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A podcast focusing on the perspectives, lives, and stories of Kansans to provide greater insight into the state we all call home.
Ep63
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Madeline's Softball Style
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[00:00:00]
Sydney Collins: All right, so I've mentioned Madeline more than a few times. She's my youngest. She's five. She's f- well, five and a half. but those who don't know how my youngest operates, she's very much in her own bubble, and I just pick my battles with it most days.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: And so I'm gonna show you this video, and she's playing, um, coach pitch right now.
Gus Applequist: Mm.
Sydney Collins: And so this was her yesterday. That's like
Gus Applequist: softball?
Sydney Collins: That's softball, where the- Okay ... coach pitches it to you.
Gus Applequist: I'm
Sydney Collins: sorry. I'm- Um, no, you're fine. Sorry. I'm not sports educated. For the people who don't have sports kids. so here is... 'Cause after coach pitch, it's machine pitch, and after machine pitch, then it's actually throw.
Oh. But you don't get that until you're, like, nine. Okay. Eight or nine. Anyway, so this was her at practice yesterday. Let me know if you see anything odd [00:01:00] She wearing headphones? Those would be ear muffs.
Gus Applequist: Ear- ear muffs?
Sydney Collins: Yeah, ear muffs. was
Gus Applequist: was it cold?
Sydney Collins: Nope, balmy 85- in McPherson. But I asked her yesterday. She wa- she found those in her room, and I asked her, "Hey, are you gonna get your sunglasses?" And she goes, "No, I have my ear muffs." I was like, "Why did I ask?" I was like, "Okay, cool. Solid." So there's your five-year-old reasoning of why ear muffs in-
Gus Applequist: You know- ...
Sydney Collins: June.
Gus Applequist: kids' rationale, reasoning, whatever you wanna call it, like, power to 'em.
Sydney Collins: So there you go. Yeah. There's your Madeline reasoning for the day.
Gus Applequist: You know, just wait. In 20 years when she's a professional softball player-
Sydney Collins: Oh, yeah.
Gus Applequist: She's wearing ear muffs
and everyone's wearing ear muffs.
Sydney Collins: I get it.
[00:02:00]
Podcast Intro Hiking
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Gus Applequist: Welcome to Ask a Kansan ...
Sydney Collins: a podcast where we're amplifying, connecting, and uncovering stories across Kansas
Gus Applequist: And if you like walking or hiking, today is an episode for you.
Sydney Collins: Today we have Jeri Brungardt on. She is the co-founder of Women Hiking in Kansas and Beyond. Um, it is a Facebook group. I'll let her kinda tell more about it, but, uh, her and, um, Cindy have started, and she's gonna tell us all about it, and kinda, like, the fun, like, nuances of hiking and walking, especially in Kansas.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Yeah, this is a great conversation. Hope you enjoy it.
Meet Jeri Brungardt
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Sydney Collins: So without any further ado, here's our conversation with Jeri Hello. Hi. Welcome. Welcome, welcome. How
Gus Applequist: are
Sydney Collins: you today? How's it going?
Jeri Brungardt: I'm fine. [00:03:00] How are
Sydney Collins: you guys? Good. Doing well. Good. Have a seat and we'll get you all settled in. Brilliant. There we
Jeri Brungardt: go Okay. Thank you.
Sydney Collins: well, thanks for being here.
Jeri Brungardt: Thank you for inviting me. No problem. This is great.
Sydney Collins: Um, can you introduce yourself for our audience?
Jeri Brungardt: Yes. I am Gerri Brungardt, and I am one of the co-founders of Women Hiking Kansas and Beyond.
Sydney Collins: Brilliant. so I guess let's just jump into it.
Group Origin Story
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Sydney Collins: Tell us about, um, that group and how it got started.
Jeri Brungardt: Okay. Um, it started back in 2019. Mm-hmm. A friend and I, we used to go hiking together, and we had just some personal friends that would go with us. And then different people... We'd post our pictures on Facebook, and they'd say they'd like to go with us. Well, we got... We had a hard time keeping track of everybody that kept saying they wanted- ... to go with us, and we were afraid we were gonna forget somebody. So we thought, "Let's just come up with a group and put it out there and see if anybody would be [00:04:00] interested other than just our personal friends." And so we put it out on Facebook, and the first trip that we took was to Camp Horizon down in Ark City. And we, uh, had, I think it was 12 people show up, and oh, we thought we really hit the jackpot with that. Man, that's a lot of
Sydney Collins: people. I mean, it's
Jeri Brungardt: still a good group. Yeah. And it was interesting 'cause not one of our personal friends showed up for that.
Sydney Collins: Oh, wow.
Jeri Brungardt: Wow. It was other people that liked to hike but maybe didn't have anybody to hike with. We knew- Mm ... two of the people, of the 12, and that was it. And then the next month, we started... We decided we'd have monthly hikes. And the second month, we had almost 50 show up, and it just kept increasing. And I think our largest hike that we've had, uh, was 175.
Gus Applequist: Holy smokes. That's huge. That's
Jeri Brungardt: huge. So it really varies a lot depending on the month of the year 'cause we do it every month. Mm-hmm. It depends on the month [00:05:00] of the year, what the weather is. Yeah. That's the big factor, and what else might be going on. Wow.
Picking Trails Safely
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Sydney Collins: How do you decide where you go on the hikes each month?
Jeri Brungardt: Initially, we didn't know. I had been around to a few of the state parks in Kansas and hiked, so we kinda started with that. And then we ran across an app, uh, called, um... Now I can't even think of- AllTrails?
AllTrails. Yeah. Yes. Now that you're saying it. I use that one. Yes. Yep. Yes. And it's so amazing 'cause no matter where you're physically located at that moment, it tells you the trails closest to you- Mm ... and it goes out in, you know, mileage, uh, further away. And then I started buying books on all the trails in Kansas.
And Cyndi Kuhnauer is the other- co-founder, her and I would personally go to each of these trails that we were thinking about taking the ladies to. We never take anybody, take our group to a hike that we haven't personally hiked ourselves.
Sydney Collins: That makes sense, yeah.
Jeri Brungardt: Because there's [00:06:00] so many questions that- everyone has, and we want to make sure that it's safe for everybody. Plus, we have to make sure there's enough parking. With not really knowing how many ladies might show up, we may have 50 cars and we might have 75.
Or we may have 25. It varies a lot. So we just started... I- at that point, I was living in Wichita as well as that's where Cindy lives, and I live here in Salina now. But we, um, would have one close to Wichita and then one a little bit further from Wichita. And, um, depending on what portion of the state we go to, we go up by Lawrence, Manhattan. We've gone out west to Scott City. We go do a lot in southeast Kansas. And a lot of people from that area of the state will join in.
