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

Day 11 -- KC Pit Stop

Today has been a very relaxing day, because we haven’t done any traveling, just hung out in KC. We actually exercised this morning in the hotel’s exercise roon, and I learned how out of shape I am from a week on the road.

We then went to the “Museums at 18th & Vine.” That is the former hub of the African-American community of Kansas City, and the home of the American Museum of Jazz and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, both fascinating. Apparently, Kansas City is important in the history of jazz, and this museun highlights the jazz greats who either grew up in the city (Charlie Parker), or ones who came through on their way to fame & fortune (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald.). There were exhibits on the different facets of jazz (melody, harmony, rhythm), none of which I understood, or had fully appreciated. We had to share the museum with a 4th grade field trip. I guess summer’s really over!
Kansas City is famous for its barbecue, and we went to lunch at a KC institution, Arthur Bryants. We feasted on ribs, BBQ beef, and the best baked beans we’ve ever tasted. Although there seemed to be a lot of tourists, there were many locals also, and it seemed really genuine. This road-trip is really proving to be not so healthy!

We then went to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. This documents the period before blacks were welcome in the major leagues, so were forced to form their own teams & leagues. The leagues died in about 1950, a casualty of (at last), integration in the majors, thanks to Jackie Robinson. Many major stars, such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ernie Banks got their starts in these leagues, and the major team was the Kansas City Monarchs. The tragedy was the GREAT players who never got to play in the majors such as Josh Gibson, who hit 800 home runs,, and died at 35. As a baseball fan, and a lover of history, it was very interesting for me.

One of the things on our life to-do lists is to visit every major league ball park. Tonight took a step towards that goal by going to Kauffman stadium to see the Royals play the Tigers. We rooted for the Royals, and they won! It is a beautiful ballpark, recently renovated and very cozy. The Royals aren’t a very good team, so this late in the season is was easy to get great seats at very little cost. We ate ballpark food (hot dogs). This is a disaster for diets!


Tomorrow, we are going to the Truman Library, and then off to Springfield, Ill. Chicago and Lucy are getting closer!

• Out of State License Plates Yet to be Seen (easier): 8 -- Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Vermont - None seen today
• Days till we see Lucy: 2
• Days till we see Toby & Beruria: 9
• Days till we see Paige and our amazing English son-in-law* : 25

*[ed note -- let's just say this addition was not my idea... however there was a strong suggestion that if this edit were not made, Paige may not get on the plane to Boston in 25 days...]

Day 10 -- Goin' to Kansas City

Today was just a driving day. Not a lot of sight-seeing on I-29 between Sioux Falls and Kansas City.

However, we had brought along a book “500 Things to Eat Before It’s Too Late,” written by two NPR contributors, which indicated that some of the best catfish in America is at a place called the Surfside Club outside Omaha on the Missouri River. Carl loves catfish so we GPS’d our way there along a dirt road off the interstate.

As we drove up, we saw signs about dress codes, and since it was called the Surfside CLUB, we worried that it was a sort of boating club where we wouldn’t be appropriately dressed. That turned out to have been a joke, because the building was basically a shack with picnic tables for those who chose to eat outside.

The menu was on the written on a wall: catfish dinner, or chicken dinner, both served with cole-slaw, fries and corn fritters, all deep fried. If you know me at all, you know it’s been a long time since I had anything deep fried. I had chicken and it was delicious and worth all those other lunches of salads. It turned out that at the table next to us was an Omaha family where the Dad in the group had lived in Bremerton & Gig Harbor. What are the odds? The server was very friendly, and at the end of the meal she showed us the tradition of throwing our leftover corn fritters into the Missouri, and watching the carp come up to the surface to grab them. Of course, she took us outside before we paid the bill, and we started to walk away. The friendly owner intercepted us, in a friendly manner, of course, and we apologetically paid up. Pretty much everyone in there was local, and I feel so sorry for people who rush through the county eating at Applebees & Dennys. It was an experience I wouldn’t have missed for anything!

The terrain has completely changed from Plains to farms and rolling hiss [ed note -- I think she means 'hills', but 'hiss' is also a possibility, with the wind through the cornfields]. Lots & lots of corn!

So, here we are in Kansas City, basically the biggest city since Portland. We are resting here for a day, and doing some sightseeing in KC tomorrow. We are divided between seeing the Truman Presidential Library and the Museum of Jazz. [ed note -- I think you'll find this is called the American Jazz Museum... and gets my vote - not that I have one!]

