After getting dad's taxes filed we sort of meandered up eastern Arkansas and Missouri exploring a little before we could start the Great Train Adventure from St Louis.
After an overnight in Dexter, Missouri we stopped in Cape Girardeau, Missouri to see their wonderful murals and then another overnight in Ste Genevieve, Missouri where I took this one picture of the original Louis Bolduc House before reaching St Louis for five days.
The Missouri River Runner leaves St Louis in the late afternoon and travels mostly along the Missouri River until it gets to Jefferson City. The river takes a rather round about route from Kansas City to Jefferson City so the train heads more straight west mostly along US 50 here with the sunset in the background. Well before we got the Kansas City it was full dark. After a train change in Kansas City to the Southwest Chief coming down from Chicago, Illinois which we will ride to Los Angelus, California after a stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico the trip continues in Kansas. After the train adventure we will spend another two weeks in St Louis before heading back south to check-in with dad's status.
This year we finally got back to Kansas City for a much longer investigation of the Kansas City Fountains we enjoyed so much on our first pass in 2006. On the other end of the state we had to stop for a few days in St Louis to see our oldest but then it was rushing on to Columbus, Ohio to again help the doctors with their Mercedes payments.
Here is the start of our regular visits to Missouri and more specifically Saint Louis where our oldest will be living for the foreseeable future.
In addition to helping in the great house hunt we explored several parts of St Louis as well as here at the official confluence of the Missouri River on the right with the Mississippi River on the left. I say officially because frequently in the spring the point may be under a lot of flood water. Again officially St Louis is on the other side of the Missouri River while Illinois is on the other side of the Mississippi River.
Just up stream on the Mississippi River is the Melvin Price Locks and Dam which also has the fabulous National Great Rivers Museum actually on the Illinois side. This picture of a barge being pushed downstream from the lock is actually taken at the museum.
One of the great exhibits at the museum was a barge pilot trainer. With dual throtles and a rudder you're challenged to get 17 barges into the lock and up against one side and stopped. Actually most of the locks are only 3 barges wide and long. Sort of cheating a helper tug will push the lead end into position. Mostly with 15 barges 9 get winched through first and the other 6 with the tug make a second trip. Major production to get the barges going under the US 67 bridge here through the lock, reconnected, and headed downstream.
In 2007 Missouri was another state to get across on the way to someplace else and I find I don't have any pictures of our travels. In late May we came from Oklahoma and stayed for a few days at Pomme de Terre Lake State Park before passing through St Louis on the way to Litchfield, Illinois. Later in November we made a quick visit to john's aunt in northwestern St Louis before heading south for the winter. It seems we were still a lot in race track mode rushing hither and yon without really stopping to see the country.
Our first pass through Missouri truly lived up to its nickname of Misery. We first stopped at the Mark Twain State Park southwest of Hannibal of Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer fame. Did I mention it was HOT, and HUMID, and noisy with the road passing so near the tent you could almost reach out and touch it? Hobson's choice; open the window for air circulation or close it for privacy, after the sun came up it didn't really matter, it was too hot to stay in the tent and mostly too hot to sleep even at night. We did a fair amount of exploring which was really focused on keeping the AC running in the truck rather than capturing images.
One of the most memorable parts of Mark Twain was the bugs. That's OK since we like nice bugs. In any group there has to be a few exceptions like skeeters, chiggers, ticks, and flies but generally bugs are fun. Although it was not May the little mayflies were landing on everything. Moths are a favorite of mine and beetles are an Asian favorite.
At this point we decided that while camping in a tent was economical there had to be a limit to how much fun were willing to tolerate. Moving on to Kansas City, we discovered a weekly rate in an extended stay motel was reasonable and very very much cooler.
This first time in the Kansas City area we stayed on the north side with easy access to St. Joseph which could also be called Lewis and Clark City. Tourism is a tremendously valuable industry but we have seldom seen a theme so thoroughly integrated into the local economy. The whole town is just Lewis and Clark nuts. The St. Joseph Museum has a wonderful collection of Indian artifacts including this superb beaded vest. Their sculpture of the Lewis and Clark team was difficult to capture in a single photo with the various members posed in a circle.
Kansas City, both on the Missouri and Kansas side is a city of fountains. We have made several return visits over several years and since it spans two states the details can be accessed with this Kansas City link or the Cities tab above. Returning to Columbus, Ohio in October we came down I-29 from Iowa and back across US-36 for another couple days at Mark Twain SP which was a lot more pleasant in the cooler weather.