New Sparky Chronicle Logo, Said to Impart More of a Masculine Look Photo of Sparky with a Frosty Fizz Cola and Crunchy Critters Candy Bar A Website Chronicling the Day to Day Struggles of a Stuffed Animal Who Believes He's Alive!
Stone
Fence Posts

Stone fence posts that they use in Kansas

Back in the old days in Kansas, there weren't very many trees around there, but they had plenty of stones that they could cut up and make fence posts, so that's zaktly what they did.

They found out reel fast that you can't hammer in the regular fence staples to hold on the barbed wire, and nails jest bent over, so then they invented a way that they could tie the barbed wire on with some other kind of wire called "hay wire."

While on the subject of "Hay Wire," let me jest tell you that those farmers fix everything with it.  That's why whenever something would break down on a farm, they say that "it went haywire," which meant that it would have to get fixed with that special wire.


The New Camera
Camera similar to the one the old folks bought.
The old folks bought a new digital camera so they could take a lot of cool pitchers on this trip.  It's also easier for us guys to use it cuz we don't have to worry about the film falling out when we open up the back to look to see if the pitchers we jest took turned out.  Every time we do that it seems like the pitchers are way too dark, in fact you can't even see any of the pitchers when they come back from the drugstore that develops the film.  (The pitcher above isn't the reel camera, cuz I couldn't figger out how to take a pitcher of that camera without having another camera).

The reely cool thing about this camera is that it doesn't use no film at all, jest a funnyDrawing of the flash card that the camera puts the pitchers on looking computer thingy they call a "Flash Card."  That flash card is about 1-1/4 inches square and 1/8" thick, and it holds over 500 pitchers, and if you are like us guys and jest want to take a bunch of funny pitchers, like somebuddy with milk dripping from his chin, or with jelly all over his face, you ken set some adjustment thing in that camera that makes the quality of the pitchers lower, and it will let you put a couple of thousand pitchers on that same flash card!   Also, as soon as you take the pitcher you ken jest look at the little TV on the back and see how good it is, so if you messed it up you ken jest erase it and make a new one.


Who went on this vacation:

Us guys look a lot like Stuffed Animals, and that's how we get away with all the things we get away with.

Every time the old folks decide to go on vacation, they have to decide which of us gets to go along, cuz we ride in the van, and pretend to be jest Stuffed Animals.

Picture of Hiram

Hiram--"The Old Feller," who always gets to go on vacation.

That's me standing to show off my superhero outfit

Sparky--I always get to go on vacation, too.

Sniffy shown with 2 different kinds of his favorite cheese

Sniffy--He also always gets to go on vacation.

Dexter posing for a portrait

Dexter--He gets to go on vacation sometimes.

Scruffy posing for his picture

Scruffy--This is only his second vacation, and if he doesn't get lost cuz he's so little, he'll get to go again.  Actually, he stowed away this time, cuz he wasn't supposed to come along cuz only 4 of us are ever supposed to go on any vacation!

ty_photo.jpg (22129 bytes)

Ty--He has been going along on vacations, cuz he's reely cool and likes to check things out, too.

Home

About Sparky

FAQ's

Contact Sparky

Beautiful header for Sparky's Trip to Florida

By Sparky

We left Denver on April 13, 2003, headed for Kansas the first day.  We jest blasted through, cuz Gloria grew up in Park, Kansas, and both she and Jim had already seen some of the sights before, and the others they decided wouldn't fall into the "Heart-Pounding" rating that I developed.Marymount College, where Gloria went to college  By late afternoon we arrived at Salina and checked out Marymount College, where Gloria Went to college.  In case any of you are thinking about going to college there cuz it's recommended by Gloria, you ken jest forget it cuz it closed in 1989 and now it's the Kansas Highway Patrol Training School.  Of course, if you decide to be a Kansas highway cop, then that's probably where you will go.

Then we checked out the rest of the city and finally went and checked into a motel, but I forgot the name of the place, cuz us guys was so tired from traveling that day.

I do remember that the motel had what is called a "Micro Fridge," which is a refrigerator with a microwave built in on top.  It was reely weird, cuz it was making some noise, so I checked it out, and decided to unplug it and it got quiet immediately.  Then I plugged it in again, but I put the plug in upside down, cuz it had the kind of plug that lets you do that.  It was still quiet after that, so I sure did fix it.  Then Gloria decided to heat up a cup of coffee cuz she likes it reel hot, so she put it in the microwave and pushed the button.  After about 3 minutes, she opened the door and the coffee was frozen solid.  We opened the door to the refrigerator, and it was reel hot in there, so when you plug in a "Micro Fridge" backwards it works backwards, so don't try that at home cuz I already did and now you don't have to!

