How Things Have Changed

I recently made a trip back to my old hometown of Knob Noster, Missouri, to see how much things have changed in the ten years since I was last in town. I almost did not recognize the little Johnson County town in West Central Missouri when I first got there. While the population has not changed drastically (up from 2,040 when I moved away to 2,462), the places I knew were gone.

My old neighborhood remained much the same, with the exception that a ranch house on top of a hill was no longer there. My old house still looked the exact same except for the chain link fence around the entire property. That made me sad as I was wanting to walk back into the woods behind the house and see how far into the woods they had developed. I guess I could have went to the front door and asked permission but I decided not to.

I planned to go onto Whiteman Air Force Base and see how much it changed as well since that is where I spent much of my time. I forgot though that I had no access and I did not have the time to jump through the hoops to get access. I did notice that the trailer park in town I lived in originally was no longer there. It had been replaced by apartment buildings. The IGA store was no longer an IGA although the building was still there and was still a grocery store.

I stopped in the library which was in the old post office building. I asked the librarian about the changes and found out she was one of my best friend's mother. I asked about her son and a couple other of my friends even though I figured most of the people I knew had long left town. As it turned out, my four closest friends still lived nearby. One lived in Concordia which is about 15 miles north and one worked in Warrensburg (12 miles west) and the other two still lived in town.

I went to try to see one where she worked but she happened to be off that day. I knew I would be back through within days so I decided to stop back in next time. The others were all busy so I could not reach anyone else. I drove to the City Park to see if anything had changed there and it still was the sleepy little park I knew and loved. After that, I decided it was time to get back on the road to get home. On the way out of town, I noticed that there was a McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subway and Taco Bell. This little town which had no fast food places when I moved away now had four of the larger ones in the country.

I knew things change fast but I would have never guessed that the sleepy little town I once knew and loved (still do love) could ever possibly grow up and expand like it has. It seems my hometown has grown up and still seems like its not ready to be done yet. I have the feeling the Air Force base has a lot to do with this. My friend I tried to see...I did end up seeing her next time through and she told me that I did not even see the part of town that really changed the most. Maybe next week when I have another chance to go through I can see that part.