01 September 2006

Ten gallon line


I hypothesize that the Cowboy Hat Threshold is 100 miles West of the Mississippi irrespective of the curvature of the river.

The Route 44 Missouri Cowboy Hat Threshold relates to the 19th Century migration of abolitionist Irish and Germans (who moved West on a latitudinal straight line and elect the Carnahans and Gephardt) to St. Louis that led to the state voting in 1860 to join the Union and the farming communities further west that supported the Dixie militia that were sent there on the order of Governor Claiborne Fox Johnson after the Union started tapping the state arsenal. Somewhere between Suburban St. Louis and Majority Whip Roy Blount’s Ozark district, which Ashcroft lost the primary for in 1972, it is time to take off the Cardinals cap and don the Stetson.

I like to wear a cowboy hat when it’s sunny, but only in places where the old-timers wear them.

3 comments:

shanna said...

a fringe benefit of being a texan is that you can wear a cowboy hat anywhere at all.

Ian Keenan said...

I’d look a bit like Jon Voight in NYC with the hat on, ‘til people hear the Bridge and Tunnel Bronco Buster accent.

Ian Keenan said...

The signs for Western stores begin in earnest just West of St Louis, but I didn't see anyone wearing a cowboy hat until Muskogee, Oklahoma.