Kansas. Not the first destination you would think about taking a vacation. But when my friend, Eric Shumate, called me up and said that he’s spending the summer at his childhood home, and that I should come out. I immediately asked…. “why?” He replied… “Abandoned Kansas Photography Road Trip”. He had me at abandoned.
After a month of planning, I was driving East to the middle of Kansas. Near the home of… wait for it… the worlds largest ball of twine. Don’t be jealous. I can show you pictures. Anyway, thanks to Eric, he spent a good deal of time scouting locations, talking to the people in his community, getting permissions, and making connections. We marked about a dozen locations on the map. By the end of the trip, the map was littered with over fifty Google pins and stars. Unfortunately, we didn’t even get though a third of them.
I pulled into town on a Sunday night and was greeted with corn on the cob, and a steak that was prepared on a clogged propane grill, and finished on an unknowingly, unplugged, George Forman. Needless to say it took a long time to cook, but we had a good laugh out of it!
Monday morning started the abandoned Kansas photography road trip at coffee club. Now, being that there is no Starbucks for miles around, Coffee club is where a group of men gather at Gene’s Shop and well, have coffee. It was a pleasure to meet them and listen to their stories, where to go, and who owns what property. Somewhat jokingly, we asked them if they think we would be able to get up into the Country Court House clock tower, and they told us who to go see. I could barely contain my composure from excitement.
That morning really didn’t start with abandoned places. It started with talking to the wonderful people in this small Kansas town, and having the opportunity of getting a rare look behind what makes this town tick. Below is a glimpse of the next blog post so I hope you’ll join me. So for now, please consider sharing this post using the social media buttons. And if you are new to the blog, welcome! I’d love it if you became a subscriber by signing up. Thank you!
