the flint hills

The Flint Hills of Kansas are a band of hills in eastern Kansas stretching from just north of Wichita to south of Emporia. They can be viewed along Interstate 35 or more scenically from Highway 77.

What is flint? Mineralogical, flint is simply black chert. Chert is a sedimentary rock composed of silicon. The silicon is formed from diatoms - microscopic, single-celled algae that lived during the Cretaceous era when Kansas was an inland sea.

Chert.

Technically, flint is a finer grain chert and capable of producing a spark when hit against steel. This is not the case with the chert or flint or the Flint Hills. The rocky chert of the Flint Hills renders farming impossible except along the river beds, but allows for cattle ranching.

"The reality of the flint verses chert debate is that in most cases it is something like 'splitting hairs', there really is very little difference, chemically speaking. Artifact collectors tend to call materials that have a more waxy luster 'flints' and those which have less luster to no luster 'cherts'. The difference between them lyes in their purity relative to pure quartz and their matrix particle size. The smaller the particle size and the purer the material, the more likely we collectors would be to call the material flint. To a purist, we would be wrong. A generalist would say 'close enough'."

The difference.

looking good

Randy is a pro and he has only been at it for a third time. Okay, he was a little anal about scratching the bottom of his new kayak, the "Swifty" painted a stoplight red and yellow.












Andy, big Bwana as he is known along the river, glides along in his green for go kayak.

cool dudes

After awhile on the lake kayaking, 15 minutes, more or less, you're a pro. You're confident in your abilities and ready to tackle the rapids that challenge the best kayakers.

it's good to be back

It is good to be back in the USA.

By that I mean there is cheap entertainment in kayaking on Satchel Creek leading into Lake El Dorado, Kansas. I can't give too much information, otherwise, it would be crowded with everyone trying to find a getaway to our own secret place.

For starters, Randy and Andy slide like pros into their colorful kayaks.

At first the river is wide and deep.









And then, it gets a little narrower.















And narrower still. Along the way we see strange trees and root formations, pretty skies, but no lions, tigers or bears.

just a small town boy

Well, I am not really a small town boy. I am an army brat, who lived everywhere growing up, so I guess I have always had the urge to travel. Still, it is nice to call somewhere home and that somewhere for the last twenty years has been Wichita.

I enjoy reading the College Hill Commoner, the best paper west of the Hudson, written and edited by someone who came from the Hudson River Valley. (I think I got that right, if I didn't Barry will correct me.)

There are a slew of Wichitans traveling to Europe this summer despite the dismal exchange rate. Will and I left June the 8th and have been scooting by car throuygh France, Spain, and eventually, Italy, and maybe Switzerland and Germany. My wife Robin and daughter Hannah will join us in Florence. Craig and Deana Robinson, along with others on a K-State sponsored trip, friends and newlyweds, Nick and Tara, and other friends from Overland Park, Carol and Chris Walker. We are all converging on Italy from different directions and can be found in the area in and around Florence.

Salut.