A Day In Kansas City

Hotel Indigo

I said I’d never stay in a Hotel Indigo again after Dallas a few years ago but the reviews of this one appeared OK. But now I’m wondering again why I’m staying here. There are no hooks or rails to hang towels up in the bathroom. This is a fundamental design flaw and I seem to remember this from before: design over practicality.

There is no cold water out of the basin, it’s tepid. Why has no-one not noticed this before and had it fixed? It must be a plumbing fault (but for some reason I don’t report this until I checkout tomorrow morning).

Another problem is the room is dark and gloomy, with very little natural light. In fact, every hotel room on the trip so far has been so dark I have to put lights on in daylight hours.

zTrip buisness card

The day starts with a good in-room breakfast after a call to the zTrip cab company who I’ve booked my ride to Union Station. I was told when I booked last night that the cab driver would call me first thing to confirm. And he hasn’t. The guy last night was insistent the driver would call – I did question why – so the fact he hasn’t called concerned me. I get no answer as to why he hasn’t called but do get confirmation the cab is booked.

I’m ready to go at 9.25 am when the driver does call to say he’s outside. So I go down and we set off. I need a cab ride because Union Station is a 10 minute drive away. The receptionist last night told me you can book Uber or Lyft for a pre-set time but I’m not sure I’d trust that. For cab companies, that’s a core function.

A Kansas City Fun Tour

The cab drops me off at Union Station but there is no sign of a tour bus, nor any signage, for my city tour with Kansas City Fun Tours this morning. I ask a docent and he tells me to go inside the station, down an escalator, then go back outside, and the bus is by the dinosaur. What?

Anyway, I follow the instructions. There is indeed a large dinosaur statue on the back concourse – where I spy a tour bus. But the pre-tour instructions of get to “Union Station” are pretty crap.

The tour, starting 10 am, itself is good for what it does, that is a tour of Kansas City. Unfortunately Kansas City doesn’t have a lot to offer visually or many points of interest, a bit like Atlanta. The commentary was good on its history and the like, but the city is pretty dead, with nothing of architectural value, apart from Union Station, which is a grand old place. There’s nothing remotely ‘old’ like Atlanta had. In places Kansas City seems to be very much a decaying city. I see further evidence of this later on this afternoon’s tour.

The tour finishes at 11.30 am. Due to some late re-arrangements by Barley Bus, the tour company, I now have time to kill before the 4.30 pm Brewery, Winery & Distillery Tour. I did not have time to research other things to do. I knew there were some exhibit-type spaces inside Union Station so I went inside to investigate.

Science City

There wasn’t much except Science City but that appeared to be aimed at kids. So I went up to an elderly docent in the booking space and asked if that was the case. He told me that two friends of his, of his age, visited it a few days ago and they loved it, spending over two hours in there.

I asked him the entry price – $18. I said that was a lot and I clearly looked sceptical as well. “Well, I might be able to help you” he replied. He took out his wallet and pulled out a VIP Entry Ticket and handed it to me. Assuming this meant – and it was – free entry, I thanked him and set off to see what Science City was all about.

It was quite a bit of fun actually. There were loads of exhibits that highlighted many aspects of science: robotics, fossils, DNA, radio waves and light to name a few, plus how and why that stuff works as it does. It was primarily aimed at kids but I found enough interesting exhibits to keep me amused and interested for well over an hour. I’m not sure I’d have thought it worth $18 but it killed some time and I learnt a few things to boot.

Crown Center

On the bus tour we’d passed the Crown Center and the guide mentioned it had loads of shops and eateries. There is a covered walkway (The Link) that starts inside Union Station and crosses over roads into the Center on the other side of the street. I also know I need to eat some lunch given the upcoming Brewery Tour.

Once in the Center I wander up and down to see what options there are, and there are many. An eatery called Unforked has some interesting things on offer. I go to the ordering counter and ask the server what the size of some things are. Not wanting a full meal I opt for a Barking Pig Taco plus lemonade. Essentially pulled pork in a sauce, it was very tasty and just the right size.

I check the distance to the Brewery Tour start point and it’s a 25 minute walk. I decide to do that given I have time. Opposite one entrance to the Center I spot a large number of tents. I saw these from the bus earlier and it looked like a market of sorts. I may as well check it out I think, so outside I go.

Leaving the air conditioned cool of the Center I am immediately hit by a wall of heat. It was projected to be 95º F / 35º C today but this feels way hotter than that. I didn’t notice this earlier because the tour bus, Union Station and The Link all had air-conditioning.

I walk around the tents/stalls but it’s almost all artisan jewellery, pottery, paintings and other similar stuff. Not my scene though. Neither I decide, as it is getting hotter by the minute, is it going to be a good idea to walk 25 minutes outside to the Tour start. It’s just too damned hot.

I go back inside the Crown Center and check out Uber and Lyft. It’s only 1.2 miles away but Lyft want $6. Uber however offer me a 50% for some reason so the ride will only cost $2.50. So Uber it will be. Unfortunately I still have just under two hours to kill.

Museum of BBQ

When I scoped out the eating places earlier I noticed a ‘store’ called the Museum Of BBQ. Intrigued I look up some reviews of the place – and everyone loved it! So despite being somewhat sceptical – but a lover of BBQ – I decide to give it a go. Only $10 to enter as well.

It was indeed very interesting. I learnt quite a lot as well, mostly about the many different types of BBQ, and the flavours and styles of cooking there are. I was in there just over an hour. By the time I got back down to the entrance/exit by the artisan tents, it was just about time to order my Uber.

