Kansas City Barbecue – Gotta Try Daniel’s Barbecue in Tonganoxie

Tonganoxie is famous for three things:

• Home of the oldest Wright Brother
• Strange weather pattern where tornadoes and severe storms end up going north or south after passing Tonganoxie – the Tonganoxie split.
• Daniels Barbeque

Wilbur and Orville are the rightful Wrights to enter into history, but Tonganoxie, Kansas, just west of the Kansas Nascar Speedway, was the home of the oldest Wright brother, Reuchlin. [sometimes pronounced Roosh as a nickname.] Wilbur was the third oldest boy in the Wright family and was responsible with his brother Orville in designing the first controllable aircraft and won the patent for the warping wing, later extended to the use of Ailerons. Reuchlin, the eldest, is mentioned as helping on one occasion in the hills at Kitty Hawk with Orville and Wilbur’s experiments.

Locally known meteorologically as the Tonganoxie split, the town of Tonganoxie is west on highway 24/40 from the Kansas Speedway. For some reason, severe weather tends to bend northeast or southeast at “Tongie.” This is good news for Bonner Springs, Edwardsville, Basehor and Kansas City Kansas that lie downwind of Tonganoxie. The much rumored split is not always effective however. A category four tornado passed too close to the split after hitting Lawrence, KS. The funnel could easily be seen from the Speedway. The force of the storm was determined by the strength of engineered electric transmission poles rated at Category Four winds. Tongie itself has been hit by a funnel in recent years, but east of town, the funnel lifted.

Head west out of the Kansas Speedway on State Avenue, also known as Highway 24/40 and you hit one of the best Kansas City barbecue places in the metropolitan area, Daniels Barbecue.

Bathe your ribs or any of their smoked meats in Competition Number Nine and you enter into the wonder that is found in the local barbecue joints. Daniels is one of two or three joints that hasn’t been nationalized and hyped as Kansas City Barbecue on the coasts [not that Daniel wouldn't like you to buy a case of their sauce and take it with you.]

A new Daniels store has opened in Shawnee, Kansas, with the same excellent smoker himself, Daniel. Business is building as people locate this joint on Johnson Drive. This is old Shawnee so don’t look for huge metro malls or hyped attractions. Its down the street from a couple of churches, the Old Town of Shawnee, and the public library.

I prefer the drive to Tonganoxie and 215 West Street. The phone number in Tongie is 913-369 2440. West Street is really just 24/40 after it rounds a huge turn from an east/west highway to a north/south highway. Heading west from the Speedway, when you hit Tongie, its on the left or east side of the road. Ask for Julia or Daniel. If you travel this road, you will eventually hit Lawrence, where just out of town is the airport where all the Nascar drivers park their jets.

The Speedway and adjoining Legends offer very nice accommodations and shops, but Tongie is a fun excursion just down the road.

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