Inked in Kansas City

Okay, well I've once again succombed to the lure of body art. I thought I'd get an authentic souvenir from Kansas City. And this is a mark of my trip. Jesus' nails I thought would be a good symbol. Okay a bit on the macabre side, but hey the cross wasn't a pretty thing, but it's become very important in my life lately. Throughout the trip God has been doing a work of restoration as far as bringing me back to the first love hunger I once had. It's pretty personal to explain. All I'll say is that Song of Solomon chapter 8 is a lot happier than chapter 5. There's a lot of things I need breakthrough on in life, relationship with God being the most important. And so He's doing that for me here.

In my old blog that I had last year, I was saying I wasn't sure when or if I'd get another one. During the trip I'd thought of the idea, and then decided to go with it. I said in that blog that a tattoo kind of represents a phase of life for me. I have three. The tribal cross in my left shoulder was my first tattoo during a crazy time for me personally. Once when asked what led me to it, I answered "insanity". The Song of the Night tat on my right shoulder was partly inspired by Tolkien and partly inspired by the way singing helped me during a desert time. The new one represents my time here in KC. And I think this will be some type of new season for me when I get back, though I'm not sure what's in store.

I had to venture into town to a shop recommended to me by someone back at the hotel. The bus system isn't easy around this area, but I made it work somehow. While I was in town I explored some more. Started at Crown Center with Einstein Bagels. Then went to the Broadway area to get my tat. The shop wasn't Capt Jack's back home, but the artist did a great job helping me get across what I wanted. It ended up just plain black with shading, with "mercy" in beautiful lettering. Simple and effective and looked good.

Also went to Chubby's which turned out very good. The waitress had a Chicago accent and kept calling me baby, but hey I guess that's normal around here. The clam chowder was awesome. Checked out a hippie bookstore too. There's like at least three tat shops right in this Broadway area. It's so much like some of the areas back in Portland.

Also hopped a bus to Kansas and took quite a walk to get to Oklahoma Joes which was recommended by Anthony Bourdain as the best BBQ in the midwest. When I finally got to Mission I had to look for it a bit. It turned out to be in the back of a convenience store behind a gas station. But I saw smoke behind it and bbq smelled good. Inside was a little dining hall where this is the local hotspot for good eating. I had a sandwich and fries. It turned out very delich. I'm not sure it was worth the extra bus ride and long walk, but hey I can say I've been there. And it was good. I was missing the Portland sushi and Oregon water back home, but KC has it's own local delicacies. If you're into BBQ, KC is heaven.

So then I went back to Crown Center and had frozen custard, another delicacy and harder to get back home. Then I headed back to the ghetto. I will say one thing that while I do often miss some things in Portland now, I know when I get back there will things about KC I'll miss. IHOP of course, but also BBQ and frozen custard.