Wandering North America with Two Dogs šļ½Stop 4: Kansas City, KS
Kansas City is split between Missouri and Kansasāand their alcohol laws couldnāt be more different! š» In Kansas, grocery stores canāt sell beer stronger than 3.2% ABV, so you have to go to a liquor store for anything stronger. But even those stop selling after 8 PM on Sundays š«. Meanwhile, just across the street in Missouri, there are hardly any restrictions. š” Fun (but useless) facts: Kansas City and Xiāan, China are sister cities! Kansas has no carpool lanesātheyāre just not needed here. On trash day, you just leave bags outāno bins required. šļø š” The House Hunt Saga: Iād posted in a local āXiaolongbao chat groupā multiple times offering red packets š§§ but still couldnāt find a place. Finally, a kind woman saw how many times Iād asked (with two dogs in tow!) and decided to rent me her entire vacant townhouse. She warned me it hadnāt been lived in for a while and she wasnāt sure if it was comfortableābut she wanted to offer me and the dogs a home. She wasnāt kidding! On day one, I found out: The downstairs bedroom was drafty š The upstairs heating was broken āļø I slept in a puffer jacket under thick blankets that night. The next morning, we figured out her auto-pay for utilities had been disconnected. Even after re-paying, we had to wait 1ā2 days for the heat to come back. Soā¦ I learned to build a fire! š„ (I also set off the smoke alarm twice š ). Pro tip: open the chimney first, use newspapers and ads to start the fire, and wait for thick smokeāthatās how you know itās catching. Since she hadnāt been back in a while, the mailbox was stuffed with papersāperfect kindling! That December, I became a fire-making pro āļø. And once I got the hang of it? Pure cozy mode: sitting by the fire with my dogs, watching the snow, sipping coffee ā, and daydreaming. āļø Even met a guy whoās a pilot by day and a professional gambler by night! He took me to the casino and even up in his plane to see Kansasās Christmas lights from the sky šāso cool! (But my favorite was still the little John Deere tractor that towed the plane š) Leaving the Bay Area really opened my eyesāthere are so many interesting lives and jobs out there beyond tech! š Other Kansas highlights: Eating BBQ š Visiting museums Letting the dogs run off-leash in empty parks (people here are very dog-friendly!) My first private horse-riding lessonāthe horse in my photo is worth $80k because all four legs are the same length, making him a perfect dressage horse. Kansas City is split between Missouri and Kansasāand their alcohol laws couldnāt be more different! š» In Kansas, grocery stores canāt sell beer stronger than 3.2% ABV, so you have to go to a liquor store for anything stronger. But even those stop selling after 8 PM on Sundays š«. Meanwhile, just across the street in Missouri, there are hardly any restrictions. š” Fun (but useless) facts: Kansas City and Xiāan, China are sister cities! Kansas has no carpool lanesātheyāre just not needed here. On trash day, you just leave bags outāno bins required. šļø š” The House Hunt Saga: Iād posted in a local āXiaolongbao chat groupā multiple times offering red packets š§§ but still couldnāt find a place. Finally, a kind woman saw how many times Iād asked (with two dogs in tow!) and decided to rent me her entire vacant townhouse. She warned me it hadnāt been lived in for a while and she wasnāt sure if it was comfortableābut she wanted to offer me and the dogs a home. She wasnāt kidding! On day one, I found out: The downstairs bedroom was drafty š The upstairs heating was broken āļø I slept in a puffer jacket under thick blankets that night. The next morning, we figured out her auto-pay for utilities had been disconnected. Even after re-paying, we had to wait 1ā2 days for the heat to come back. Soā¦ I learned to build a fire! š„ (I also set off the smoke alarm twice š ). Pro tip: open the chimney first, use newspapers and ads to start the fire, and wait for thick smokeāthatās how you know itās catching. Since she hadnāt been back in a while, the mailbox was stuffed with papersāperfect kindling! That December, I became a fire-making pro āļø. And once I got the hang of it? Pure cozy mode: sitting by the fire with my dogs, watching the snow, sipping coffee ā, and daydreaming. āļø Even met a guy whoās a pilot by day and a professional gambler by night! He took me to the casino and even up in his plane to see Kansasās Christmas lights from the sky šāso cool! (But my favorite was still the little John Deere tractor that towed the plane š) Leaving the Bay Area really opened my eyesāthere are so many interesting lives and jobs out there beyond tech! š Other Kansas highlights: Eating BBQ š Visiting museums Letting the dogs run off-leash in empty parks (people here are very dog-friendly!) My first private horse-riding lessonāthe horse in my photo is worth $80k because all four legs are the same length, making him a perfect dress #Kansas #DigitalNomad #LifeInUSA #TravelWithDogs #Wanderlust
