The offender has already made reparation to the person complaining (7USC499g)

Redemption from Greenville, IL, to Junction City, KS

With little sleep, I woke up with a migraine that was only pounded further into my head by radio announcements of a heat advisory. Still, we managed to scale Monk’s Mound at Cahokia, a collection of early-American Indian ceremonial structures that was once a city larger than London, before the scorcher set in. Sage left an offering atop the sacred mount, and the gods seemed to smile on us later in the day.

Traversing from Illinois to Missouri through St. Louis included a pleasant pass by the Gateway Arch and Schlafly Brewery, which were inspiring sights to behold even though they were not as welcoming to canines as the ancient slopes.

Also not dog-friendly were the two wine-tasting areas of Les Bourgeois, but fortunately, the vineyards were less controlling of the great view of the Missouri River below.

Without fermented grapes to drink, we had time to explore the old village of Rocheport and the side-skirting Katy Trail, a 225-mile multi-use path mostly along the Missouri that is a rite of passage for many cyclists. Popping out for a pedal would have been a good way to cool off, but unfortunately, my wheels also are not dog-ready.

So I had to continue on four wheels into Kansas, where I was almost hoping for the nippy breezes of a storm, until I actually heard the multiple tornado warnings and watches being broadcast over the airwaves.

Nevertheless, I followed the non-yellow brick road toward the Oz Winery in Wamego, which has nicknamed itself after the Emerald City, in search of a bottle to compensate for my lack of liquid courage earlier in the day. In my quest for a red or white, I encountered a lot of grey skies.

But just like the wizard behind the curtain, the storm turned out to be more bluster than actual cloudburst. Its thundering bellows, though, were still enough to make Sage seek safety in my lap as I tried to eat an authentic Kansas BBQ brisket sandwich, which I picked up from Biffle’s Smoke House near Sweet Springs, at Gage Park in Topeka.