August 19, 2007

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  A Journey Through Space and Time

   

  If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
  --Henry David Thoreau

   

  Sitting around Fredonia, Kansas, making funeral arrangements, and cleaning out grandma Borland's house got me thinking about things and people whose time has come and gone. Grandma died at age 99, she'd lived in that house for approximately 60 years and her husband, who died in 1988, added on to the house a couple of times. My mother-in-law, said that when they moved into that house, there was no electricity or running water; they didn't have these utilities, that we now take so for granted, for another 3 years after moving in.

  In many ways, southeast Kansas itself, seems like its time has come and gone. Granted, there is a lot going on there, mostly farming, but all the manufacturing and mining is gone and there aren't a lot of companies chomping at the bit to relocate to such an isolated place. There are some magnificent houses in Fredonia indicating that, at one time, there was serious money there but that is all in the past.

  My journey through space and time began and ended on gravel roads, but I only covered a small portion of Wilson County, Kansas. I drove past several farms that had been abandoned for years and falling apart. I saw an armadillo and a bobcat but wasn't able to photograph them because I was in motion and couldn't safely stop in time.

  

  The first thing you notice is that there are no paved roads in the rural areas. The day I took these pictures, I drove for several hours on gravel roads, only crossing a paved road from time to time.

   

  

  I crested a hill and saw this chimney sticking out of the ground in the middle of a field. I found an opening in the fence and drove into the field. Needless to say, I spent most of the day in 4-wheel drive.

   

  

  Any wood that was attached to this chimney is long gone indicating great age but no one seemed to know when the house was built or when and how it came to not exist anymore.  I have to assume that the house attached to this chimney had no electricity or indoor running water.

   

  

  Seemingly endless roads to nowhere abound. The scenery is beautiful though; very green for August because there has been a great deal of rain. Flooding from the rain put more than a few farmers out of business.

   

  

  Another sign that points to an abandoned building, Altoona, Kansas.

   

  

  This structure was once a church. No one seemed to know what denomination worshipped here or the approximate dates of its function as a church, As I mentioned below, when the older generation passes into history, so does a lot of knowledge. Now this church sits inside the fence at a cattle farm and cattle graze all around it and seek shelter from the heat inside on the church's cool dirt floors.

   

   

  Don't let it bring you down,

  it's only castles burning.

  Just find someone who's turning,

  and you will come around.

  --Neil Young

   

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