Writing After 4-Year Road Trip

She’s been all over Kansas …again!

Marci Penner with the Kansas Sampler Foundation is working on the second edition of the Kansas Guidebook for Explorers.

“The last four years we’ve been going to every town in the state,” Penner told listeners Friday on the KSAL Morning News.

“There’s only 626 towns and we added 130 unincorporated little burgs just for the fun of it.”

Penner and WenDee LaPlant did all their road research in a 2012 GMC Terrain they dubbed the Explorer Research Vehicle.

Penner says the state’s diverse geography is what she finds the most satisfying.

“People think Kansas is flat,” she said.

“We have 11 physiographic regions, and to travel the back roads in each county gives you a different view.”

Penner also noted the journey allowed for tasting the some of best food that little cafes and restaurant along the way have to offer.

“I will tell you where my favorite chicken fried steak came from, the Midway Motel and Cafe in the town of Selden.”

The first Kansas Guidebook for Explorers was 432-pages and published in 2005.

Penner says she’s now locked into writing about the 4-year journey at her home in Inman, Kansas and unlocking more secrets about the state she loves.