• New Out of State License Plates seen: Massachusetts (no National Parks to check out the parking lots)
• Days till we see Lucy: 3
• Days till we see Toby & Beruria: 10
• Days till we see Paige : 26

Day 9 -- Cheese-tastic (with a Bit of Park Beauty on the Side)

It’s a good thing we went to Mt. Rushmore yesterday. Today turned into another long day, with lots done. We started out going to Wall Drug, which is an amazing place, and worth the stop. It is the absolute height of Carl bought a poster. It was at that point that I realized I had lost my most-used credit card, which kind of put a damper on the day, but at least we are not liable, according to B of A.

Then, we went on to a short loop around Badlands National Park. Last year we bought a senior pass for $10, which gets us into any national park for the rest of our life. We are getting our money’s worth, and it’s one of the benefits of aging. I had not been aware of this park, but Carl really wanted to go, and it was so worth it. The ground has been eroded away over many millions of years, and result in canyons & crags. Carl compares it to Bryce Canyon, another place I’ve never been. It is also home to many dinosaur fossils. It was a magnificent drive.

From the magnificent to the super-cheesy (or should I say corny) Corn Palace in Mitchell., SD This place has to be seen to be believed. It is a huge “palace” for concerts & college basketball, and the outside is decorated with murals made of corn & wheat, literally. Thousands and thousands of corn cobs in yellow, red & orange decorate this thing, and the murals are changed every year. This year one of the murals is the Space Needle, so I felt like home.

The Great Plains are truly Great, but tomorrow we are leaving for some actual Midwestern cities. We are staying tonight in Sioux Falls, SD, and it is the biggest city we’ve been in since Reno. Tomorrow we are going through Omaha on our way to Kansas City. Is it back to civilization, or back to harsh reality? I can see how there is a huge disconnect between rural America and the “mainstream” America as seen on TV.

• New Out of State License Plates seen: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky. Rhode Island, Ontario, Quebec
• Days till we see Lucy: 4
• Days till we see Toby & Beruria: 11
• Days till we see Paige : 27

 

 

Day 8 -- Hitting the Dakotas

What I learned today:

1. Do not EVER call a motel 2 miles from Mt Rushmore on the Saturday before Labor Day and expect to get a room,. Recession or no, that was a dumb move on my part, and why I am writing this from Wall, SD, and not Keystone or Rapid City.
2. Do not ever go to a Mexican restaurant in South Dakota. How do you ruin a Margarita? And, how do you make fajitas & enchiladas that are totally bland? Just go to a place with no Hispanic presence!
3. If you go to Mt. Rushmore, make reservations way ahead (as mentioned in #1), and go at night when they have the lighting ceremony. There really isn’t much to do except look at the mountain (very impressive, much better than photos), so you might as well go at twilight. If you go at 6 PM, it seems silly to hang around for two hours, so we didn’t.
4. This is a magnificent, diverse country. We have seen so many different types of scenery! Eastern MT, and ND & SD are beautiful, and you see where the term “Great Plains” comes from. Not as flat as I had expected, but you can see forever. It is very arable, so different from the desert and the mountains. I feel unbelievably lucky to be making this road-trip.

We did achieve two milestones. Carl and I have been on a mission to get to every state. I had never been to North Dakota, and he had never been to SD. We left Miles City, and headed straight for Bowman ND, and arrived there at lunch time. Our rule is you have to actually eat in a state to count it, and we had a delightful lunch in a local diner. Just comfort food, BLT and grilled cheese sandwiches. We talked to a couple –Roy & Lois, who’d lived there all their lives (about 60 years), and they said that they couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. A real slice of Americana.


Then we headed down to the South part of the Dakotas. We went to Deadwood, at the north end of the Black Hills, which is a restored town dedicated totally to tourism & gambling. The main street was like out of the old west, except with casinos and t-shirt shops everywhere. We did find a sports bar owned by Kevin Costner who made Dances with Wolves nearby. It was the only place to have a snack that wasn’t part of a casino.