The further we got into the group, the more people joined. Like right now, we run everything off of Facebook and we have, um, it's over 12 or 13,000 followers. Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Oh my gosh.
Sydney Collins: [00:07:00] Yeah, it's a lot.
Jeri Brungardt: So- Wow. I
Sydney Collins: looked it up today. I followed you today.
Jeri Brungardt: Yes.
Sydney Collins: And I was like, "Oh, hey, this is probably something I could do."
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Oh, congrats. That's amazing. Yeah. That's a huge audience.
What Hiking Means
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Jeri Brungardt: Yeah, and we don't I mean, many people think you're out hiking. I, I can't, I can't do that. They think, many people that don't know how we hike, they think of you're climbing rocks- Yeah. Mm ... you're climbing up something, and it's, we walk. You know, but we like to do it in the prairie, in, on dirt, on gravel. I prefer myself to do it where there isn't concrete. But we have a couple each year where we do on concrete, like we have one in Wichita we do every year that, uh, has been a downtown hike.
Sydney Collins: Oh, fun.
Jeri Brungardt: We will just go through an old part of Wichita or- Hmm through the downtown, and we try to find somebody maybe that can come out from a building down there.
Like one year we had somebody, a representative from Century II that came out and gave us the history of Century II. Oh,
Sydney Collins: cool.
Jeri Brungardt: Wow. So just [00:08:00] interesting things like that along the way.
Salina Hike Plans
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Sydney Collins: and we're recording this on the 19th. You guys actually have one tomorrow, right?
Jeri Brungardt: Yes, we do. Here's the- Where's
Sydney Collins: the hike at on the, on the
Jeri Brungardt: 20th?
It's here in Salina. Here in Salina? Yeah, we're going to go to Marty Bender first of all- Oh, okay ... and they've included us into their, I think it's called Community Days. Mm-hmm. They have an event once a month.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Jeri Brungardt: And so we will have a speaker from the Land Institute there for 10 minutes to give a little presentation about what they do, and then we'll do a hike there, and then we're all gonna get together and go to the opposite side of town to the Audubon Society- Yep
and go around the hike over there. They didn't have anybody available. We try if possible to have someone meet us at each hike, but it doesn't always work out that way.
[00:09:00]
Beginner Hiking Tips
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Gus Applequist: Do you have any, like, tips for, for people that are like me that I've, you know, there's, I've been to Marty Bender, I've been to, Horse Thief Canyon- Yeah
out at Kanopolis, but I haven't gone much further afield than that. Like, what, what are, what are some tips you might give, either in, in selecting a place to hike or when actually going hiking?
Jeri Brungardt: Uh, yeah. Um, when you're selecting a place to hike, I think it would depend on the person, what you feel comfortable with and safe with.
Uh, some people don't like to hike by themselves. I don't if it's my first time to a place, and then if I go there and feel okay, then I will go back by myself, as long as I feel the location is safe. I [00:10:00] like to read about it a little bit. Um, one thing, like, say, the Horse Thief Canyon, in the summertime we have found through all the years that we have gone there, we probably hike there more than anywhere, there are a lot of rattlesnakes in the summer.
Mm. And so we do not hike there in the summer. We only hike there in the wintertime, the fall or spring when it's cooler. Mm. So we like to find out things like that, not just safety for the person. I mean, it is for the person, but- Mm ... for things that are already at the location. Uh, you want to find a hike that if you do not feel like you can do any climbing or hike, or not hiking, uh, climbing or do any incline or decline, 'cause there's some people that don't, uh, aren't able to do that.
Um, and one thing we do recommend for everybody also is to bring hiking poles. Mm. Many people think that looks like, makes you look weak. It is amazing how much stronger it makes you when you hike Years ago [00:11:00] when I started hiking, I used one stick, and I realized how much that helped me. And then I started running into people with two, and they said, "Oh, you've gotta have two." And so I went to two, and it's amazing the pressure it takes off of your back and your body as you're hiking. Mm-hmm. You get to, like especially out at Kanopolis, some little water crossings. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You can use your stick and kinda see is it, uh-
Sydney Collins: How deep it
Jeri Brungardt: is ... how deep it is. Is there anything
Sydney Collins: swimming in there that's not supposed to.
Jeri Brungardt: Yes. Yeah, and, and some of the places- I've done
Sydney Collins: those water crossings-
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah ... without
Sydney Collins: the
Jeri Brungardt: sticks. Oh. Some at Kanopolis I do not cross- Yeah. ... 'cause they're dirty water and- Yeah. Yep ... too much. So, you know, you want to, uh, look for things like that that can help you. We always, uh, tell everybody you've got to take along whatever you're drinking, whether it be water, Gatorade-type products.
We don't preach any specific Gatorade, Powerade, whatever. Something maybe with electrolytes in it, especially if it's hot and you're going to be sweating. We always promote to [00:12:00] people to have sunscreen, wear sunglasses, have a cap, have a little first aid kit with your, in a little backpack and things like that.
I mean, the more you hike, every time you stick something additional in your bag that you're taking- Mm and you realize, "Okay, I don't want a water bottle back here 'cause then I've gotta take my backpack off to get to it." Mm-hmm. So a lot of ladies have gone to the bladder in the backpack- Mm that has the little hose that comes around so you can drink yourself. Or if there's two of you going and you don't have the bladder set up, I put my water bottles in your backpack- Mm ... and you put them in mine so I can reach and get them- That's
Sydney Collins: so
Jeri Brungardt: smart. Smart ... when I want or you me, 'cause otherwise you're always asking, "Can you get my water bottle for me?" Yeah. So things like that.
as far as your shoes that you're wearing, that's important also. if you're going to Kanopolis, there's a lot of rocks, so you don't want shoes with real, uh, slippery bottoms. [00:13:00] So you have to determine where you're going on what type of shoes. You know, there's... You can wear just plain tennis shoes.
That's what most women have started with, 'cause most of our ladies were not hikers. And so they've went from just tennis shoes to the cheaper hiking shoes or trail shoes. And the longer they go, they seem to get better ones because they realize something might help. A ankle support one might help versus, excuse me, no ankle support. Uh, and some just prefer one over another,
Ages And Community
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Sydney Collins: What's the age range that usually show up?
