ROADTRIPPIN - WORLD'S LARGEST BALL OF TWINE

No, I wasn’t joking about the World’s Largest Ball of Twine. I wouldn’t joke about a thing like that. Besides, it’s only about 30 miles from the Geographic Center of the United States, so as long as I was in the neighborhood . . . .

   Cawker City, Kansas, is actually a bit more of a bustling little town than most of these little towns I’ve been gallivanting through. Sadly, most are near-ghost-towns with little-to-no commerce to be found. But in Cawker City, there’s actually a few little stores along the main street (called Wisconsin Street). There’s a bank, hotel, pharmacy – very much like you’d expect Mayberry U.S.A. to be like today.

   But one thing that is very apparent:  these guys take their ball of twine seriously. They have a digital lightbox announcing the location of the ball of twine, and a permanent gazebo to house it. It even has its own parking lot. They’ve “painted yellow string” on the sidewalk, to lead you up to this big ball of twine – in case you could possibly miss it.

   And it is big. Bigger than I expected. It’s 11-feet in diameter – and 43-feet in circumference. End-to-end, the twine measures over 8-million feet long, and weighs over 20,000 pounds. And there’s no risk of it rolling away (yes, I tried pushing it – it’s staying put).

  It all started back in the 1950s when some farmer started balling up all his extra little bits of twine – and it just kept getting bigger and bigger. Then by the 1960s it had gotten too much for the farmer to continue, so he handed it over to the town. Not wanting the city to lose this “esteemed” position, they kept adding and adding and adding – even having Twine-A-Thons to add to it (no, I’m not making that up – Google it!) And it looks like they’ve finally decided that no one is chasing this magnanimous distinction, although if I hear of an upcoming Twine-A-Thon I’ll be sure to let you know.

  I looked around the ball, but couldn’t find the end – they did a good job tucking it in – so I didn’t snip off a little piece as a souvenir. But the town has no shortage of Ball-of-Twine memorabilia: t-shirts, hats, even a Mona Lisa holding a ball of twine. I mean, if that’s something you’ve been looking for, well I can hook you up.

  There are also other big twine balls: the Heaviest is in Wisconsin, the Largest Nylon Ball is in Branson, and the 2nd Largest Ball of Twine in Minnesota – but those will all have to wait for another trip. Maybe a Cross Country String Hunting Adventure is in my future.

   I wonder how many baby hats I could make from that???  World's Scratchiest Baby Hat -- hmmmmm, it could be a thing