That was when I really felt east-side versus west-side. I qualified for the city tournament one year, mostly because I sort of cheated, you know, like when you are adding up your strokes. Oh, and I played junior golf at Sim Park, which is probably the jankiest of the junior golf parks. I swam for Twin Rivers Swim Club and every once in a while I’d have a meet against kids like that. I knew there was this vague rumor that east-siders were wealthy. I never bore any ill will toward east-siders. Of course, now you have like 10 miles of Wichita left when you get past the zoo. I used to ride my bike out past the zoo and it was just cornfields. TO: Did you buy into the east side-west side thing as a kid living in Wichita? I still very much feel like a Wichitan even though I don’t go there a whole lot. My parents were teachers, and I grew up with a pride for the city and an awareness of the city. I know all the neighborhoods…well, I know all the 1989-era neighborhoods in the city…the central part of the city. I just know the city really well, geographically. It could be because I was a pretty good track runner in the day.
I’m sitting in Salina right now, but I don’t feel like a Salinan. I’ve been living in Saline County for 15 years now.
Tim O’Bryhim: Do you still consider yourself a Wichitan? Though he no longer lives in Wichita, his experiences at OK Elementary, Hadley Junior High, North High School, a Wichita Wings soccer camp, and Twin Rivers Swim Club all figure prominently in the emotional connection he maintains with his hometown. His three other books, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, Souvenir, and The Geto Boys continue his exploration of the intersection of philosophy and travel that has marked his career as a writer and essayist since he graduated from George Fox University in 1993. Travel Channel aficionados might remember Potts from his show American Pilgrim. Potts’ work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, , Outside, Sports Illustrated, The Guardian (U.K.), and many other publications. This notion of travel leans toward contemplation and experience as opposed to scurrying from attraction to attraction. Just as importantly, it has helped popularize a movement whose followers seek a lifestyle that is centered around long-term travel – not a week or two, but multiple weeks, months or even years of travel. Few Wichitans can claim to be so prominently associated with a popular worldwide movement as Rolf Potts is with the concept of “vagabonding.” The 49 year old Wichita native’s first book, also called Vagabonding, has sold a quarter of a million copies since being published in 2002.
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