Jeri Brungardt: we, we are, we have it open to any female that is 12 years of age and older.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Jeri Brungardt: We have had a lot of, uh, girls that are as young as 12, show up. And we don't, when they come, we don't ask them, we need to see, you know, an ID- Yeah
to see. We think i- anybody younger than 18 needs to have a, a guardian with [00:14:00] them. Mm-hmm. So as long as they are comfortable with it, But we have 12, and there is no end on, on the upper range. I think our oldest has been in her upper 80s.
Sydney Collins: Oh, cool.
Jeri Brungardt: We have a lady that is in her upper 70s that is one of our full-time hikers, and truthfully, she could out-hike any of us.
And as we're out hiking, it, it never fails, we'll be walking along, and we'll hear somebody, and we look over there up on a big hill. She has gotten away from us. We've tried to tell her, "Don't do that." And she'll be waving at us.
Sydney Collins: Oh, shoot.
Jeri Brungardt: You know? Mm. So it, it... But probably the average age is, I would say 40 to 65- Yeah
would be the average, but it does vary. And we have, we have, like with the one that had the girl that's 12 years old, her, her mother, and her grandmother all hike with us- Oh, that's fun ... on a regular basis. We have a lot of families that come and [00:15:00] hike.
Gus Applequist: Have you always been a hiker?
Jeri Brungardt: I wasn't.
I haven't always been one. I've always been... I've played athletics and different things like that, so I've always liked to be active. Mm. But probably, it was probably 20, 25 years ago when I first started hiking, and I thought, "Wow, this is fun." You know, you can be outside. And I love to go into Colorado and being in the mountains, and just, just out there is just a different feeling.
And then I realized, wow, there's a lot of places in Kansas- Mm ... that you can hike also, and so I've enjoyed that.
Favorite Kansas Hikes
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Jeri Brungardt: Do
Gus Applequist: you have any favorites, like either, either ones that everybody knows or ones that- Mm ... that you feel like are, are secret sort of?
Jeri Brungardt: Uh, I don't know if we have any secrets. But we, we've, we try to hit different ones.
I think probably the ones our ladies have liked the best, we like to go to Kanopolis. Mm-hmm. Uh, we like to go to Wilson. There's a couple- Yeah, there's good ones ... good hikes up there. The one, the Rock Trail-
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm ...
Jeri Brungardt: Rock Town Trail, I believe it's called. Mm. Once you get out to that, that [00:16:00] is amazing, the rocks that are out there. Uh, we like to go down to Elk City. If you've ever been down to that, that is a m- it feels like you're in Arkansas 'cause you're hiking along these huge, rocks that are out there, stones that are probably 20 feet tall. Oh, wow. Some of them are 30. And you're, like, just down inside of it, just walking. And then there's one place you get to a certain point, and you need to be down there.
It's probably, I don't know if it's 10 feet down. Mm. But y- it looks like it's about this wide that you have to get through. It's a little bit wider but not much, and you learn to go sideways, and you hand your equipment down, your hiking sticks and your backpack. And then you realize, most people not until you get down there, that when you come back, you gotta get back up that.
Yeah. So those are probably the favorites. We have been out to Scott City. And to go to Monument Rock, it's not like a real hike hike, but it's, you can walk around there, uh, to [00:17:00] that is just amazing to see. And then Castle Rock has been a fun one for everybody to see also
Trail Diversity Kansas
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Gus Applequist: in our last couple episodes, we've done little segments on state parks.
Jeri Brungardt: Yes.
Gus Applequist: And we, we did talk about Elk City- Yes ... and, and a couple other state parks. Yeah, can you just talk about the, the, the great diversity, uh, you know, both in terms of, of, you know, the length of trails and the, the style of trails and, and the environments that surround them across the state?
Jeri Brungardt: Yes. There, there is a great difference between different parts of the state. Uh, the southeast part of the state, it's much more tree covered, a lot of rocks, and you're down in between the rocks in some of them. Sometimes you're just on top of the rocks going, but there are large, tall rocks all around you. Uh, when we've gone out to Scott City, it's much more... It's not like you're in the desert, but it's very, it's almost arid looking. It's, it's, I mean, very small growth, [00:18:00] and it's more cactus looking and things like that. Uh, it's much flatter, but the trails are still as beautiful as the others. It's just a different form of a trail. As far as the length of the trail, you can find short ones and long ones at both locations. And we always, when we go out on a hike, we always tell the ladies, if it's an out and back trail, which means you hike out to a point and then you turn around and come back, we always say, "You just go as far as you think you can also get back," 'cause it's always, you know, we're enjoying it on the way out, and then on the way back it gets harder 'cause you don't, didn't realize you, you had gone that far. Uh, so it, it kind of depends on the location. Like, we've even gone out to, um, it's east of Cassady called Teeter Rock. You go out into a pasture in the Flint Hills, and you drive on a gravel road, and then you get out on the, in, in [00:19:00] the pasture itself. It's on private land. It's a, if you've not done anything with this, it's, it used to be a town called Teeterville.
There used to be around 200 people living there, and you can still see some of the footings from some of the houses. But when you get out in this pasture, it's about a mile, I think, on this, just a pasture road, and it's pretty rough sometimes. and we try to go early in the morning 'cause we like to be there for a sunrise 'cause it's so pretty.
There's this real pretty rock out there, and you're just out in the middle of the Flint Hills. You see all the horses that are out that they bring in, some of them have in their pastures. And this rock used to be, it's not this specific rock, but a rock that looked like it, was a way for, as the settlers were coming across from the east to the west, that was a, like a sign for them to see they were going the correct way or if they wanted to go to Teeterville. So it really varies in different portions of the state.
Jeri Backstory Career
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Sydney Collins: what is your... We've, we've talked [00:20:00] a lot about, um, Women Hiking Kansas and Beyond, but I wanna learn more about you.
Jeri Brungardt: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: Where did you... Did you grow up here in Kansas? Where have you lived? What's kinda your backstory?
Jeri Brungardt: Yes, I was born in Southwest Kansas, and I never... It's weird. People probably think, "Why does she not know what town she was born in?"
I only lived there for eight months.
Sydney Collins: Oh, that's fair.
Jeri Brungardt: But I e- 'cause I either lived in Fowler and was born in Minneola or vice versa. Okay. I never remember which one the hospital was in and which one I lived in. But my father passed away when I was eight months old, so my mom and my siblings moved back to northwest Kansas to a town called Jennings, which was where she, my mom grew up. And so that's where I grew up at, in Jennings. And then I went to college at Fort Hays, and after that, I moved back to southwest Kansas for a year. I was a teacher. I lived in Bucklin. And then, uh, my husband, [00:21:00] he was also a teacher. He decided to go back to college to change professions, so we moved back to Hays for a year and a half, moved to Hutchinson, and then I lived in Wichita for almost 40 years.
