A little way up above: John, you live in flat-as-a-pancake Kansas, right? Are you actually telling us that the reputation for flatness is a myth

We don't really have "hills" in Wichita, but we do have "lumps." Our house is next to the road down to the old "Sewer Plant" (now used for a maintenance facility) and theres a "drainage ditch" directly behind. The access road down to the "facility" descends about 28 feet, level with the front street but about 8 ft down at the back of the lot. There are drainage problems in the area of the flash flood kind, so the lots are mostly filled to a foot or two above the street, The "easement" that I have to mow along the side is about 12 feet wide but descends into the access road anywhere from 3 feet to about 9 feet depending on how far back into the lot you go.

(A 9 ft rise in 12 ft is a 75% grade. The specification for "hill climbing capability" for US military tracked vehicles (tanks etc) is probably still 60% like it was when I was testing them in the desert.)

Of course the driveway up to the garage door "ascends" about 7.5 ft, and the level at the top is just barely long enough to get both sets of wheels on, so if I park straight in, the bed is almost at my armpits and the tailgate is a little above my eyebrows when I get behind to unload. I usely "cut it" at the top to about 30 degrees from parallel to the door, to get the gate where I can reach the latch to drop it.

We're actually in a suburb a couple of miles north of the Wichita city limits. (It's where Wichita keeps all its truckers and bikers, although they tell me there are some "real people" a few blocks over.)

The main street through Wichita, Douglas Avenue, starts at "river level" and I believe the number quoted is that it rises a little short of 180 feet at the "peak" about 3 miles east of there in what's called the "Hillside District." It doesn't really look that steep, but it's pretty visible if you really look with a critical eye, especially looking downhill. That's about the biggest "lump" in the area, but it's a fairly gentle rise and few of the homes, there or even in my slum, have anything like my rather special site.

John