There is a Manhattan in Kansas! It is a city of 55 000 people, and nicknamed itself "the Little Apple" as a play on New York City's moniker of the "Big Apple." It was founded by the New England Emigrant Aid Company as a Free-State town in the 1850s. Eli Thayer started the company to transport anti-slavery immigrants into the Kansas Territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was to allow the population of Kansas Territory to choose whether slavery would be legal in the territory. Thayer and his company believed if they move enough anti-slavery immigrants to Kansas, they would be able to shift the balance of political power in the territory, which in turn would lead to Kansas becoming a free state when it eventually joined the United States.  The company wanted to send 20 000 immigrants, a number they didn't get to. In fact it is believed only about 2000 arrived. It did spur pro-slavery people from Missouri to move to Kansas to ensure its admission to the United State...

The photo on the front is of a GT Vengeance Aero Mark Allen Edition. It is American made, designed and built in 1998, and weighs on 9.3 kg. The frame is made of varnished aluminum. 

A nice Christmas card from Dee in Columbus, Ohio. It is a Branson Post Cards from Branson, Missouri.  The Ozarks are two mountain ranges found in the Kansas, Missourit, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The two mountain ranges are the Boston Mountains and the St. Francois Mountains. Together they comprise of about 120 000  km 2  . Branson is located just north of the Arkansas-Missouri border, and is a tourist destination and popularizer of Ozark culture.