The Morning I Shot Saddam Hussein

(N.B: You will most enjoy this post if you click on the images to enlarge them. Start with the one above.)The best way to get across Kansas when traveling from Clay Center to Colby is to drive along a stretch of road called U.S. Route 24. It is considered a highway, but that really isn't fair, neither to Route 24 nor to actual highways. I-95 and I-80, with their endless trucks, sometimes 10 lanes, and a steady, sterile procession of McDonald's and warnings about the next rest area--those are highways.Route 24 is something else. There are no entrance and exit ramps, for example, so you might not even know when and where to get on. I was told that it was three lights down, across from the Wendy's, and "past the third green house--if you see them through the passenger-side window, you're on it."I had arrived in Clay Center from the south and had stopped at the liquor store that greets visitors and lets them know they have once again found civilization. The liq...