On the Santa Fe Trail

Treo blogging from Great Bend, Kansas.

I'm pretty much in the center of Kansas tonight. Great Bend is another Sunflower State that got its start because it was on the old Santa Fe Trail.

On my way to Great Bend, once I exited I-70, I drove on the northern third of the Wetlands and Wildlife Kansas Scenic Byway. Like the Flint Hills Byway I took on that cloudy Monday, it's also a national scenic byway

One thing I noticed in two towns today: AM radio being played on loudspeakers in two otherwise quiet downtowns. The first was the western Kansas town of Grinnell, the other was in Russell, which is not too far from Great Bend. Russell, originally called Fossil Station, is former Senator Bob Dole's hometown

Back to the radio on public loudspeakers: Is this common? Is it just a plains thing?