Then began our big adventure to find a place to stay, in anticipation of visiting Mt. Rushmore tomorrow. Every place we called was full,. We sat in a parking lot in Rapid City and called just about every place in the AAA book, to no avail. I almost had the feeling the people we spoke to were laughing at us for even trying. We tried Rapid City, Keystone, Custer, & Spearfish with no luck. At that point, we decided to visit Mt. Rushmore today, and then travel on to Wall, about 50 miles down the road. Thank goodness Mt. Rushmore is open until 9 through September. Wall is famous for Wall Drug, which evolved from a place to get a drink of water on the Plains to a huge tourist joint. Supposedly there are billboards advertising it for many miles down the highway, but we couldn’t see them in the dark.[ed note: these signs do exist; your editor saw them when she made this trip in the opposite direction] We are going there tomorrow, and I’m looking forward it. Our plans tomorrow are just to go as far as possible in SD, but make it an easy day.

• New Out of State License Plates seen: Indiana, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Alberta
• Days till we see Lucy: 5
• Days till we see Toby & Beruria: 12
• Days till we see Paige: 28

Day 7 -- Rollercoasters and Red Lodge

If you could find Rexburg, Idaho yesterday, you can probably find Miles City, Montana, which is where we find ourselves, after a long day!

We decided last night that we could cut off some miles, and do some sightseeing if we cut through Yellowstone National Park instead of going around it. Our plan was to go from the West entrance directly to the NE exit, and stay on the north end of the Park. Once we were in the park, we learned that the road we were going to take was closed, so we had to go around, and it ended up taking 4 hours! It really was fantastic scenery, very mountainous and green. We were stopped a couple of time by buffalo crossing the road.

We then headed up to I-94 via Montana Route 212. This is called the Beartooth Highway, and believe me Roller Coaster Highway would be a better description. I don’t understand how someone who hates roller coasters, like Carl, can be in 7th heaven on a road like this, and someone like me who loves them was white-knuckle all the way. The road wound through Beartooth Pass, which was 11,000 feet, and then back down. In some parts it was not paved. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL, as we wound back and forth between Wyoming & Montana, but very scary. Hard for me to look down.

Once we finished with the theme park part of the ride, we traveled on 212 towards I-94 via the town of Red Lodge. This had special nostalgia for Carl, because in 1966 his beautiful 1953 Jaguar was wrecked by an older (70ish) woman driving without a license. He wasn't badly hurt, but had to spend a week sorting things out, so he remembers Red Lodge very well.

We had decided to stay in Forsyth, Montana , about 100 miles east of Billings, and called ahead to book something that looked promising. When we got out of the car, we took one look at the place and cancelled our reservation. I’m not sure what was worse-the condition of the motel, or the two good-ol'-boys sitting outside, but we decided that going 45 more miles to Miles City was the wiser choice. So, here we sit in the Holiday Inn Express, and lo and behold, the Mariners are on TV here (and winning as I write this).

Tomorrow we are off to the Dakotas, both North & South.

• New Out of State License Plates seen: Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Florida
• Days till we see Lucy: 6
• Days till we see Toby & Beruria: 13
• Days till we see Paige : 29

Day 6 -- Sin to salvation

Happy 9th anniversary to Brian & Amy.

What a difference between Nevada and Idaho. Nevada is really barren, and once we got far enough into Idaho, it was very green, nothing like I was expecting; Twin Falls, where we stopped for lunch is one of the most prolific farming areas in the country. Lots more than just potatoes. Before we left Nevada, we took some photos in the booming metropolis of Jackpot, which exists to support casinos.

Carl actually let me drive today, and managed not to back-seat drive too much. I guess I was driving fast enough for him. I went all the way from Twin Falls to Idaho Falls. We actually did some sight-seeing in Idaho Falls. The Falls (which are on the Snake River)themselves are right in the center of town, and there is a lovely Riverside park, with a walking path. Carl climbed halfway down to the river on some very unsteady rocks to get photos. I was too nervous to watch, figuring any minute he would fall the rest of the way, which would really spoil the Vermont adventure. As you can see from the photo below, he survived (phew), and I took this photo to prove Carl has actually been on this trip.
Since we got an early enough start we were able to go all the way to the town of Rexburg, 25 miles past Idaho Falls. There is a very large Mormon presence in Idaho, and there is a branch of BYU in Rexburg. Idaho Falls had a large Mormon Temple (in the back of the photo above), and a smaller LDS church.

We modified our plans for tomorrow, and are going to drive through a part of Yellowstone Park on our way to somewhere, Montana. We are getting to at least Billings.

• New Out of State License Plates seen: Montana, Illinois, Utah, North Carolina, Colorado, Nebraska,
• Days till we see Lucy: 7
• Days till we see Toby & Beruria: 14
• Days till we see Paige : 30