Knute Rockne and Kansas

I'm Treo blogging from Wichita, Kansas, from a motel eerily like the one John Candy and Steve Martin shared in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles."

I haven't been robbed.

Yesterday I drove through Chase County, Kansas--made famous in William Least Heat-Moon's PrairyErth (A Deep Map): An Epic History of the Tallgrass Prairie Country.

While there, I tried to locate the plane crash site where legendary Notre Dame football coach died. I asked some people in Cottonwood Falls in a gas station across the street from the beautiful courthouse in the town, and they informed me it was on private land and not accessible by car.

They also said, however, the owner of the land, I believe they said it was a man named Easton, would take me there. They said he lived there when the plane went down--that was in 1931.

I had no intention of bothering an old man near dinnertime, so I asked if I could see it from the road.

The gas station folks said "Yes, a memorial is being built there, you can see it from Route 177 south of Bazaar."

Well, I drove around there and didn't see anything.

Hopefully, if you are reading this and want to locate the Rockne crash site yourself, I've provided some clues.

Leaving now for Greensburg.