Oh,
Sydney Collins: wow.
Jeri Brungardt: And then just, uh, about four years ago, I moved to Salina.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Jeri Brungardt: So, so always Kansas. What, what brought you here,
Gus Applequist: if you don't mind us asking?
Jeri Brungardt: Family.
Gus Applequist: Oh, good.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah. Okay.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: what did you do in Wichita?
Jeri Brungardt: I worked at Wesley Medical Center.
Sydney Collins: Okay. Hmm. You might... I'm sorry, I'm gonna get, dig in here.
What'd you do at Wesley Medical?
Jeri Brungardt: That's okay. Everyone always thinks when you think of a hospital, I found this out after I worked there, always think, "Oh, you were a nurse." And it was like, I did a lot of stats and data and different- Oh ... things like that. Okay. But it was like, you know, so I could have told you at probably any given time that no, only half of the staff are nurses.
Mm-hmm. There's so many others. But I worked in a department called Quality Improvement and Infection Prevention. Oh, yeah?
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Gus Applequist: Hmm.
Jeri Brungardt: So...
Sydney Collins: My, um, sister-in-law works for a clinic here in town. She's [00:22:00] quality, she does quality care.
Jeri Brungardt: Oh, really? So, yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: So I
Jeri Brungardt: know
Sydney Collins: exactly what you're talking
Jeri Brungardt: about. Yes. Yeah. Yep.
Gus Applequist: I have a little background in lean manufacturing, which I know has a little bit of tie-in with quality as well.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. There's just so much that goes on at anywhere- Mm-hmm ... that you just- Yeah ... have no idea. You know, a lot of people in a hospital facility think, "Why does it cost $2 for one Tylenol?"
Mm-hmm. Well, there's so many other things that go into it. Mm. It's not just that. Hmm. Yep.
Sydney Collins: So the, there's more support staff than people realize.
Jeri Brungardt: There is. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yes.
Walking Health Benefits
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Gus Applequist: you talk about, you know, especially, I mean, given that you have some background in h- in healthcare- Mm-hmm ... like, just the, the benefits of walking and, and what that does for you.
Oh,
Jeri Brungardt: yeah. Oh, yeah. It's just, just getting out, I think. You can walk indoors or outdoors. I prefer outdoors, but I would preach to anybody, walk either place if you're, if you can. And it just, I think, helps your [00:23:00] body stay moving and n- not, you know, no matter what you do, what new exercise a person does, you're gonna get a little bit sore the first time, the second time, the third.
You know, it's a little bit less each time if you keep doing it. Mm. And so it just helps everybody. We have... Some of our ladies have had knee replacements, have had hip replacements, or may be having them as they're going through, you know, the process of being in our group, and we are their goal to get back to. And so that re- makes it really neat that we have provided somebodies an, an, an item that both socially and physically, I think, that they then can get back to. And the quicker they get back, the better their body will feel in the long run.
Beyond Kansas Trips
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Sydney Collins: do you guys only hike in Kansas, or do you guys do, um- There's a
Gus Applequist: beyond. Tell us about
Sydney Collins: the beyond. Yeah,
Jeri Brungardt: tell us about the beyond. We have a beyond. We [00:24:00] normally, we have t- well, we go each month. So we have 12 hikes a month, 12 hikes a year. We have 10 of the months are in Kansas. Okay. And these are day hikes, where it means we go out just that day, and we're done the same day. Okay. then we have a hike... We've had, this year in September will be our seventh, trip to Estes Park. Uh, we g- have gone every September since we started the group.
So we started- Awesome ... the first trip w- the first trip was in 2020. And so we go there in September, and it's usually, like, we go out on a Sunday and come back on Friday. But everyone is welcome, or they go whenever they're able. If they can only do three days or they, some go and spend a few extra days. Or they may wanna get acclimated to the elevation- Oh, yeah
and they'll go a few days early. I didn't think about that. And when we do go to Colorado, our first day there we do a very low, one of the lowest, uh, elevation [00:25:00] ones. You know, we don't do one where we're gonna have a lot of incline either. So we try to break them in. And then our, we usually have a trip in the spring where we go somewhere. Sometimes we've gone out to Scott City and spent, like, it's Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Yeah. you know, we always take our chance going to places like that 'cause everything you go to there is on gravel roads. Oh,
Sydney Collins: yeah.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah. So if it's rainy or- You know? So, yeah. Yeah. And we've gotten lucky so far, but this year our April hike was going to be to Kansas City, and everyone thinks, "Oh, that's such a city and everything."
Yeah. It, there are so many places there to hike. We got rained out. It was a big storm.
Sydney Collins: Oh, shoot.
Jeri Brungardt: Oh. So we're going to have it in October this year. We moved it and just switched a couple things up. So, you know, that trip, our second trip that's for three or four days, might be Kansas, and it might be a surrounding state.
We've gone to Arkansas before, to Devil's Den, Eureka Springs. Uh, we've been down to [00:26:00] Oklahoma to the Wichita Mountains.
Sydney Collins: Oh, cool. Mm.
Jeri Brungardt: Um, they have a big rule down there that you can't have more than, I think it's, it's been a few years, 10 people in a group on a trail at one time. Oh, 'cause they wanna limit the- On two or three tails.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Jeri Brungardt: Right. And so it kinda limits what we can do. Mm-hmm. You know? So we have to... And that's why we have to go do research prior to anything we do and really check out a lot of things.
Running The Group
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Sydney Collins: how much time are you putting into this group e- each month?
Jeri Brungardt: Uh.
Sydney Collins: Or even each week?
Jeri Brungardt: On a normal, regular basis for just a monthly hike- Right ... it's not a lot. Now, in Salina here this last week, I did go two extra times though out to Marty Bend during the Audubon because of the storms. Mm-hmm. Since I lived here- Oh, yeah ... I went and checked out the trails 'cause I wasn't sure if they would be- Mm-hmm
a, you know, we would be able to hike on them. Big trees out there, yeah. Yes. And so I, I spoke to somebody at a location saying, "Hey, can you [00:27:00] get out there and mow and do this?" And- Mm-hmm you know, and so they were out there helping us out. But, But, when we get to the two that we travel on, it takes a lot of time 'cause we have to set everything up.
