Roadside Attractions

Prairie Dog State Park, Norton, Kansas

 

Today was all about the kitschy roadside attractions. What else is there to do in Western Kansas?

First stop, Cawker City for the world's largest ball of twine. This is just about the only thing in this ghost town. Most of the downtown is empty. I did enjoy the mannequin demonstration in one of the windows. Cawker City got its name when 4 men played poker. Whoever won got the city named after them.

Kudos to the nostalgic gas station in town too.

 

 

We also had to make a stop at the Geographic Center of the Continental US.

 

 

 

There's also a picnic area, tiny chapel (seats 6) and some displays. Inside the chapel is where the guest registry is.

Ned waxing eloquent about a woman who lives very close to this point. She used to get harassed daily by ambulances, fire trucks and other assorted emergency vehicles. Turns out some techie years ago made her address the default location for 911 calls where the address is unassigned. She finally got that figured out and they don't come calling anymore. Pretty good story considering there is not much around here! Thanks Preacher Ned for always keeping me entertained.

 

 

As we drove thru Western Kansas it seems like every farmer was harvesting wheat today. Do they get a memo? How does that work out? I mean seriously, for 200 miles they were all harvesting wheat! Our guesses were - storm is on the way (mmm, 100 degrees and no clouds in sky), longest day of the year or something to do with the moisture content. Anybody want to enlighten us?

 

 

We pulled into Prairie Dog State Park about 4. The temperature reading was 107 in the shade! We couldn't wait to jump in the lake and just float until the sun went down.

Uh-oh. Beach closed. Blue-green algae bloom. Supposedly every lake in Kansas has it this time of year. Good thing we survived yesterday. We looked over our maps, google, etc. and there is nothing within 2 hours of here. Guess this is it for the night! There is not a soul in sight. Everyone is inside their air-conditioned 5th wheels and big RV's. Guess we'll just settle for hosing each other down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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St. Joe - From News Rooms to Mental Institutions

Milford State Park, KS

Traveling through St. Joseph, MO we stopped by the Walter Cronkite Memorial housed in the very non-descript Western Missouri State College. What a great exhibit, more like a museum exhibition.

We learned so much about Mr. Cronkite. Some favorite facts: he received 11 Emmy's for his different broadcasts and he was good friends with several astronauts. You can watch all his major broadcasts thru interactive exhibits. Some things never change. Spiro Agnew blasted him and the TV media saying, "their views do not, I repeat, do not represent those of America." Mmm...sounds vaguely familiar to someone else I know in office today.

We loved playing at his desk and being filmed on TV. We also got souvenir photos of us doing a broadcast to take home.

 

A few miles down the street are the St. Joseph Museums. They are housed in a former Mental Institution that butts up to a penitentiary. Sounds weird, right? After visiting, I can attest to the fact that it is super weird, if not very discomforting. The Glore Museum is about the history of treatment for the mentally ill. I think Dr. Glore's intention was to bring awareness to mental illness, and kudos to him for that, but my experience was that I was just super, super creeped out.

These rooms illustrated, in great detail, the following "cures" - lobotomies, hydrotherapy, electric shock, colonic irrigation, and heat therapy for curing syphills. And these were the modern era treatments.

 

How about an art exhibit made from the thousand objects (nails, safety pins, buttons, needles) that some poor woman ate?

 

 

There was also a room of 17th & 18th Century treatments such as burning at the stake, surprising the patient out of mental illness by dropping him in a cold bath and locking him in a treadmill. Trust me, I'm not going to even show the coffin like boxes and strapping devices.

And then there was the "Secret Room". There was a disclaimer before you entered that this probably wasn't appropriate for minors. (Like you'd take a minor to any of this other stuff???). In the Secret Room lots and lots of people wrote their hidden secrets and they were on display! (Murder, incest, rape, torture...) All righty then. We only did the one floor of this exhibit too.

We decided to go visit the other museums housed in the mental institution. What could possibly go wrong?

 

I don't care how great an exhibit is, it's not going to do it justice if it's housed in mental patient rooms. Even tho we toured the American Indian Exhibit, The African American Exhibit, a doll collection and Missouri's greatest musical artists, it still just felt depressing. Seriously, the exhibits were inside tiny patient rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one bright star were some photographs taken from the late 1840's to the turn of last century. I really enjoyed the clarity and beauty in the faces of these people.

 

 

 

 

X-ray one way, lab work another? Nope, The Black Archives one way and the American Indian Exhibit another. So weird...

