Retracing Dan's Past

Having previously lived in Missouri his entire life, my stepdad, Dan, has adapted fairly well in accepting that he is now a permanent resident of Kansas. Although there are times when he complains about the terrible drivers he has encountered with "the Johnson County tags." (I'm not sure what is so surprising about encountering drivers with Johnson County tags when driving in the vicinity of Oak Park Mall.) Still, he has learned to watch Jayhawks basketball and put up with our annual "Kansas Day" tradition.

With my brother, Nick, on spring break, Dan decided to take us to the Missouri side of the state line to see the areas where he grew up. I was happy to see the places that he talks about so often and get a better picture of his childhood neighborhood. We started off in Blue Springs, worked our way through Lake City and Fort Osage, and then wound down the day in Independence. Along the way we saw four different houses that he had lived in, and heard stories from each location. All in all it was a nice adventure in retracing Dan's past.