Day 18 - Russell, KS to Columbia, MO

The first time I rode out to Colorado, I got into the very southeast corner of Kansas on the way home, just to be able to say that I'd been there on my bike.  The second time out, I rode with dad and Ellen through the northern part of the state on Route 36.  This time, since I wanted to stop in Topeka, I opted for Interstate 70.  That was ok yesterday getting into Russell, but I was not thrilled with it today - too many big rigs going 70mph.  The wind from those things knocks me all over the place, especially with my travel bag on the back of the bike - it kind of acts like a sail catching the wind.  Tomorrow I was supposed to go through St. Louis to Louisville but instead I'm going to head north to route 36 and go through Hannibal and on to just south of Indianapolis just so I can avoid some of that truck traffic.

My stop in Topeka was enlightening and interesting.  My main reason for stopping here was to visit Planting Peace's Equality House.  That's the rainbow-painted house right across the street from the notoriously anti-gay (anti-everything, really) Westboro Baptist Church.  They're the ones who proudly proclaim "God Hates Fags" and picket the funerals of dead soldiers and all kinds of other stuff.  In my opinion, they are just plain despicable.  That's what makes Equality House so great!  The fact that those hate-mongers have to see a symbol of love and acceptance for everyone every time they step out their door is just plain awesome!  The house has a little free library in the yard and a community garden, where they tell you to feel free to take what you want or pull some weeds, if you prefer.  On one side of the house they have stenciled words like "LOVE" and "EQUALITY" and "ALWAYS" and visitors have added their own personal messages.  This is in stark contrast to WBC across the street, which looks more like a prison compound with a wall and iron gates and closed circuit cameras.  On one side of the street, all are welcome, and on the other side, no one is welcome.  WBC also flies the American flag and the Kansas state flag upside down.  If you're looking for photos of them here, don't bother.  I wasn't going to waste the memory on my phone.

My second stop in Topeka was not planned, but I saw a sign for the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic site and I wanted to see what it was like.  It's located at the Monroe Elementary School grounds and signs there map out a 3 mile walking tour so you can visit other important sites like the courthouse where Thurgood Marshall helped argue for the end of segregated schools.  I didn't do the walking tour because of time constraints (although my butt would have thanked me if I did!) but at least I got to see a little bit of history there.  (As it happened, when I got back on the interstate, I was behind a car with a bumper sticker that read "That's ok, I wasn't using my civil liberties anyway".

After Topeka, I rode through Kansas City - in Kansas on the west side of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers and in Missouri on the east side.  I passed the Kansas City Royals stadium, the 2015 MLB champs, and on that note, as I was passing the exits for Lawrence, Kansas I was pleasantly surprised to see that on the signs for Kansas University, they don't just advertise their success in men's basketball but also advertise that their debate team is 5-times national champs as well!  My final stop for the night is in Columbia, Missouri, home of the University of Missouri.  I did toy with the idea of checking out their campus since I got in fairly early, but I decided I was too tired to go exploring.