We're not in Kansas anymore...

It's pretty easy to find photos and inspiration for the middle of America states as they come up in my weekly series for #threetunetuesday sponsored by @ablaze. That's mostly because we drove through pretty much all of them on our way to Colorado a couple of Summers ago. While many people would argue the drive across the middle of the US is boring, I found it pretty refreshing and actually a lot more beautiful than I had anticipated.

That being said, I don't think I would want to do it frequently, and I definitely wouldn't want to do it in the Winter. It's pretty crazy to be driving down the expressway and see gates like you would find on a railroad on each side of the road. That's right, when the wind and snow gets whipping across the plains, the blizzard conditions are no joke and they actually shut down the whole interstate system. It's not one of those "we encourage you to stay home" sort of things, they actually block the roads and shut them down.

It was a truly amazing trip and I was sad to see the adventure end when we finally got home. As much as I like getting to my destination as quickly as possible, I also hate flying, and sometimes taking your time and getting to see areas you have never visited before is well worth it. We didn't actually do a lot in Kansas, but it was pretty cool to drive across the state and somewhere around Topeka we had some really legit food at a place called the Blind Tiger.

If you ever find yourself in the area, I highly recommend you check this place out. It's got an old nostalgic feel and the BBQ and beers are amazing.

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Despite what you might think, finding songs with Kansas in the lyrics was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are tons of songs that reference "Kansas City", but the problem is, are they talking about Kansas City, Kansas, or Kansas City, Missouri. Since there is really no way to make the distinction, I decided to eliminate those songs from the running straight off the bat.

Then of course there is the band "Kansas", but that doesn't really count either, because my rules explicitly state that the name of the state has to be in the song title or lyrics. Thankfully, "Mystery Train" fits that bill. I was wondering the other day if I took all these posts at the end of this series if there would be one group that I used their songs more than any other singer or group.

If I had to guess, Bon Jovi or probably Billy Joel would be at the top of the list. I feel like there is a lot of material from each of those artists. Plus I love them both, so it's easy for me to think of songs where they reference states.

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The funny thing is, this post kind of has a double theme this week. While the main theme is "Kansas", the underlying theme is that famous line from The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy says to Toto that they aren't in Kansas anymore. All of the songs I am going to share today make reference to that line.

I've honestly never been much of a Miranda Lambert fan. There's just something about her that kind of bugs me. Then she had that whole thing with Blake Shelton. Despite that, she does have some good songs. This one is from the movie Twisters that was a sequel to the absolute classic Twister. The original has some of the best quotable lines of just about any movie from that time.

I've actually never heard this song before, so it's kind of new thing for all of us. Unless of course you are already familiar with it.

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Finally, we have another country song by another female country artist called "Kansas Anymore". Although were I don't really care for Miranda Lambert, I do really like Megan Moroney. She is kind of an up and comer right now and she is pretty amazing if you really dig into her songs. They have some sad and thoughtful lyrics. For being so new and young (28) she has a wealth of wisdom in her songs. My nieces are huge fans of hers and I think they even got to see her in concert a year or two ago.

For me there is just something about the tone of her voice that I really like. It's got kind of a flat affect to it that doesn't quite land the way you would think. Usually when you use words like "flat" when it comes to music that is a bad thing, but for her it works really well. As I said, there is just a bit of sadness or melancholy to her songs and lyrics that really put you in a specific mood.

So there you go, that's Kansas, which means next week that takes us to Kentucky and I almost feel bad because Kentucky should be pretty easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel easy!

Check back to find out!

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