Day 12 -- Ol' Man River

We spent the morning at the Truman Library. Very interesting and informative. Truman was the president when I was born, and was one of my mother (the political junkie)’s favorite presidents, so I spent a lot of time looking at the exhibits of the details of his life. He was so decisive about so many things: the bombing of Japan, recognizing Israel, standing up to McCarthy, integrating the military. And, he truly believed “The Buck Stops Here.”

When he left office, his popularity was really down, but a recent poll of historians calls him the 5th best president, ahead of Jefferson. After he left the white house, he lived only half a mile from the library, and worked there every day. I was reluctant to leave, but we did have to move on!

We drove on to Springfield. On the way, we stopped in the town of Hamilton, Mo. (population 1813), to find a place for lunch, and again had really good luck with a local diner, with so-so food, but friendly people. Hamilton turned out to be the birthplace of JC Penney, and although we didn’t stop at it, we did see the JC Penney museum. [ed note: oddly enough, there also appears to be a JC Penney Museum in Plano, TX -- how much history does this department store have? And considering JC Penney's first store was in Kemmerer, WY... but I digress.] Everything in the town is named after him, including the Penney Mall and Penney High School.

We also stopped in Hannibal, Mo., right on the Mississippi. It is the hometown of Mark Twain, and the setting for Tom Sawyer, and 'America's Hometown', according to, well, them. I was more interested in the actual historical things, like the Mark Twain boyhood home, than the fake things like the Becky Thatcher House. We were too late to get into any of the homes, but we did stroll down to the Mississippi and take some photos.


So, we are in the state capital of Springfield, just waiting to go to Chicago tomorrow.

One thing we have noticed is that EVERY highway is undergoing road work. There are long stretches of the interstates & other highways that are down to one lane each way. It can’t be a coincidence, so we are glad to see that the states are using their stimulus money.

• New Out of State License Plates: Georgia (7 left)
• Day when we see Lucy: TOMORROW!!
• Days till we see Toby & Beruria: 8
• Days till we see Paige and Ashley (sigh, I give in) : 24