What Really Happened at the motel:  Gloria doesn't remember anything about the Micro Fridge incident, although it was making some noise so we unplugged it.  The rest of the information above is true.
Tourist things we passed up along the way:

• The world's largest prairie dog, near Oakley.
• Castle Rock, 14 miles south of Quinter.
• Oil Well Museum at Russell.

Plus untold other heart pounding sights available at:

Attractions in Kansas


Small, regular size prairie dogs. The one in Oakley weighs 8,000 lbs.
Welcome to Oklahoma!

The next morning we got up early and blasted off, heading for Oklahoma. This is the only pitcher we took in Oklahoma, but it was the welcome center, and that is important.We got there about the normal time, and stopped at the Welcome Center, and the lady there said, "Welcome," so we knew that we were in the correct place.  Unfortunately, everything that looked like we should stop and see it was a hundred miles somewhere else, so we jest blasted on through.

Click here to find out all the information you care to know: 

Oklahoma Tourist Information

Welcome to Texas, "Y'all!"

After about Gloria and Dexter at the Texas Welcome Center, where "Y'all" are always welcome.250 miles or so we got to Texas and stopped at the Texas Welcome Center, where they lady also said, "Welcome, Y'all," so we knew that we was in the correct place there too.  We were in "The Y'all Belt," and that belt extended for quite a long distance throughout the south.

Click here to find out a lot more about Texas: 

Texas Tourist Stuff 


There's also a cooler website here:

More Cool Texas Tourist Stuff 

That afternoon we got to the edge of Dallas, and checked inDallas traffic during the non-rush hour, 30 miles from downtown.to a La Piñata Motel next to the freeway, actually about 30 miles from downtown Dallas.  That traffic was reely bad, even at 3:30 p.m., so we decided not to try to go into downtown.

There was a feller also at that motel, who figgered out how to beat that bad traffic.  He went to the auto supply store and bought himself some train adapter wheels for his pickup.Pickup truck with the adapter so he can drive on the train tracks.  While the old folks was eating dinner, we saw him pull out and look at all that traffic, then he went around the back of the motel and we watched him drive that truck up onto the tracks and put down those train wheels on the front and back of his truck.  Then he got up on top of the truck and looked up the track jest to make sure there wasn't no train coming.  Next he got in his truck and took off, and it was smooth sailing fer him clear out of site...and all those other people were still stuck in traffic!

The next morning we took off for Kilgore, Texas, which is almost to the Louisiana border.  In Kilgore we went on a tour of "The East Texas Oil Museum."  They really have a lot of cool pitchers on their website, so you ken jest click here to see them and read all about that reel cool museum:

East Texas Oil Museum 

That museum had a lot of cool displays of oil well drilling tools and equipment, and me and Sniffy slipped in without getting caught, so we was able to sneak around and check things out.  Whoever set up that museum sure did a good job, cuz none of the things we messed with fell apart or broke or caused any trubble, fer a change!  That's the main reason I totally recommend this museum...it's both educational and safe!  (And we found a pack of cheese crackers down behind the candy machine, so they were a bonus as well, but they're all gone now, so jest go there fer the museum!)  They also had a reel cool gift shop, and also had a lot of Stuffed Animals fer sale, but none of them as cute as us guys!

Louisiana

We got to Shreveport, Louisiana later that afternoon, and checked into another La Piñata Motel.  It was reel hot outside so us guys jest plopped down in front of the air conditioner and took a nap before dinner, cuz none of us likes it when we get over tired and get grouchy. (There's nothing worse than a grumpy Stuffed Animal).

While the old folks was out eating dinner, me and Ty went outside to check things out.  We heard some laughing and loud talking out behind the motel, so we jest natcherally had to go and see what was going on.  There was 8 or 7 guys watching another guy, and he was trying to cook an egg on the sidewalk.  After about 15 minutes of the other guys betting each other that it wouldn't work, sure enough, the egg got cooked, but nobody decided to eat it, so they left it there and walked off.  Me and Ty talked about eating that egg, but that sidewalk looked pretty dirty, and we didn't want to catch hydrophobia or nothing like that, so we jest left it, and pretty soon in jest a couple of minutes, 2 noisy birds landed there and they finished it off in nothing flat!  I don't know if they got hydrophobia, cuz we got Bridge over the Red River at Shreveport, Louisianaout of there pretty fast.

