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Comment by jlkuester7 | Hacker News Reader

I think the big reason for KS's flat reputation vs places like Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Delaware is trees (or lack thereof). In SW Kansas (the flattest part of the state) you can drive for miles and miles of endless flatness without hardly seeing a single tree. There is just nothing that disrupts your view of the horizon. It is a bit of a different experience then being in a flat forest/swamp.

(Also, the terrain of eastern/central KS is very different from the west. So if your only experience of KS is Wichita/Kansas City/Topeka, then you don't know how truly flat the other half of the state actually is...)

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> (Also, the terrain of eastern/central KS is very different from the west. So if your only experience of KS is Wichita/Kansas City/Topeka, then you don't know how truly flat the other half of the state actually is...)

People say that, and every time I make a trip somewhere out west I haven't been previously I brace myself for the boredom. So far I've always been "disappointed" and have yet to find this boring and barren landscape I've been promised.

People don't like to believe it and that's ok, less people to share the landscape with.

Have you driven specifically through KS? I remember a 5 hour stretch going from MN to CA (yeah, I took the long way) where it was like driving in a matte painting, nothing changed.

Have lived here for a couple decades.

Kansas is certainly not the best drive you'll ever see, but there are many that are worse.

The east/west drive across Nebraska is a lot worse - even less geography around the interstates. Kansas at least has some geographic change as you come through the high plains in the west toward the hills in the east.

For that matter - going north/south on the western side of Iowa is crazy boring too. Road runs right along the river so there is no perceptible elevation change for an eternity. East/west across Illinois is the same way - completely and totally flat highways for hours and hours.

The Sand Hills is a very pretty drive in an east/west drive across Nebraska.

The Symphony in the Flint Hills (eastern Ks) is pretty cool if you ever get to attend.

https://symphonyintheflinthills.org/

That makes sense. I think it’s also due to contrast, specifically due to Kansas neighboring Colorado with its very not flat mountains.

Of course, the eastern half of Colorado is just as flat as Kansas. You really can’t tell the difference driving west until you get to the front range and that is in the middle of Colorado.

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