 

 

Walking out of this bleak place and into the sunlight didn't make us feel any better. We were parked alongside the barbed wire fence of the prison. We looked at each other and decided to go find some sunshine and happiness.

Be careful what you wish for. The temperature hit over 100 and the sun was beating down. All we wanted was to get to our campground and do some soaking in a Kansas lake.

When we finally reached the campground, at about 4, it wasn't what we were expecting. Most state parks have "no alcohol" signs. This one had a "no keg" sign. There were hundreds of 5th wheels just parked helter shelter all over the place, lots of big white tents set up, a humongous stage, and a fenced off area saying, "vendor parking." Turns out it's the Kicker Country Stampede! A three day country music and camping festival. Uh...no thanks. Time to find a plan B. As we were driving along we spotted these cows. I was kinda envious of their soaking action going on.

 

We took our chances about 45 miles down the road at another State Park. Sweet!!! Hardly anyone here and we got a campsite and private beach to ourselves.

Those cows got nothing on us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Exploring Missouri

Long Branch State Park, MO

We reluctantly left Johnson Shut-Ins State Park and said our goodbyes to the family. One of the highlights of my year is meeting up with my big bro, nephew and their families. Thanks everyone for a great family get together. Can't wait for next year!

Ned and I, riding solo once again, took the slow route thru the Ozarks of Missouri. We stumbled upon this mill and spent an hour or so exploring it and the grounds. The park ranger even cranked open the turbine, causing the main shaft and all the attached pulleys and leather belts to come to life. She was really knowledgeable on the workings of a grist mill. We just love mills and never get tired of seeing them.

Do you love the sign on the grounds regarding the cemetery? Old...indeed.

 

 

We drove thru many sleepy little towns, but particularly loved this one, Steelville. Their motto is "Floating capital of MIssouri".

We took that to mean ice cream floats.

The fountain service inside this sweet little place was original. The ice cream was handmade too with some wacky flavors like jalapeño crisp, baklava and Texas Surprise (chocolate covered bacon). We opted for the vanilla brownie. Boring, I know.

 

Late afternoon we finally made it to the Capitol of Missouri, Jefferson City. What an awesome place! We loved the laid back feel of this city situated on the Missouri River as well as the Lewis and Clark history.

The historic Jefferson Landing area and grounds around the Capitol were so beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight we are camped at Long Branch State Park north of Jefferson City. We snagged a campsite overlooking the lake. The water is warm and we seriously contemplated going in for a swim. We opted for drinks on the veranda instead.

By drinks I mean ginger beer and club soda. We stayed up til 1 am last night talking with Marc around the campfire. There was some mighty fine bourbon being shared so I'm taking it easy tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hiking, Biking & Swimming

Johnson Shut-Ins State Park, MO

One of the best things about camping with my big bro is that he's a master chef. Smoking meat, grilling or making a batch of fresh blueberry pancakes, he's the man.

We woke up this morning, moseyed on over to the his campsite and were greeted with blueberry pancakes. Okay. I'll bite...

 

 

 

 

 

We're about 20 minutes away from Elephant Rock State Park. We spent the morning hiking around the place. Loved the cool trails, squeezing between rocks, climbing over boulders and great views.

Elephant Rocks is actually an abandoned quarry. Some of the granite mined here was used to build the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City and the Budweiser building in St. Louis. We also read that some of it was used for building as far away as San Francisco.

 

 

 

The kids really enjoyed looking at little holes in the rocks. Cool things were swimming around in there!

The last picture is an old ruins of an engine house. This is where a train engine was stored that hauled all the granite.

 

 

 

We spent the afternoon swimming and floating in the river.

 

 

 

 

Marc, grilling up burgers on his tripod grill.

Oh yeah...

 

 

 

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Summer Time Family Fun

Johnson Shut-Ins State Park, MO

 

Some of us jumped on bikes this morning and went in search of the shut-ins.

The shut-ins are a series of waterfalls and whirlpools that flow into several larger swimming holes.

It took us a bike ride and a short hike to reach them.

It sure was great fun riding bikes with my big bro. Just like when we were kids.

 

 

 

Here's just a couple of the falls. We had a blast walking or swimming from fall to fall.

 

 

 

 

It's hard to capture a wide shot of all the shut-ins. They span at least several football fields. When we first arrived this morning there were just a few people. By late this afternoon there were hundreds.

Fortunately, the river absorbed the crowd pretty well. This is the second best river next to our own South Yuba River.

 

 

 

We spent the entire day playing in the water. I loved playing with Shelby, a darling 5 year old. She was my little buddy for most of the day.