We, we, we do not charge for our monthly hikes. it- we do provide a donation bucket if anybody wants to give a couple dollars, we do that. But for two hikes where we go out of town for the overnight, it's a $20 fee per person, and so we set that up through Eventbrite. And so, I mean, so there's a lot of setup that's behind the scenes for all of this. And then to keep track, we used to keep track of this manually.
Trip Logistics Simplified
---
Jeri Brungardt: We'd have them sign a waiver and get us the $20. Oh my gosh. That was, it was crazy. I mean, that took so many hours, and going through Eventbrite has helped-
Sydney Collins: Yeah ...
Jeri Brungardt: that slow down 'cause it provides a lot of electronic information for us, and they do all the collection of the [00:28:00] money.
We don't see any of that i- 'cause it's behind the scenes. But that takes a lot for, for those trips.
Friendships On The Trail
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Gus Applequist: It strikes me that walking and talking are only two letters apart. And that when you spend this much time with people, you get to know them, and, and I'm also sure that, that there's a lot of variety in, in the types of women that come out and, and walk with you. So can you talk about, yeah, how, how this, this shared activity has maybe bridged some divides or, um, gotten, you've gotten to know people that you wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise?
Jeri Brungardt: Oh, yeah. There's so many different people. It's just like any job, just the different personalities. Uh, we have a lot of women [00:29:00] that we have become close to that maybe aren't our age, uh, maybe 10, 20 years older, 10, 20 years younger, that, you know, not, not that you wouldn't do anything with anybody that age, but normally it seems a little bit more segregated than that. so many different backgrounds. Uh, we have a lot of ladies that- are married, but their spouse or their partner doesn't hike, doesn't like to do anything outdoors. That'd be
Sydney Collins: me.
Jeri Brungardt: Now Cindy, the other founder, her, she loves to hike. Her husband likes to fish. Mm-hmm. So they have found they personally to get together can go on a trip and go do their own thing and then come back. But some, their partner or spouse doesn't like the outdoors, so they have found to come into our group. And so we have many women that have become really good friends with the others, 'cause we're out there maybe two, three, [00:30:00] four hours on a hike, and you learn so much about other people. I think, uh, we've really, not that we have personally helped, Cindy and I, but the group has helped these women.
We have s- we have had a lot of women come in that have been through some breakups, some divorces, some domestic issues.
Gus Applequist: Mm.
Jeri Brungardt: And it really, to find a group that they can come to, I mean, we don't badmouth anybody. It's just a supportive group for that. and so, and also, like when we went to Colorado, I think one time we had 12 different states.
We had ladies come from 12 different states. Wow. some of them might be a sister of somebody. And we have a lot that fly in just for that week, to be with their family, and we just happen to be the, what they're using to, to do that. We have a lot from the Kansas City area, so it's could be Missouri, you know. But it's just so many [00:31:00] different backgrounds. It's just, it's really neat to see that.
Gear Picks Rapid Fire
---
Gus Applequist: We got two, like, rapid fire questions just for fun Okay Um, favorite brand of walking shoe?
Jeri Brungardt: Ooh. Ooh, God, you're gonna make me think. I, I have a really bad foot, so I have to just find one. I don't have a brand. I have to find one that the toe box, like the entire area where your, the top part- Yeah
where your toes are, is wide.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Mm.
Jeri Brungardt: And we tell... Ladies always ask us, "What's your favorite kind? What, what's the best kind?" We said, "The one that feels the best on your shoe, on your foot." Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Jeri Brungardt: Don't go with any certain kind because someone told you to.
Sydney Collins: Man.
Gus Applequist: Uh, best type of hat?
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Jeri Brungardt: I use a Tilly hat, but you can, you can, wear any kind you want.
I like to wear a full brim one- when I'm out so it covers my ears also. Some ladies don't like to wear a hat. We really recommend hats where if it's just a ball [00:32:00] cap, anything.
Sydney Collins: I always feel like, every time I wear a bucket hat, who am I thinking of now? Uh, not Skipper.
Jeri Brungardt: Gilligan.
Sydney Collins: Gilligan. Oh, yeah. I don't even think Gilligan had a bucket hat- Oh ... but I just always feel like Gilligan when I
Jeri Brungardt: wear it. Yes. Yeah. Yes. There are some that look like that. I don't like the floppy ones. Yeah. I like the Tilly ones, a little bit more firm around- Firm ... the outside. That's
Sydney Collins: funny.
Weather Safety And Prep
---
Gus Applequist: How do, how do you deal with the weather in all of- Oh, yeah ... of all this? You know, I mean, we can't predict the weather in our town, let alone-
Jeri Brungardt: Right ...
Gus Applequist: some other places do.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah, it's always difficult. Uh, you know, we always, we have to keep on top of it and watch it and is it gonna rain? Is it gonna storm? If, if there are thunderstorms, we don't go out. If it's just raining, muddy, dirty, we go be- and whoever shows up will show up. You know, we always say, "You can wash whatever you have." We always tell [00:33:00] people to bring along a garbage sack, so when you get back to your car you can put your shoes in. Yeah. You can put your whatever clothes you have on the outside if they're dirty. Uh, when we go to Colorado, um, we go in September, it could snow, it could rain, it could hail, it could do anything. So bring layers of clothes, uh, you know, so you can take them off as you go. in the summers here in Kansas it can be very, very hot.
Gus Applequist: Mm.
Jeri Brungardt: Uh, I was not able to go to one, I believe it was in March this year.
We went down to Elk City And we had two ladies that had heat exhaustion.
Sydney Collins: Oh, shit.
Jeri Brungardt: Got very, very hot 'cause it was a day that it all got to almost 100 degrees. Oof. And they, I think they had to bring an ambulance or helicopter in for four different people at Elk City that day. And they said it's just a common thing down there 'cause people get out there and don't realize the length and the difficulty of that trail.
Connecting With Other Groups
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Gus Applequist: Do you guys do [00:34:00] any of the Rails-to-Trails trails that are out there or-
Jeri Brungardt: Um, we've done-
Gus Applequist: They're a little straight, I know.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah, yeah. We've done the one... There's two in Wichita that we've done. There's one west of Wichita and then one east of Wichita that we've done those two, but those are the only ones.
Gotcha. And it's kinda more of a winter thing 'cause it's just, you know, we don't have to worry about anything else. Um, you know, and if the roads are okay to get to it, they're normally okay to hike on or to walk on. Mm-hmm. Are
Sydney Collins: there any other groups that you connect with, either on hikes or just to get information from, or is there any other hiking groups that you know about?
