts “hollering” at me. I’m friendly, I trust people, and I felt he was trying to say something to me, so I holla’d back and he came over to my side of the street and started walking with me. His name was Jobiah, “but everyone calls him Job”. Job was learning how to be an electrician and was a mad rapper at night. We walked and talked all the way to Troost.. “ah I know Troost!, my train came in to that street!. So Job was friendly enough to show me to a good bus stop and no less than 5 minutes passed before a bus came by.
$1.50 got me on and I rested knowing I was going to be brought back downtown. I noticed that majority of the people who took the bus did so for only 2 or 3 stops, and then left. Seriously.. Can you walk 3 stops? I just walked half the town! (I actually walked 9.5km according to the scale on my map). Troost St was very straight and headed right into downtown. I counted the cross streets. I met Matthew who was sitting infront of me and he asked me if we had negro persons in Australia. I explained to him that we had many asylum seekers and immigrants from places like Sudan and our own native persons, but not many African Americans living in Australia.
I got off at around 10th or 11th and headed north as I know my hotel on Admiral Blvd was north of those. The night before when I caught a taxi I thought it was weird that my driver took these highways and big bridges to my hotel, knowing when I studied the map that it was just around the corner from Troost, I thought I had been ripped off that he didn’t go up Troost, and across Admiral?? I was walking and noticed the area was very quiet, nobody seemed to be in the area aside a few people on the streets. I got to the top of a hill and a man was trying to see if there was any traffic to give way to, but there was poor visibility and seeing me cross mean’t he could cross. For some reason he pulled over and asked If I needed a ride, I thanked him for his offer, but my hotel was just down the road, but he insisted, and I had walked a lot, and got in. His name was Rodd and he talked about his son who did a university semester in Europe and all the benefits of travelling young. He also explained that people get murdered in the area I was in and there is a lot of gang-associated violence. I was glad Rodd gave me a ride and felt safe knowing I was getting back to my hotel, where I would wait for my beloved Maggie to pick me up.
Well what a day it was. I walked a lot and have a $260 dead arm and some bandaid tans and a dickhead-lamp to show for it. I walked the most dangerous area of Kansas City, talked to strangers and got a ride from a stranger… 3 things I’m sure my mother told me NOT to do EVER.