I book it and arrival time is just a few minutes. Michelle then pulls up in her somewhat battered car. I quickly notice that her licence plate does not match the booking reference. “Oh yeah, I know that”, she replies. I decide to take a risk at 4 pm in downtown Kansas City but I’m not sure would have at 11 pm at night in a dodgy district…

Michelle deposits me near the start point. I find the tour bus in a parking lot next door. Ryan the tour guide is still cleaning the bus from the previous tour but says he won’t be long. I find a sheltered spot in the shade to escape the sun and a few minutes later I am ushered onboard. The other 16 guests arrive soon after and we are soon on our way.

Brewery, Winery & Distillery Tour

I don’t know the names of any of the three places we visited, they weren’t forthcoming or obvious. First up is the Brewery. I sit at a table and other guests sit down around me. We start chatting as we sup our beer samples. I only liked one of the three samples we got, as did the rest of our table. Not an auspicious start but the chat was good fun.

Next up, the Winery. One of the two reds got the thumbs down, the other two white wines were OK. As we pulled away to go to the Distillery, Ryan said the area the Winery was in was an upcoming district in Kansas City, and he lived here. He even moved to Kansas City because of it. It’s a fucking dump. An industrial wasteland. There’s no visible evidence that it is ‘upcoming’ or being regenerated. But then that’s how things can change. People like Ryan move into run-down areas, do their stuff and maybe invigorate it.

The Distillery gave us a margarita and shots of Irish whiskey and – bizarrely – gin. Neat gin! Something I’ve never drunk like that before and, unless you’re the distiller tasing the stuff you’ve made, why would you? Everyone at the table agreed it was a weird choice. I was about the only person to drink it all neat – it wasn’t too bad – everyone else poured theirs into their margarita.

Overall it was a pleasant tour of three hours. A familiar criticism of a previous such tour – we got no explanations of the beers at the Brewery, just Ryan bringing the beers: “This is a red amber ale”. A lady at the Winery provided a little insight, but not much. Same at the Distillery.

So my conclusions are the same as the Austin brewery tour I did. It’s a pleasant afternoon socialising with a bunch of like-minded strangers, drinking small samples of alcoholic beverages. And you get to see a bit more of the city. But it would be immeasurably improved if the venues or tour guide offered some insights into the brewery/winery itself, and of the samples they are giving us. Room for improvement all round.

Johnny’s Tavern

I get Ryan to drop me in the Power & Light district after he’s dropped everyone else back at the start point. It’s 7.50 pm when I exit the bus. Tonight I visit Johnny’s Tavern. The contrast to last night is vast. The place is much bigger to start with, but it is packed to the gills, and noisy as hell. It’s buzzing all right.

It’s so busy I didn’t think I’d stand a chance of getting a seat at the bar. But when I walked further round the bar, I found a spare seat. The bar staff are all (quite) young ladies and it takes ages to get anyone’s attention. A menu appears and I get two beer samples. The guy two seats down to the right – the guy next to me left soon after I sat down – leans over and whispers, “That server is useless, watch out.” Shaun also offers an opinion on the beers but I prefer the other one to his favourite. I order a French Dip sandwich, which when it arrives is decidedly average. The beer is good though.

To cut a long story short, Shaun and I spent the rest of the evening talking about everything under the sun, apart from the verboten topics of politics, sex and religion. Soccer, travels, Megan Markle, you name it, we talked.

At one point an Eagles fan, in town for the game tomorrow against the Kansas City Chiefs, sat between us. He offered some comments here and there, but then suddenly got up and left. Very strange. Shaun then went to the bathroom. A big black dude arrived and asked if his seat was free when he was away, so I said yes on the basis Shaun would sit next to me on his return. Which he did.

Some Good Banter

At another point, two young 20-something lads arrived and sat on my left. Very polite, they only wanted French Fries for their friend, the groom. They were groomsmen according to their T-shirts. The groom was apparently extremely drunk at a table upstairs and they thought fries would sober him up. A new one on me… Anyway I struck up a conversation with them. Why are you here etc etc.

“I want to travel” announced one of them, after disclosing he was 22 and in the final year of his degree. So I trotted out my “follow your dreams” schtick to which he replied “Oh I so want to do what you’re doing.” Well go do it…

We discussed age and at one point I said “I came to America for the first time before you were born.” “No way, you’re not that old!” one of them replied. Having worked out he was born in 2003, I told him this and said “I first came to America in 1986” at which both of them nearly fell off their seats. “That means you’re….” one of them tailed off, “I thought you were maybe 50 but you look 40” said the other. Most kind guys!

Whatever, their fries arrive and they prepare to depart. They both insist on a handshake, and they ask my name (I didn’t ask theirs, so sue me…) “Amazing to meet you, goodnight” they said as they left. “Yeah, but follow your dreams” I repeated. They wanted another handshake each before walking back to save the groom.

Shaun had been chatting to the black dude whilst I talked to the students. But he then left so Shaun and I resumed our chat. However as the midnight hour approached I decided to call it a night. Saturday night is Shaun’s “night out” away from the wife and kids. He said he doesn’t live far from the Tavern and it’s his “time off”.

We start to part and express mutual “really enjoyed talking to you” messages. And I did. Really nice guy, great evening.

I walk back to the hotel in the warm night air. There are few people on the streets and it’s very quiet once out of the P&L district. A good day in Kansas City overall I suppose. And so to bed in advance of a probably boring two road days ahead.