I spent much of the last week driving around Kansas, which was actually pretty fun. I love to drive, and I really love driving around small towns in the middle of nowhere. In all the years I’d spent covering the White House and various campaigns, none of my travels had ever taken me to Kansas. And even being from Oklahoma, just to the south, I had crossed the border once, maybe twice. But this year, there’s a few competitive midterm races Democrats might win—which is surprising because Kansas is such a conservative state. (If you want to know more: I profiled a 74-year-old grandma who put off retirement to save the Democratic Party there.)
But there are two interesting things I noticed about Kansas. The first is that it is a state totally obsessed with weird roadside attractions. I’ve posted some pictures in the last few days of the ones I stumbled upon: the world’s largest ball of twine, a miniature Statue of Liberty in the middle of nowhere, a house painted in orange and camouflage. If I hadn’t been rushed for time, I would have pulled over for the World’s Largest Souvenir Plate and the World’s Most Artsy Public Toliets, but alas. We all have regrets.
The second most interesting thing is that radio there is totally obsessed with Journey, and that obsession appears to limited to a single, unexpected song. We’re not talking “Don’t Stop Believin” or “Faithfully” or even “Separate Ways,” aka the cheesiest music video of all time. Six, possibly seven, times in the span of two days on different stations from Wichita to Topeka to the west towards Colorado, I heard “Who’s Crying Now,” a song I literally hadn’t thought about since the early 1980s when my older cousin wanted to marry Steve Perry and listened to their record nonstop. The third time I heard it, I thought it was funny. The fourth time, I may have sang along a bit and laughed that Journey was getting as much airplay as Taylor Swift. But after that, I started to wonder: Was this more than a coincidence? Was Steve Perry trying to tell me something? Days later, I am still thinking about this Journey song, and now, dear reader, you are, too. Thanks, Kansas.