Hays, Kansas
November 4, 2022
Several observations I need to write down or I will forget.
A reasonable number of pumphorses out here -- and oil fields workers at the convenience stores. I did not know there is oil in Kansas.
Kansas is not as flat away from I-70 as I remember I-70 being. I'm driving US 183 south this morning - the landscape is rolling. And I am at an elevation of 2,000 feet. The elevation gain from the East is so gradual.
Speaking of landscape, there are tress (though not many) and not every field is for crops. There are a good number of cattle out here grazing (in the grass, can you dig it?) and a number of fields are not used for crops.
Interesting factoids:
Today approximately 90% of the land area of Kansas is devoted to agriculture production. Besides wheat,the most important crops in Kansas are corn, soybeans, grain sorghum (milo) and hay. A 2010 Kansas Farm Bureau report states that Kansas leads the nation in the production of both wheat and grain sorghum. It ranks 7th in corn production, 10th in soybean production and in the top three in sunflower production. (https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/crops/14186)
How can Hays, Kansas not make me think of Willie Mays Hays from Major League?