In Cold Blood

After leaving New Mexico, revisited Wyoming and flirted with a big part of Colorado (Durango to Denver and down to Holly... I got about the whole east-west extent of the state), I've landed in Garden City-Holcomb, Kan. This, of course, is the area where the gruesome Clutter murder took place, inspiring Truman Capote to write a very twisted and chilling piece of (mostly) non-fiction. It's now home to a Tyson beef processing plant (which I learned has been closed since Sept. 11 to tours); the Sunflower coal plant; a bunch of packing yards which add a certain hanging manure-smell aura to the place; and more Mexican and Chinese restaurants than I'd care to mention. Bottom line, tacos and General Tso's chicken must be really popular here. Jayhawk popular. In any case, it's on to Oklahoma today for a stay on the Johnson ranch. Then Memphis and Graceland. Awesome.