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah, there's, there's a few in Kansas. There's one, gosh, I can't think of... There's a Kansas one. It's called Kansas Hiking Club. I can't remember the name. I believe that's it, and it's for men and women, but they don't set up hikes. If, if John decides he wants to do a hike on a certain day, he can put a [00:35:00] note out on Facebook- Oh,
Sydney Collins: okay
Jeri Brungardt: and say, and then they, you know, might get, you know, a group may get together. then a group that we've gotten with before is out of Kansas City c- because we have some ladies that come to our hikes that live there, and they have so many, like I said, so many locations in Kansas City. They hike three to four times a week in- Oh my gosh
in town. And, uh, the, the different lakes and I'm not sure what all, everything's called there for sure. But, uh, so we have talked with them a bunch on some of their, how they do things. Mm-hmm. And like on our hikes, when we get ready to start, we talk to everybody at first, tell 'em a little bit about the trail we're going on, and we want to make sure too, if we have any new people at the hike, that every person has someone to hike with.
Hmm. Don't go out by yourself. Like- Mm-hmm ... you know, join a group 'cause everyone kinda has... It's not like little cliques, but there's just little groups, you know, [00:36:00] that I'm this fast or this slow- Mm-hmm ... and I'm, so I may walk with this group or hike with that group. And so we try to pair everybody up, and then we just say, "Okay, everyone's free to go."
We don't go as a group. Now the one, the one in Kansas City that we have sp- spoken with on one of theirs, they go as a group, and so they get to a certain point and have to make sure everybody's to that point. And you know- Mm ... it, sometimes you may be waiting an hour for the last people to get there, you know?
And then by then the first group is ready to get going. Get to get going, yeah. So there's different ways that people do it, so it's interesting to talk with other groups to see how they do that.
Hiking Styles And Trail Joy
---
Sydney Collins: I try to go on a lot of hikes with my daughter- Uh-huh ... in the spring 'cause during the summer we have ball season, but she's five. we started hiking when she was three, and it's fascinating to see, like, her pace between, like, if we go hiking with friends or family or something-
Jeri Brungardt: Uh-huh ...
Sydney Collins: of where they're [00:37:00] just, like, ready to go, get to the point, and then go back. Mm-hmm. And my daughter, who's five, wants to climb on all the rocks. She wants to sit here and have- a little snack. She, like, wants to enjoy- the hike instead of just do it and get it done.
So it's, it's fascinating to see kind of different personalities come out when- Yeah ... when you're hiking.
Jeri Brungardt: We see that, too. We have a lot of ladies, like, just take a lot of pictures or just sit. If there's a waterfall or a river that goes under a bridge or something and it makes the water, you know, sound, you will find some that like to sit and listen to that or listen to the trees. Where others, we, we were out in Colorado one year and we had a lady who, uh, her, one of her past jobs at, and it was at that time, was a personal trainer, so they're very focused. Oh, yeah. You know, it's, "We wanna get to this point," and she had... It was just like it was a training session. She had this group following her.
And it was, "Okay, my heart rate's [00:38:00] back down to whatever. We need to get going." You know, so I mean, it's just so many different types, uh, I think. And she had never hiked before, so, you know, she wasn't aware of, you know, maybe how some people do it. But there's no right or wrong way if that's what works for you and you enjoy it, hopefully.
Sydney Collins: Any time we go on a hike, there always has to be a lunch packed- 'cause she wants to sit on a giant rock and eat her lunch. Yes. Sounds pretty great. That is, that is her jam. Aw. Like, every time we go on a hike she wants to know, "Are there gonna be rocks?" "Are there gonna be big rocks?" And I'm just like- Aw
Jeri Brungardt: "I'll
Sydney Collins: find one with big rocks." There you go. Or she likes to go, we like to go to... There's one we do every spring at- Tallgrass. Yeah, National Prairie. Oh, yes. Oh, nice. They have the sh- the short loop, um, that has the little creek that goes through it that you have to wade- Uh-huh
across twice. So she likes to sit on the cre- um, next to the creek and eat her sandwich. That's her- Yeah ... that's her vibe, and watch the tadpoles.
Jeri Brungardt: Yep.
Sydney Collins: So.
Jeri Brungardt: Uh-huh. It
Sydney Collins: was fun. [00:39:00]
Jeri Brungardt: She... I can see it.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. At three years old she started doing yoga in the middle of the trail. Aw. And we couldn't... And I was like- Aw ... "Okay, you are one with the earth today, my girl."
Jeri Brungardt: That's that's cute.
Sydney Collins: So.
Jeri Brungardt: We have a lady that, she's she's in her lower 70s, I can't remember which, and she does, I don't know what it's called. Is it called a plank where you're... Say if you're laying on your side- Oh, yeah ... and you lift up- Yep ... and then lift an arm up. Oh, okay.
Gus Applequist: Yep.
Jeri Brungardt: Wherever we're at- she will go out and do it. And we've got pictures, and she, uh, there's a Facebook page that she provides these pictures to and then her exercise group. It's just amazing. It's like most of us don't even wanna go out to that point- ... and she goes out there and does this. Oh,
Sydney Collins: shoot.
Future Plans And New Parks
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Sydney Collins: what are, I guess either what are your plans for the future? What are, what's kind of the big picture for Women Hiking Kansas beyond?
Jeri Brungardt: don't have any plans specifically set. I mean, we want to continue what we're doing. [00:40:00] Uh, what we do every year in the fall is we sit down, I have a, like a spreadsheet that shows for the last, since we started, last seven years, every place we've gone.
Like say- Oh, wow ... if it were Tallgrass, and it would say we went in 2001, '04, and '05. And we try to rotate them around so we get different parts of the state and different environments for people to look at. Most ladies will say, "I have never heard of this place before. I didn't even know this was here." So we try to, you know, introduce them to different areas. we want to get to a couple of the state parks that we have not taken them to that have a lot of trails, but it's just far enough away we haven't done that yet. So- know, and i- the majority of our hikers are f- from the Wichita area. Mm-hmm. And then Salina would be the next with the most, uh, hikers, so we want to make sure we're to where they can get to most of [00:41:00] them. But we want to also introduce it to other ladies. When we were going to Kansas City in April, we had 108 ladies signed up for it. That's great. So I think we had a lot from Kansas City, Topeka area on that one. So it just, it really varies on what we're doing. So every time we go on a trip, like Cindy had been on a trip recently to Southeast Oklahoma, and so the trails down there were just beautiful.
So we're always thinking, would this be a possibility? You know, so we always talk to park rangers. We always talk to whoever might be in the office at a certain location to see if there's, if they could accommodate us. We went to one in Missouri, I think it is, Haw Haw Tonka.
