True story: I was in a bar in Lawrence with a friend late one night, being chatted up by a student of mine. When we asked her where she was from, she said some town in extreme NW Kansas (Bird City maybe? Atwood?).

"I've been there!" my friend said.

"No you haven't." my student said.

"Yes, we went there on a geology field trip last summer. That morning as we left the campsite, the back door of one of the vans was open and and a food cooler fell out. We needed food so we stopped for lunch at a restaurant when we went through that town. The restaurant wouldn't serve us because they said that they only buy enough food for the regulars, because no one else ever comes in."

The girl was quiet for a bit, and said "My mom wrote about that in a letter."