Tuesday, Sept. 17, Poor Gary woke up with a stiff neck, Ow! Then he had to drive 173 miles to Maysville, Mo. Traffic was light, even though we're not in Kansas anymore there are cornfields everywhere. We thought we'd left them behind. We're staying at Pony Express RV Park about 30 miles east of St. Joseph, the location of the Pony Express Museum where the West bound riders set out with the mail. (we visited there several years ago) The purpose of the visit here is Hamilton, Mo., about 25 miles east of here, Quilt Town U.S.A.
Wednesday, Sept. 8 Hamilton, Mo., population 1893, elevation 988. It is the hometown to James Cash Penney (1875-1971) a life long supporter of his home town, he opened his 500th store here and also purchased a farm east of town known for cattle, hogs and mules. One of his former employees was Sam Walton. About 20 years ago Jenny Doan and her family moved to Hamilton sight unseen for her husbands job. She started long arm quilting , then You Tube tutorials, on line sales which turned into 13 shops in the small town. There is even Man's Land the hangout for husbands or those simply needing to put their feet up. A great quilt museum is located there in the old high school, we thought the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, it was good but this was much better. 2 floors of all things quilt, in front of the museum is the world's tallest spool of thread. We came back to the park to nurse our sore feet also Gary had a 5:30 appointment for a massage.
Thursday, September 9 Happy 43rd anniversary to us! I spent the morning cleaning the car inside and out while Gary cleaned 2,000 miles of bugs off the front of the coach. For lunch we went into Maysville (3miles) to Gary Ray's diner, no kidding! Our son likes to use Google maps to see what it's like in the area we're in and he spotted Gary Ray's diner. The owner, Gary Ray was out of town so we didn't get to meet him, Gary left him our friendship card. No we haven't heard from him. We had a very romantic evening, we had pizza at the park cafe and watched the first NFL game of the season.
Friday, Sept. 10 Happy Birthday Mom, you would have been 104 today. We left about 10 for the 130 mile drive to Topeka, Kansas, the capital. Population 126,000 elevation 945. Did you know that Topeka means "good place to dig potatoes?" Now you do. The city is known for the US Supreme Court case Brown vs Brown which declared racial segregation to be unconstitutional.
Saturday, Sept. 11 I spend the morning finishing our itinerary, I had to change or plans due to football games and local celebrations that filled up RV parks. Then #12 Oregon played #3 Ohio State. Yikes! Wahoo! Oregon won, now they are #4.
Sunday, Sept. 12 NFL season is underway. We were able to watch our Seahawks beat the Indianapolis Colts. A good football weekend for us. Then we did something we haven't in a long time - we went to a zoo. We went to see the Japanese gardens only to find out that they were located in the Topeka Zoo. The gardens were beautiful, we enjoyed the zoo, especially the orangutan's, they were covering themselves with fabric that looked like berka's.
Sunday, Sept. 13 The capitol building was built in segments, the west wing in 1866, the east in 1879 and the central building to link the two wings in 1881, it took 37 years of officially complete construction. But wait there's more! Then in 2002 the sculpture was finally installed atop the dome, 136 years later.
Monday, Sept. 14 We left Topeka about 9:30 for our 230 mile drive to Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, yes we are zig zagging our way to Texas. We are at Fort Leonard Hood's recreation area on the lake. The earthen dam was built in 1929, the reservoir is 93 miles long. The original town of Linn Creek is underwater, many towns are located in the area, big tourist draw. Gary got another massage, slowly it's getting better. We had lunch at Redhead's Grill and Yacht club on the lake. We chose to eat inside but we could have used the swim up bar (NOT), the complex consists of a marina, cabins, boat sales and of course the restaurant.
Thursday, Sept. 16 Keeping with the theme of this year's capital city tour we drove about an hour north to Jefferson City for a tour of the capitol building, completed in 1903, their third building, fire burned the first two. The Missouri capitol building is 17 feet taller than the US Capitol. The first floor houses the State History Museum as well as a tribute to the USS Missouri including the brass model that was used to test the best places to put the antennas and radar on the ship. So far the Missouri capitol building is our 2nd favorite, the grounds have many fountains and memorials including the Liberty Bell reproduction that overlook the Missouri River. Workmen were preparing the capitol and Governor's mansion for Missouri's Bicentennial parade and celebration this weekend.
That it for now, hope you enjoyed the pic's.
TTFN
Gary and Pam
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