Sydney Collins: Yep.
Jeri Brungardt: It's a state park.
Sydney Collins: Yep.
Jeri Brungardt: They wouldn't accept us to go there.
Oh. They have a lot of short trails that, that interloop and wind around [00:42:00] each other. They have a big trail. The only long trail they have, they have one long one that's six or seven miles. They try to protect that, the ground under it.
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Jeri Brungardt: And they don't want a lot of people on it. Well, you know, we truly would only go on it one day, and, you know, they have people out there every day.
But we have to go figure out, and so we had to fill out a form, and they did not want that big of a group to be there. So we always have to figure out stuff like that also. But so we're trying to find new places where, you know, they would allow such a group. And but we never know till two weeks before the hike starts, which is when registration finishes or ends, we never know how many we truly might have going.
Gus Applequist: how organized you are. Yeah. It's, it's really cool. So bravo.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah, you kinda have to be. Um, Cindy is the [00:43:00] personality. She- Yeah. She, she runs a, she has a, she has a, a business herself. It's Fearless and Female. She does a self-defense- Oh,
Sydney Collins: cool ...
Jeri Brungardt: class out of Wichita, so she's... She can go and get with everybody and- Kick some butt She can.
And yeah. Okay. And I kinda do the organization detail part of it, but it works great together to do that, so...
Growing Through COVID And Facebook
---
Sydney Collins: like seven years ago when you started this group, how does it feel to create something this big?
Jeri Brungardt: At times we just can't believe we d- you know, that, I don't know that we did it, but we did it.
Yeah. I mean, you know, it's not just us. I think it was, at that time, COVID played into it. Yeah. 'Cause we started in the fall of '19, and I think we had three or four hikes, and then COVID hit and we couldn't, couldn't go anywhere. Uh, there were some of the, just some specific counties that wouldn't allow groups larger than 10 or whichever the, the number [00:44:00] was for them. And so Cindy and I went out to a lot of them, and then as soon as COVID was over, my gosh, the women came like crazy. And it just kept growing after that. You know, obviously the amount of women on our Facebook page, or the people, 'cause anybody can j- join the page. Uh, we did have to make it just those that lived in the US, because we were getting some- Yeah, sure some people asking questions that weren't appropriate at times. Mm-hmm. And so we had to limit that, and that took care of quite a few of those. But just that many people looking at what we're doing. And we've had people, like we had a lady come from Minnesota, I believe it was, to the Colorado one. She'd put out there she wanted to look for a hiking adventure in Colorado, and we popped up.
Sydney Collins: Oh, wow.
Jeri Brungardt: So I mean, it, it catches people- Mm ... just by that, by having it out on Facebook [00:45:00] to be able for other people to see it.
Sydney Collins: I
Gus Applequist: think- I'm so glad that Facebook still has some positive things happening.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah, yeah. I just think
Sydney Collins: it's so fascinating. I think the thing that makes me giggle the most is there are companies that spend a lot of money on websites and all their social media- Mm
and buy ads and all this, and you have done this organically by just having one Facebook page. Yes.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah. Yeah,
Sydney Collins: bravo. There- Yeah ... there are companies that would pay you a lot of money to figure out what you're doing right.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah. And we do have, we have a handful of ladies that will not use Facebook. And we say, "Well, that is what we use."
You, you know, and so they either need to get their information through a friend, or sometimes, you know, they'll say, "Okay, are you going somewhere next month? Where is it? What time?" And it kind of varies. Once in a while we may help, other times not, 'cause it just depends on how busy each of us are. But it just works.
You know, we recommend, okay, [00:46:00] use Facebook only for Women Hiking Kansas. I mean, only go in and look at that. You don't have to look at anything else.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm. '
Jeri Brungardt: Cause some just don't care for everything out there, which I understand. Yeah. I mean, that's what I do. I scroll past what I don't wanna look at You know, on anything, even- Yeah
TV, whatever it might be. But-
Sydney Collins: Flipping channels.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: I remember that back in the day. Ugh, commercial. Click.
Jeri Brungardt: Yeah, I know. Yep. I, I record things or... And then it's like, go right through the commercials. Yeah. Yep.
Sydney Collins: Well, thank you so much for being here today. We
Jeri Brungardt: appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, this was a wonderful conversation. This is nice. Yes.
[00:47:00]
Host Wrap And Community Reflections
---
Gus Applequist: Hope you enjoyed that conversation with Jeri. I, I think it's just really impressive to see how, like, for a six-year-old organization, I mean, that's kind of a loose, in this case-
Sydney Collins: Yeah ...
Gus Applequist: thing. But they're very well organized.
Sydney Collins: They're very well organized. That's why I asked if, like, they were a 501[c][3]. Yeah. But no, they're just a bunch of ladies who like to hang out together.
Yeah. And so I just thought that was fascinating, so I'll have to try to make one of the hikes. I'll have to see if, uh, make sure Madeline can come on one of them. We'll see, but... At
Gus Applequist: the very least, you have to wait a few years, but-
Sydney Collins: Yeah ...
Gus Applequist: it's not the end of the world.
Sydney Collins: Not the end of the world.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. No, it- Yeah
it was, and I, like, I love seeing community emerge in sometimes surprising places. Mm-hmm. And it definitely seems like they've got a strong community going. Very,
Sydney Collins: very much so.
Stories From A Hat Game
---
Gus Applequist: Well, I have a segment for us. This is-
Sydney Collins: Oh,
Gus Applequist: boy ... this is something kind of [00:48:00] new and different.
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Gus Applequist: Um, I have to go get something.
Sydney Collins: Oh, do we need Kansas? No.
Gus Applequist: Not this time. No? Not
Sydney Collins: this time. Oh, shoot. Oh, oh. So speaking of bucket hats. Um, I think- No, this
Gus Applequist: is- ... more
Sydney Collins: of a fedora ...
Gus Applequist: this is like a, like a, like a, like a Vienna boatman hat kind of thing. Yeah, it's weird. Is it? It's flat, that's why I got it.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Gus Applequist: Part of why it's here.
Sydney Collins: Anyway.
Gus Applequist: Um-
Sydney Collins: Can someone tell us what this hat is? Anyway.
Gus Applequist: So, um, what I've done is I have asked AI to give us some just random prompts.
Sydney Collins: Oh, no.
Gus Applequist: And, and y- this is a low-pressure environment. All, all this is, I'm calling it Stories From a Hat.
Sydney Collins: Oh, okay.
