Have you ever wondered where the Center of the U.S. is? I know – me too! Well, amazingly enough, it’s
in Kansas – Lebanon, Kansas, that is.
OK, technically, it’s the Geographic Center of the Continental United
States (it’s a different location when you add in Alaska & Hawaii) – but in
1918 someone REALLY wanted to know, so they did the math. A lot of math.
[Thousands of miles of shoreline, with big changes (like Hurricanes carving out
chunks), and even little changes – like between high-tide and low-tide, etc.]
But some really
smart guys figured out that the Center is a couple of miles northwest of the
town center of Lebanon, Kansas – not far from the Kansas-Nebraska border.
“Technically”, the “center” – as determined by a survey in 1918, is in the
middle of a farm. But that farmer didn’t want no city folk traipsing through
his fields, so in 1959 the U.S. National Geodetic Survey put the marker in a
small park nearby (which you can easily find on Google Maps).
So if you feel out
of balance, maybe coming to the Center of the U.S. to find your own “center”
will help. I know that having all this time on the road to just be alone with
my thoughts has given me a lot of time to think. There is a great quote by Lao
Tzu that says: “At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who
you are and you know what you want.”
For me, that’s
really what this roadtrip is about. Not so much about random sightseeing spots.
Probably not even about going to visit my sister. But just some time away from
my normal routines to get Centered. And here at the Center of the U.S. I found
my own center too.
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