Day 39 Dodge City, Kansas

“GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE!” Before coming to Dodge City, I had never heard this phrase, but apparently it’s pretty famous.  This city was pretty popular as far as old westerners and Western Movies.  Today is the 4^th of July so I am pretty excited to see what this somewhat-small town has to offer us for the celebration.  I heard somewhere that fireworks are banned in the state of Kansas like they are in Indiana and Colorado, but I am hoping that is not the case. 

For lunch, we had a friendship visit with an organization called Arrowhead West.  They had wrap lunches for us when we got there after we were greeted by a ton of people.  I sat down with a guy named Roy who was probably around the age of 60 if I had to guess.  We started talking movies, music, sports, hobbies, and anything else you could imagine.  He is a DIE HARD Kansas Jayhawks’ fan, so we had plenty to talk about with their basketball team.  After we were done eating and had snow cones for dessert, it was time to take part in a number of activities.  They had a ball game that was similar to cornhole, but there was a trampoline in front of four different holes that you would try and bounce the ball into the hole.  There were a number of us who were around the ball game, and we formed a line of clients so they would have a chance to bounce the ball into a hole.  We let them bounce ball after ball until they got one in one of the four holes because we wanted to see their face light up.  No matter how many tries it took, the biggest smile would surface on the face of a client who just successfully bounced a ball into a hole.  We always raised our arms and cheered when it happened, which made the smiles even bigger.  It was a cool thing to see.  Other activities included a dance game on the Wii, button making, and just sitting around and talking.  My friend, Chris, and I talked to a man named Frank who was one of the coolest guys I have ever met.  He had such a positive outlook on life that it makes you think if you have really appreciated all of the little things in life that go unnoticed.  “You have to have a positive attitude about everything in life.  No matter how bad things are going or if you have something wrong with you.  There is no way a person can be happy throughout life without having a positive attitude.”  These are words I will never forget. Here is a guy with cerebral palsy and almost no functionality on the right side of his body, and he is telling me about having a positive attitude at all times.  It really put things in perspective for me.  He was a great man and I will always remember him for making me appreciate the little things in life no matter how hard things get.

 Tonight was absolutely fantastic.  Dodge City used to be a pretty famous old western town, as I said before, and there is still a part of the city that resembles the old western style.  Boot Hill is a museum type setting where there are many saloons and taverns set up with displays in each one.  We had a sponsor take us there for dinner where we were fed barbeque, corn, rolls, and apple crisp.  It was just like a good home cooked meal and it was delicious.  They acted out a famous gun fight for which Dodge City is known, and then we got to see the great “Miss Kitty and her Can Can Dancers” show.  Of course we were close to 30 college guys at a can can dancing show, so of course we were very enthusiastic and let our presence be known.  As soon as the actors picked up on it, they started using our enthusiasm in the show and made us a part of it.  There were a couple times where one of our guys was called up to the stage to act as a special person, and we were all dying laughing.  It was awesome.  As we were walking out, one of the dancers said, “Hold on boys. You are supposed to take pictures with us.” So we all posed for pictures with them and had a blast talking to the actors and explaining what we were doing.  Then one of our guys asked if they could teach him the can can dance.  Naturally, once one guy wanted to learn, everyone did.  Group by group, we got up on stage with the dancers and learned the can can dance.  We had an absolute blast with them because they were making fun of us and how witty we were acting.  All in all it was a fantastic Fourth of July.  It was definitely different than any celebration I have ever had back in Indy. There were occasional booms of fireworks of in the distance, but nothing about which worth talking.  Hope yall had an amazing Fourth of July!