Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The usual morning routine with the monkeys...
We watched cartoons and drank our favorite drink of diluted apple juice (while our parents rushed around packing the car!)
Not only does Council Grove have the oak tree, it has the Tin Man! The monkeys investigated...
Here is what is left of the 1825 Council Grove meeting (and the monkeys)Forget the blue highways. Today we were all about Interstates. We zoomed past the historical landmarks of Topeka, Lecompton, Lawrence, Kansas City, and Independence. with the high hopes of making good time. Oh yes, we were all about Interstate 70.
And it worked. With a new Warner Bros 30 episode special DVD, coffee, and a full tank of gas, we were making beautifully quiet time. But, truth be told, it wasn’t much fun and the trees that lined the divided highway gave us the false impression that we were back in the East.
And it worked. With a new Warner Bros 30 episode special DVD, coffee, and a full tank of gas, we were making beautifully quiet time. But, truth be told, it wasn’t much fun and the trees that lined the divided highway gave us the false impression that we were back in the East.
Kansas City straddles Kansas and Missouri
A stop for our 2nd favorite drink on this trip - chocolate milk!
A praying mantis on the window at McDonalds!We moved on...
Kingdom City had all the fixings of any other major junction in the USA: McDonalds, Subway, Denny’s and KFC. For unique possibilities, they are also home to a NOSTALGIA STORE that advertised so well on billboards posted every mile for 20 miles that I even wanted to go (we didn’t). Instead...
If you turn off route 54, turn left on E (Missouri appears to prefer letters to numbers for roads), and then take another left onto Main Street, you’ve hit the heart of Auxvasse.
There was one human being in sight and we pulled our car into an empty parking spot yards from his solitude. He checked us (and our license plate) out, as we shuffled about with our usual “We’re here!” and “Where are your shoes?” Finally he called out, “You people look like you’re lost!” No, we just want to eat something. “Is there a place to eat here?” He gave us the one option and said it wasn’t so bad. “Don’t worry, there won’t be any knife fights.” Meanwhile, he was just waiting around because someone stole his truck last night and rammed it into the gas station or something like that.
So, we walked 100 yards to the one option. There isn’t much in Auxvasse, but they do have a bar. And that bar had food. At 2PM on a Wednesday, they also had three women smoking at the bar, two tattooed men playing pool in the back, one bartender/waitress, one cook (?), and in one of the booths, we saw one baby accompanied by four adults who seemed about or less than twenty years old.
Within seven minutes all four of us got called sweetheart and we were served the four choices that the bar afforded (fried jalepeno peppers, fried mushrooms, fried mozzarella, grilled cheese on something called Texas Toast, and French fries).
If you turn off route 54, turn left on E (Missouri appears to prefer letters to numbers for roads), and then take another left onto Main Street, you’ve hit the heart of Auxvasse.
There was one human being in sight and we pulled our car into an empty parking spot yards from his solitude. He checked us (and our license plate) out, as we shuffled about with our usual “We’re here!” and “Where are your shoes?” Finally he called out, “You people look like you’re lost!” No, we just want to eat something. “Is there a place to eat here?” He gave us the one option and said it wasn’t so bad. “Don’t worry, there won’t be any knife fights.” Meanwhile, he was just waiting around because someone stole his truck last night and rammed it into the gas station or something like that.
So, we walked 100 yards to the one option. There isn’t much in Auxvasse, but they do have a bar. And that bar had food. At 2PM on a Wednesday, they also had three women smoking at the bar, two tattooed men playing pool in the back, one bartender/waitress, one cook (?), and in one of the booths, we saw one baby accompanied by four adults who seemed about or less than twenty years old.
Within seven minutes all four of us got called sweetheart and we were served the four choices that the bar afforded (fried jalepeno peppers, fried mushrooms, fried mozzarella, grilled cheese on something called Texas Toast, and French fries).
The heart of Auxvasse
The intersection at AuxvasseWith our bellies full and our brains fully caffeinated, we were ready to keep moving.
It’s flat in Mirrouri, too. On the backroads of 54 and 19 there are miles of four feet tall corn peppered lightly with modern elevators next door to ramshackle barns. Further down the road, it seems there may be more money; glimmering silver silos waiting to harbor the corn. We saw signs for refineries and wondered how the ethanol debate impacts the neighborhood. Or, did we miss the debate? Is it over yet? We wondered.
We passed the first Prius that we’ve seen since Arizona, some great tractor art (some people just lined up their old rusted tractors on the side of their farms), old wagon wheels, and more signs that just have letters – we turned right at Junction Y.
Tractor Art!
It’s flat in Mirrouri, too. On the backroads of 54 and 19 there are miles of four feet tall corn peppered lightly with modern elevators next door to ramshackle barns. Further down the road, it seems there may be more money; glimmering silver silos waiting to harbor the corn. We saw signs for refineries and wondered how the ethanol debate impacts the neighborhood. Or, did we miss the debate? Is it over yet? We wondered.
We passed the first Prius that we’ve seen since Arizona, some great tractor art (some people just lined up their old rusted tractors on the side of their farms), old wagon wheels, and more signs that just have letters – we turned right at Junction Y.
Tractor Art!
Refineries
And more elevators
And awesome signs!
A town we drove through. This was it. We're not even sure if these buildings are still in use?
Just showing you what we saw on the side of the road
Our aim was Hannibal. I should clarify; my aim was Hannibal, the rest of my family was just along for the ride. Hannibal was the childhood home of Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain. My American literature teacher in high school revered Mark Twain so dearly that understanding this devotion and visiting Hannibal became a goal of mine. I knew, as he had explained, that it was quite kitsch. But, I think with our 4 PM arrival, we missed the characters dressed up as Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, and Huckleberry Finn walking around the streets. And so, lacking the ridiculous and in spite of ourselves, we enjoyed walking though Samuel Clemens’ childhood home, exploring the museum (which was very child friendly with a bat in a black plastered spooky cave to boot!), and wandering through the old town next to the Mississippi River (complete with Alex clutching his brand new copy of Tom Sawyer).
A quote found in the Mark Twain home
Samuel Clemens' childhood home - on the right you can see THE fence and then further to the right you can just see the train station running parallel with the Mississippi (just a 2 minute walk)
We missed this boat by 5 minutes!
What the kids (and monkeys) will remember about Hannibal
A quote found in the Mark Twain home
Samuel Clemens' childhood home - on the right you can see THE fence and then further to the right you can just see the train station running parallel with the Mississippi (just a 2 minute walk)
We missed this boat by 5 minutes!
What the kids (and monkeys) will remember about Hannibal
Here is the kitsch I was looking for!
And the monkeys get in on the action (I should tell you that these photos of the CDC monkeys are driving Neil crazy...and so...)But, after the three hours in Hannibal, it was time to go. The town closed down and somehow, the hotels that surrounded the old town were too depressing. We decided to get back on the road and see how far we could drive.
Back in the car!
Back in the car!
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