Abilene, Kansas

Located one hundred and fifty five miles west of Kansas City, most of it on the Kansas Turnpike, the small town of Abilene, Kansas, has always fascinated us.  Not only is it the home city of General Dwight Eisenhower, but it is also rich in western history.  We decided to stop here for a few days, catch up on a few chores and repairs, and see what the town has to offer.

We got to the Four Seasons RV Park at about 2:30 this afternoon.  The check-in desk is in a gas station/c-store just a few miles east of Abilene.  Most of the sites are reserved for full or long time residents, but we're in the row that is reserved for day campers, and have a premium site at the end with a huge lawn, table, and fire pit. A nice place, quiet, and with an FMCA discount, very reasonable in cost.

After we set up on our somewhat out-of-level site requiring some wood blocks under the tires, we set off for town to check it out. As luck would have it, this is the weekend for the Central Kansas Free Fair. I'm not sure about the Free part, but there definitely are a lot of 4-H kids with their animals, a carnival, and at 4:00 pm this afternoon, a parade through town.

From the look of it, the whole town showed up for the fun!

We're new here, so we're not sure what this truck does!

We watched a girls baton-twirling dance troupe,

a wood-fired water and house heater, something that's very big in the midwest,

and the obligatory farm equipment, whose purpose escapes me, but it looks impressive!

Heading out of town after the parade, we stopped to fill Gus with gas at what has been the cheapest gas price we've seen!

Back at camp, it's a little dinner, a little campfire, and a little tv, before a little sleep.  More to see tomorrow!

President Harry S Truman

Last year when we were in Independence, Missouri, the government decided to shut down for awhile, closing all federally operated locations.  The Harry S Truman Library and Museum was on of those facilities that was closed.  So we decided to drop in for a couple of days this year and check it out.

Of the Presidential Libraries we have visited so far, the Truman Library is definitely well done.  We've seen the Clinton Library (ho hum, no blue dress), the Hoover Library (homespun, Iowa farm boy), Lincoln's Museum (just a bit too much detail), and the Reagan Library (not enough detail).  The Truman Museum is just right, tracing the life of an honest, responsible, but definitely liberal, farm boy from horse and buggy days to the atom bomb.  Talk about culture shock!

President Truman was in office during some of the most tumultuous times in our history. One of the most famous memories is the plaque on his desk. President Truman's office in the White House is recreated in the Museum, and the plaque is on display.

We could use a heapin' helpin' of this plaque these days…..

When President Truman left office, the law did not provide for a presidential pension or Secret Service protection.  President Eisenhower proposed and supported a change that raised Mr. Truman's retirement pension from $13,000 annually (from his military retirement as a Lt. Colonel) to $75,000, a substantial sum in those days.  After the assassination of President Kennedy, Secret Service protection was provided for all Presidents and their families, a service that President Truman heartily despised. He was known to play tricks on the Secret Service people by sneaking out for a walk with a friend and leaving them to catch up.

But I digress.  President Truman was called upon to make one of the most horrendous decisions a president can face: the deaths of thousands of the enemy in time of war, or the deaths of thousands of Americans.  History believes that he made the correct decision.

After the war ended, the economy went into high gear trying to satisfy the pent up demand for goods and services that had been denied for so many war years.  This euphoria lasted well into 1948, but not everyone was pleased with the post-war Marshall Plan, the rebuilding of Japan, and the start of the Cold War.  Public opinion was running against President Truman when the election rolled around, but a "Whistle Stop" tour of the country turned the tide, resulting in one of the most memorable newspaper goofs of all time.

Now that he had won a presidential election on his own merits, President Truman embarked upon the most thorough and complete renovation of the White House ever seen.  The entire building was gutted, new steel beams and columns installed in the interior, and a new wing was added.  President Truman mandated that none of the exterior walls were to be removed, so everything from bulldozers to dump trucks were dismantled and reassembled inside the structure. During the remodel, most of the original wood structure was removed because of deterioration.  A section of the original structure is on display on the Truman Museum showing not only mortise and tenon construction, but soot marks from the burning of the White House by the British in 1812.

Mr. Truman lived in a time that led him from buggies to bombs; from farm work to the Presidency; from a soda fountain at Independence Square to the Berlin Airlift.  A simple man with enduring values, he has left a mark on the course of the history of the United States. After he left Washington, he worked  out of an office in the Library Building, one that remains exactly as he left it the day he died.  Just a stone's throw away from the office is the burial site of Harry S Truman, his beloved wife Bess, and their daughter Margaret and her husband.  Mr. Truman dictated in his instructions that he wanted to be buried there because "he didn't want to have to walk very far to attend the services".  He also directed that Bess be buried on his right side, because she was his "right hand man", instead of the conventional practice of placing the wife on the left.

The American Legion has placed an eternal flame in the courtyard of the Museum near President Truman's grave.  This was done to honer his service during WWI, when he was sent to Europe to lead an artillery group.

Saddend, but with a whole new perspective on President Truman, we left the Library and Museum, glad that we came back to see it.

