Happy as a mule in a fireworks stand

Mule Polly checking out the goods in the Quinter Livestock Market.

A mule in a firework shop? Of course. It’s Independence Day weekend in Quinter, Kansas. Angie and Clint usually settle cattle. Not this weekend.

Mule Polly and I are heading back to North Carolina after a wonderful visit to Colorado. We’re breaking the 1500 mile trip in to 4 days. Thing is, we just set out for home. No pre-planning where to spend the night.  No booking in to a horse motel for the night. We just hit the road this morning and chug-chugged 350 miles at 55 mph, taking in the land as it rolled from mountain peaked Colorado  to rolling Kansas ranch land.

Two hours before sunset I ease my old truck and trailer in to Quinter, Kansas. I ask a man emptying a grain truck where a man and mule might spend the night. “Down at the fireworks stand,” he tells me and that’s how I met Angie and Clint Kvasnicka.

Bernie in front of sign.
The Quinter Livestock Market. Sales are on Monday in case you need to up (or downsize) your herd.

Most weeks, Angie and Clint run the Quinter Livestock Yard.  Not next week. Because the 4th of July lands on a week day this week, they’ve cancelled the sale.  Instead, they’ve filled the office and stockyard cafe with fireworks.

Of course Polly and I went for a tour.

Mule Polly at door.
Clint invites mule Polly in to the office to check out the selection of fireworks.
Polly inspects the wares. The stockyard runs a cafe. Polly wasted no time….
Mule Polly in kitchen
…getting busy in the kitchen. Here Clint is explaining how to operate the deep fryer. But a crowd was building and Polly was needed at the front counter…
Mule Polly in the kitchen.
… for a photo op with some young fans.
Fireworks and Dodge
After our tour there was a fireworks show. If Dodge were running this ad campaign, they’d have bigger fireworks (and a new truck instead of a 1992 model). Oh, you know the head of marketing at Dodge? Have them contact me right away for an underwriting opportunity.

Thanks Angie and Clinton for hosting mule Polly and me. We sure enjoyed the fireworks and hamburger. It makes me feel great to know that a stranger and his mule can still show up in Quinter and be made to feel so at home. Happy Independence Day weekend.

 

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