Clay Center trip

Today Peg & I decided to "take a day off" and do a shopping trip to the thriving metropolis of Clay Center, Kansas. Of course on the trip down Hwy 24, we had to take a spin thru Riley, my old hometown. Much has changed since I grew up on a nearby farm 40+ years ago, and much of the change has not been good. When I was young it seemed to be a bustling community, a hub of activity any day of the week. But not now. I'm sure there are many fine folks who live in the small community of approximately 500. It's just that the biggest share of them I would not know "from Adam". There appear to be one or two new businesses on the main street, which is good, however there are still many other vacant and dilapidated buildings.

On our way into town I was reminded of the time back in the mid 1950s when I was probably about 10 years old and 3 of my friends at the time decided to "camp out" overnight in one of their backyards. I had recently acquired a bicycle from my neighbor Mrs. Jacobson and decided to ride the bike into town for the "campout". The bike was a girls 26" model Schwin which had been acquired for the modest sum of $5. I don't remember much about the 5+ mile trip into town. I do remember that after we boys had spent the night in the tent, we were up early the next morning, got on our bikes and rode around town. It was so early that hardly anyone was out & about, so we could ride in the streets and on the sidewalks all over the place. We had a blast. Later that day we decided to ride north on Hwy 24 to the nearby town of Leonardville. It must have been about a 10 mile ride one way. I know we got to the Leonardville city limit, turned around and came back just so we could say that we had made it all the way.

Another time, maybe the same year, we camped outside at another friends house, although he lived in the country so we pitched a tent about a half mile behind his house in a grove of trees. It must have been May 1st because during the evening about 3 local young girls that were about our age came out to May Day us. Oh, the excitement of it all. Eventually we were all chasing one another around in the dark in the woods. (All very innocent!!) One of the girls was "going with" one of the boys at the time and we caught them crouched together under a tree. But I digress.

Another memory I had as we were driving on Hwy 24 toward Clay Center was: My family used to occasionally in the summertime drive to Clay Center to the Drive-in movie theater. I remember being very excited as a boy while riding in the back seat of the family car. It seemed like it took forever to make the approx. 20 mile trip. I was impatient even back then. When we arrived at the theater, I would peer out the back window & look up at the screen as Dad drove the car up to the entrance. Sometimes we would be a little late & the cartoons and/or the movie had already started. We usually would see a cowboy movie or a movie about soldiers fighting in WWII. Sometimes we would see a horror movie---this was not good for a young man with a vivid imagination because sometimes after we got back home and I had to climb the dark, steep stairway to my bedroom, I imagined all kinds of monsters jumping out of the shadows at me. Another thing I remember about these trips was that on the way back home, I would look out the car window & here & there see red blinking lights on top of a tall metal tower. I'm not sure what these towers were---certainly not cell phone towers like we see today dotting the landscape. I imagine that I did not make it all the way back home without falling asleep in the back seat. The excitement of those trips and the movies in the 1950s was a lot for a little boy from a small farm in Riley County, Kansas.

What did I buy on our shopping trip to Clay Center today? Not much, but it was well worth the trip if only for the memories.