We shot over to Independence Square, the starting point for wagon trains heading west in the 1800's, and checked out the original courthouse of those days:

And then……

We set out to find dinner.  Now, you can't go to Kansas City without eating BBQ.  It is almost a law.  There are three restaurants that claim to be The Best, Arthur Bryants in downtown KC (where Mr. Obama ate yesterday on a fundraising trip), Gates, in Independence (yelps good, but a lot of unneeded salt), so we decided on Oklahoma Joe's, because it had come highly recommended. We had a bit of a time finding the place, circling the block three times unsuccessfully.  Each time our GPS located the restaurant in a gas station, so we knew that couldn't be right! Were we wrong!

Located in an operating gas station, the restaurant serves hundreds if not thousands of meals a day.  When we arrived the line was only 10 feet out the door, but by the time we had reached our table with trays of food the line stretched to the end of the parking lot, a couple of hundred feet away. Anyway, turns out that the original owner of the building opened the service station with a chicken restaurant next door.  Tiring of the food business, he sold the chicken restaurant area to the current owner of Oklahoma Joe's, which soon overwhelmed the whole building.  Now the cash register of the gas station is in a small corner, and the rest of the building is restaurant!  Anthony Bourdain reflected some years ago that "the proximity to petroleum products in no way detracts from the quality of the food".  And he was entirely correct.

A half rack of ribs and the burnt ends special with sides of spicy slaw, creamy slaw, and red beans and rice had us scrambling for the to-go boxes.

A good end to a good day.  Thank you, Kansas City, Kansas, and Independence, Missouri.

Platte City, Missouri

Betty came by this morning to pick up the historical papers that she had left for us to read, and brought us more tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini. We had a great visit just before Donna and I left for places west.

The roads in Missouri are spectacular.  This is a secondary road, Hwy 35, that goes due west out of Hannibal, MO.

This is considered to be better than an Interstate where we come from in Cali, but in this part of the country it's just another road from here to there.

We checked into space 123 in the Basswood RV Resort at about 4 this afternoon.  A nice place, but the sites are a bit close and the location is kinda crazy, being a long way from anywhere!  The best part is that the park is a Passport America park, so we will get the two nights we're here for half price! Gotta watch those pennies!

After setting up we cruised over the Missouri River into Kansas and the "First Town of Kansas", Leavenworth.  We wanted to visit the Penitentiary and Ft Leavenworth, but both were a strikeout.  Just as well as concerns the Penitentiary, but the military museum at the fort was high on our list.  Access to the Fort is, of course, limited, and the late hour meant that the museum was closed anyway.  We'll put that on a future list.

We did get a long distance photo of the penitentiary from the street in front.  Parking along the street is prohibited (I wonder why?), but snapped these as we drove slowly down the street.  We saw the security cameras swiveling to follow us, so we're kinda expecting a visit from a black SUV.

Having found Leavenworth to be somewhat unwelcoming, we left town late in the afternoon and returned to camp.  A good dinner with Betty's Zucchini, and we're ready to go tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

Hannibal, Missouri

Donna and I were about to eat breakfast this morning when a lovely local lady named Betty dropped by to visit and provide us with some local information.  Betty brought us a dozen ears of sweet corn last Saturday, which we shared with the neighbors, and then ate some of the rest for dinner.  She has lived in Canton long enough to know most of the people in town and their kids, and has been a wealth of information about the area. Today she brought us zucchini squash, a cucumber, and several lovely tomatoes, all from her garden, and she also brought a folder with newspaper articles and pictures from as far back as the early 1900's of the area around Canton.  Just north of Canton a mile or so, is the location of the town of Tully, named for one of Julius Caesar's generals.  With papers filed in 1834, Tully is one of the earliest and most important towns on the Mississippi in Northern Missouri, but was wiped out by the flood of 1851. Tully and Canton competed in river commerce for years, with Tully eventually drowning, and Canton by default winning the battle. Ironically, the USCoE built Lock and Dam 20 in 1932, anchoring the west end at exactly the site of the town of Tully, instead of placing it closer to Canton!

Another interesting photo in the collection is from the winter of 1916-1917, showing a horse-drawn ice cutter slicing up chunks of ice from the frozen Mississippi that were transported into Canton for storage in sawdust packed icehouses for shipment to as far away as St. Louis.  Another photo shows the Canton Ferry in the Mississippi River just in front of a sternwheeler riverboat with two horses aboard.  A horse was placed on a sloped treadmill on each side of the ferry providing power to the paddles.  Steering was done by applying a brake to one side.

Enough with the American History lesson!

After a long and enjoyable visit with Betty, we took off for Hannibal, Missouri.  The birthplace of Samuel Clemens, the entire town has shaped itself to showcase the life and times of S. Clemens, also known as Mark Twain.  The Museum was a bit disappointing, but did have several artifacts that belonged to Mr. Clemens, including his favorite desk.

Mr. Clemen' pipe and tophat.