Gus Applequist: And, and you don't have to even, like, tell a story that's directly related to it, just a story that might, like, emerge in your brain randomly b- based on the prompt.
Sydney Collins: Oh, okay. I
Gus Applequist: like this.
Sydney Collins: Does that make sense? Yeah.
Gus Applequist: And, and we don't have to go, like, super long.
Sydney Collins: This is so, [00:49:00] like, Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Okay. Oh, a parking lot you'd happily just sit in. Oh, goodness. Oh, okay. So the parking lot that I would happily sit in is the Walmart parking lot in McPherson because there's the Braum's right in front of it.
So I go to Braum's, and then I sit in the Walmart parking lot, eat my ice cream, and then I go home, so my kids don't know that I had ice cream without
them.
Gus Applequist: I like
that.
the thing you'd warn a tourist to skip. Oh, wow.
Sydney Collins: Oh, a tourist to skip? Okay.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. I, um... Okay, I c- I can, I can tell this just 'cause they're no longer open. But I think in, uh, was it Oakley? There used to be these signs on I-70, up and down I-70 for, like, the world's largest,
Sydney Collins: like- Oh, groundhog?
Gus Applequist: Yeah, yeah. Well, and, and they, they, like, they had a series of signs. Yeah. There's like a- I
Sydney Collins: remember those ...
Gus Applequist: and they're out of business now, [00:50:00] but their, their big thing was the world's largest prairie dog.
Oh,
Sydney Collins: prairie
Gus Applequist: dog. I
Sydney Collins: think. That's what it was.
Gus Applequist: And, and it was a fiberglass prairie dog- Yeah ... that was about, I don't know, maybe 20 feet tall. And, you know, out, out in, I think it's Oakley, I'm pretty sure it's Oakley, um, there's not a lot of trees out there, and so they built, like, a fence so you couldn't see it from the highway. And so, you know, it was, it was cool, but I- That's so kitschy ... I would probably tell, tell us tourists, like, "You know, there's probably better world's largest things to check out."
Sydney Collins: That's so funny.
Gus Applequist: That was a good one. Y- yeah. Go
Sydney Collins: for it. Okay. I like this game. We need to do this game a lot more often. a chain restaurant you'd defend against any local spot.
Spangles. I'll defend that place- Ooh, hot take ... like no other. Between the... There... I personally love Spangles french fries.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: but their mudslides, mwah. Mm. Mm. A small, I just got this the other day, a small, uh, Reese's Mudslide, a small fry, [00:51:00] and a small drink is only, like, 11 and 12 bucks- Mm which is, like, the size, l- which is how much you'd pay for a meal.
So I was like, ""
Gus Applequist: Have you seen, like, are they still doing their advertisements like they used to?
Sydney Collins: Oh, yeah. Are they? The same terrible commercials? Talk to 'em. Spangles, I love you. Spangles, I love you. And I understand it's the family-owned restaurant vibe- Yeah but there's a lot of really good marketing companies out there that can h- really help you out.
Oh. Granted, please don't get rid of the drive-through margaritas.
Gus Applequist: We're throwing some shade today. Ah. Oh, wow. The most underrated small town in Kansas.
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Gus Applequist: Um, you know, I, I'm gonna give this to Rexford, which is the little town where my wife is from. Oh, yeah. Uh, it's, like, 100, maybe 200 people, I forget. to be frank, there's not a lot going on in Rexford. Um, but, but sometimes it's, it's kind of nice to go to a place like that- Yeah
[00:52:00] and just, you know, uh, yeah, watch the wind blow. Power to you, Rexford.
Sydney Collins: Oh, goodness. A rule you happily break. I break a lot of rules, so I'm not really a rules gal. Um, a rule you'd happily break Oh, dessert before dinner
Gus Applequist: Oh, yeah
Sydney Collins: I'd break that 100 times over
Gus Applequist: Spangles or
Sydney Collins: Yeah, Spangles I'm telling you, anytime I go to Wichita for work Grant- I'm just kidding. I, 'cause he's actually working.
Gus Applequist: But anytime I go I'm her boss, so that's really weird I love
Sydney Collins: my job so much it doesn't seem like work Um, anyway, anytime I'm on my way back, I stop at Spangles 'cause there's one downtown, and then I drive home. Mm And then I mean my Spangles on my way home- Mm ... so that my kids don't see that I'm eating Spangles
Gus Applequist: I have to tell you, I discovered, like, a new favorite restaurant in Wichita.
Uh, it's probably been nine months ago now, but there's this soup [00:53:00] place. think it's on Douglas. And they, they have, like, the most amazing invention that I've seen lately in a restaurant. You can get a soup flight. You can get four different kinds of soup- Oh.
Sydney Collins: Oh, you told me about this. Yeah ...
Gus Applequist: on, like, like a, like a tray thing, and bread, and... Oh, wow, I would drive all the way to Wichita just to have the soup flight Sorry I don't remember the name. If, yeah, some- maybe Brian can put the name on there- Yeah ... if he remembers.
Sydney Collins: Brian can find it.
Gus Applequist: Well, I think that probably, there's, there's, we have enough in here for- There's some, we'll save this for later
episodes and episodes Oh, that's a really good
Sydney Collins: one
Gus Applequist: It's also, like, a low-energy one.
Outro And Where To Find Us
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Gus Applequist: Yeah So if we are too busy like we have been lately, we can pull the, pull the hat out I love that Well, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Ask a Kansan.
Sydney Collins: Make sure to find us on askaKansan.com. That's where you can sign up for the Curious Kansan newsletter, uh, read articles that Tanner works so hard at producing, and also you can find all of our merch on the Ask a Kansan page.
Gus Applequist: Our T-shirts have been popular lately. Yes Uh, we have a really cool design. If [00:54:00] you're listening in and you... Well, we don't, we're not wearing them now either. No. So if you're watching or listening- It's all right ... you'll have to go check those out on our website. Yeah But they, they're popular. Uh, if you're in the Salina area in early July, we will be screening our documentary about the Smoky Hill River Festival, Four Days in June, at the Art Center Cinema July 10th through the 15th. Uh, we'd love to see you there.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm
Gus Applequist: And
Sydney Collins: And if you are any organization, either arts or civic or, just a group of people that wanna learn more about finding common ground, we would love to chat with you. We can screen the film. We can have conversations, all that fun stuff
Gus Applequist: We can come talk about the podcast.
No, yeah. There's a lot of things- And we can talk about the podcast too ... we're doing here at Fili right now, and we're kinda, like, stirring them all together and- figuring out where they all connect, so.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Well, thanks for tuning in, and have a great day