The next morning the old folks got up early before it got hot and went for a bike ride along the Red River on a cool bike trail.  They stopped in front of a reel big flower garden and they set up the new camera to take a pitcher all by itself byThe old folks and Sniffy posing for a pitcher along the bike trail in Shreveport. putting it on a 3-legged tripod that is reel little and it jest stands on anything like a trash can or picnic bench.  Sniffy got to go along, and you ken see him sitting on Jim's bike if you click on the pitcher and make it reel big.

Frogmore Plantation  4-16-03  After the bike ride we took off for Lafayette, Louisiana, and stopped at the Frogmore Plantation on the wSign holder in front of Frogmore Plantationay.  It was cool to see how they used to grow cotton and they have a special machine there called a "Cotton Gin," that pulls the seeds out of the cotton, cuz if they made a shirt out of cotton with those seeds still in it, that shirt would look pretty silly, and if it got wet, you might find out that cotton plants were growing out of your shirt.  Anyhow, it was reel interesting, and you ken jest click below to find out more about it:

Frogmore Plantation 

Lafayette, Louisiana  We got into Lafayette in late afternLafayette, Louisiana Visitor Center, where there was a swamp under it!oon and checked into another motel, like usual.  Then we went to the Lafayette Visitor Center and got some maps of things in the area.  That was a reel cool visitor center on account of it was build partly over a swamp and there was reel big fish and birds and all other kinds of scary things that lived in that water.

On the front of the visitor center was a neat fence, and there wSign telling who made the neat fenceas a sign on it like in the pitcher at the right, and it said that the Goodwill built it fer them.  Some old geezer outside was talking to another old geezer and he said that nobody ever throws anything away around there, so the Goodwill never gets anything but junk, so they took to building fences instead, and it is working out reel good fer them.  I don't know if that was true or not, but I do know that it is sure true that nobuddy ever throws anything away around there, cuz everybuddy has their own personal junk yard near their house.

The next morning we got up and we went to a place called "Vermilionville," which is sort of a little town that is also a museum, I guess.  Anyhow, we all got to sneak out and check things out, but there wasn't nothing there that wasn't dangerous looking, so none of us wanted to mess with anything.  Gloria is checking out a 400 pound cotton bale

Jim took a reel good pitcher of Gloria standing next to a 400 pound bale of cotton.  She wanted to take it home, but it would have been too hard to get it into the van, even if the guy at the museum would have sold it to us fer 4 bucks or something like that.

As always, or at least as most of the time, or maybe only some of the time, you ken jest click below for more information:

Vermilionville Website 

or try: More Vermilionville Information 

 

Return to Top     Return to Travel Directory

 

 

2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13

Next 

 

Next Page

 

Kansas
"The Sunflower State"

Admitted to Union:
January 29, 1861, as the 34th state.

Capital:
Topeka

Population:
2,688,418 (According to 2000 US census report).

Geographic Size:
82,281 square miles.  Ranked 15th in geographic size.

Highest Point:
Mount Sunflower in western Kansas--4,039 feet

Lowest Point:
The Verdigris River in southeast Kansas--680 feet.

State motto:
“Ad Astra Per Aspera” Latin for “To the stars through difficulty”.

State Tree:
Cottonwood, adopted 1937.

State Flower:
Native Sunflower, adopted 1903.

State Bird:
Western Meadowlark, adopted 1937.

State Animal:
The American Buffalo or Bison, adopted 1955.

State Insect:
The Honeybee, adopted 1976.

State Reptile:
The Ornate Box Turtle, adopted 1986.

State Song:
“Home on the Range,” by Dr. Brewster Higley, adopted 1947.
Oklahoma
"The Sooner State"

Admitted to Union:
November 16, 1907

Capital:
Oklahoma City

Population:
3,450,600

Size:
69,956 Square Miles

(Click at left for more information)

Texas
"The Lone Star State."

Admitted to Union:
December 29, 1845, at "High Noon!"

Capital:
Austin

Population:
20,851,800

Area:
266,807 Square Miles

Favorite Saying:
"Y'all come back now, Y'hear."

Louisiana
"The Pelican State."

State Capital:
Baton Rouge

Population:
4,468,980

Area:
47,751 Square Miles

For more information click on the link below:
Louisiana Information 

 
 

Home

All Travel

Train & Yard

Adventures

Accidents

Inventions

Bike Stories

Photos

About Sparky

D-I-Y Page

Contact Me

FAQ's

Copyright (C) 2004 by James J. Meagher