The majority of the museum was devoted to recreations of scenes from S. Clemens' books about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.  Somewhat interesting, but not entirely worth the price of admission.

There was one picture hanging on the wall that brought a smile:

Across the street from the museum is an original 1820's building with a great coffee/pottery shop inside.  Not a common combination, but lovely pieces and good coffee.  We enjoyed a beverage in the restored, original room.

The metal ceiling and crown moulding is completely original, but, along with the wood floor, has been carefully cleaned and painted.

We decided to take the long way home to Canton through Quincy, IL, stopping at Lock and Dam 21 just as a "tow" (a series of barges tied together, we've just found out), made its way through.

As the tow left the lock, one of the lock-keepers stopped to chat.  He was so nice and informative that we spent a half hour or so talking to him about the details of keeping river shipping moving with all the things that Mother Nature can throw at them.  The lock and tow system is a highly sophisticated system using several federal weather agencies, several layers of GPS devices, and, of course, personal observation.  For example, each ship has a GPS transponder that allows a central control location to know exactly where each tow is on the river as well as its orientation (axis north or south, or turned in some fashion).  Very interesting and almost overwhelming, as the transportation system runs from Minnesota to St. Louis, with potentially hundreds of tows on the river at any given time.

Returning to Nessie, we were getting ready for dinner when we saw this tow going by just outside our window.

Now that's close!

A Three State Day

Never being the type of people to wait for interesting stuff to happen to us, we left "camp" in Canton, Missouri, and headed north to Keokuk, IA. On the way we reflected on the after dark activities last night.

About 10pm, a barge went through Lock 20 headed downriver, and another went through a bit later headed upstream.

It's hard to see in the photos, but it was an awesome sight to hear the powerful engines and high power lights that help the captains move the barges. The barge coming upstream had his lights on until just before entering the lock.

Each 15 barge unit has some outrageous statistics. 15 barges tied together is the standard "tow", and is 1/4 mile long , or over 1300 feet, and can carry 22,500 tons of goods or 6,804,000 gallons of liquid. Each 15 barge unit is equal in capacity to 11.5 miles of large semi trucks parked nose to tail, or 2 3/4 miles of rail cars. It's hard to grasp the magnitude.

We arrived at Lock 19 in Keokuk and walked out onto the old railway of the Southern Pacific train.  The old swinging bridge has been abandoned, and the railway over the Mississippi converted to a walking path.  On the west side, the path ends at an observation platform with a great view of the lock. The observation platform is on the upper left.

Shortly after we arrived a barge arrived going upstream.

The entire 15 barge unit plus the boat was able to make it inside the lock due to the extreme length of this lock.  Note the dark water line near the top of the concrete wall.  This lock is connected to the dam just visible in the upper right, that is used to generate power for most of the midwest and St Louis.  The height difference between the lake behind the dam and the river downstream is approximately 36 feet, so that's what the barge needs to be raised or lowered! Make a note of the height of the boat in reference to the top of the concrete wall.

And after the lock is flooded!

The boat and barges motored out of the upstream end of the lock.  So cool!  The lock was held at the higher level as another barge was coming through going downstream.  After it entered the lock, the water was pumped out, and away she went!

Knowing that we were in Iowa, having crossed the Des Moines River just south of Keokuk, we decided that a detour north to Ft Madison, IA, was in order, since its only another 20 miles or so away. Ft Madison has three claims to fame:  the longest swinging bridge over the Mississippi, a recreated Fort Madison, and a jewelry store with an interesting sign.

We try to take a side trip into the downtown areas of the towns we visit, and came across this sign in front of a jewelry store that does watch repair:

Notice the time.  It was 3:30pm when we took the picture.  Even allowing for different time zones…..

The recreated fort appeared interesting from the outside, but a trip inside revealed an entry fee of $6.45 per person.  Not that interesting.

The Mississippi at this point is over a mile wide.  I have tried unsuccessful to capture that, but, forgive me, it's simply impossible.

The bridge crossing the Mississippi is called the Santa Fe Swinging Bridge.  Built by the Santa Fe railroad, it is the major artery across the river for miles in either direction. As luck would have it, just as we climbed onto the bridge approach, the alarms sounded and the lights started flashing, indicating an approaching "swing".

After a 90 degree swing, the approaching barge drove through, and the bridge moved back into position.  The gates opened, the lights went off, and we crossed into Illinois, the third state we went to today.

A leisurely drive through the quaint town of Nauvoo, one of the original Mormon settlements in the area, and south to the town of Quincy, along a highway called the Great River Road, led us to the "new" bridge over Ole' Miss.

Quincy was promoted as a shipping point to rival St Louis back in the 1830's, but it's prominence waned as time went on and St Louis proved to be a formidable rival. Surviving numerous booms and busts over the years, Quincy has defined itself as a shipping point for many large companies that have found the business climate more to their liking.

Having made it back to Missouri, we completed the loop back to Canton.  Finding all of our weekend neighbors gone, we settled in for a quiet evening watching the river. We can almost imagine Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer on their raft…..