Marc, Sheila, Matt, Kerry and Owen hanging in the water.

 

 

 

Tonight was s'mores, campfires and glow sticks. Summer time indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Meeting Up in Missouri

Johnson Shut-Ins State Park, MO

 

 

We're in Tupelo, Mississippi, birthplace of Elvis! How could we not stop and visit his boyhood home? We wandered around the grounds, saw the outside of his house, a statue of Elvis at 13, a car like the one his family drove to Memphis (although there's some discussion as to whether it was a 1937 or 1939 Plymouth), and a chapel that was closed for repairs. We opted out of visiting the gift shop and museum.

Elvis lives --- in all our hearts.

Tupelo is also famous for a car museum. It did not disappoint! There were over 100 cars and had everything from a 19th century steam-powered Benz to cars owned by Elvis and Liberace.

Ned looking at the steam-powered car.

Ned's favorite, a swanky tool chest built into the trunk of a 1948 Jaguar

A replica gas station

A 1946 milk truck, electric powered!

A 1929 Cord L-29

A Ford Woody

A 1921 Wasp, only 14 made

 

 

We're meeting up with family today in Missouri. On the way we're driving thru Memphis. Better stop and get us some "cue". We picked this rather modest little place. Pretty unassuming on the outside and very smoky inside. Think we found our spot.

We both had the chopped pork plate that came with very mustardy cole slaw, spicy beans and instead of the ubiquitous 2 pieces of white bread we got a hamburger bun. The beans were my fave! (Not so much the cole slaw).

Turns out Payne's is pretty famous and listed as one of the best BBQ places in Memphis.

 

We finally reached Johnson Shut-Ins State Park and met up with family and friends. We have 3 campsites with 6 kids, 8 adults and a dog. The kids played hopscotch, four square, skirt guns and we all rode bikes. And of course, lots of stories around the campfire.

Earlier this year while camping with Josh we had fun playing with the slow shutter speed on the camera while writing in the air with flashlights. We had fun doing it tonight with the kids. They were all given glow sticks and Ned filmed them going crazy with the light. We got psychedelic effects. Good times. And tonight is only Day 1. We have the whole weekend ahead of us. Goodness only knows what shenanigans we'll get into.

 

 

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Timberrrrrrrr

kTombigbee State Park, Tupelo, MS

 

One of the bright sides of pulling into a campground late at night is discovering what it really looks like in the morning. We did a bike ride around and just loved this little gem. Lots of campsites right on the water! We saw several rafts and floaties so assumed this was a good swimming lake too. (You never know which lakes the gators are in!). As we checked out of the site we asked the park host, so is it okay to swim. "Sure" she said. We followed up with, "and there are no gators?" She waited a second too long before answering, then laughed and said, "Well...". Ya, just sayin'.

 

We had a long haul across Georgia, Alabama and then into Mississippi today. Our big outing was going to visit Natural Bridge. It's touted as the longest arch rock east of the Rockies. Who could pass that up?

We were ready to stretch our legs and take in this natural wonder, along with the artesian well, Indian head and mile nature walk.

There's a sweet little garden in front of the gift shop. It all looked very promising, but what really caught our eye was the HUGE tree that was ready to be felled.

There was a 100 ft pine tree that the owner wanted taken down for safety reasons. Well, forget about the Natural Bridge, this was so much more interesting. We hung out for a good hour or so watching them try to figure it out. At one point there were three trucks hooked up to ropes pulling on it!

The owner, David, has quite the personality. He was so concerned about everyone's safety and terrified that his gift shop was going to be taken out. He hung out with us and we learned a lot about the local history, his family and Southern accents. If all this drama wasn't enough, the skies opened up and just POURED just as the tree was getting ready to fall.

 

 

 

The picture on the left is one of the workers scaling the tree to readjust a rope. This was AFTER all the cuts had been made.

The picture on the right is the tree falling...timber!!!

It was quite the scene.

 

In the pouring rain we decided, what the heck, let's go check out this natural bridge. We took umbrellas and I did the 100 yard walk in my flip flops. It was very wet. So wet that we decided to forego the mystery carved Indian head, didn't take the nature trail and never drank from the artesian well. We paid $3.50 to see the natural bridge, but the real bargain was watching that tree being felled. And that was free!

 

 

Thanks David and Natural Bridge for a very entertaining afternoon and a much needed break.

We enjoyed your hospitality.

 

We were appreciating the rain and the cooling effect on the temperature. Winnie's A/C went out earlier today just when the temperature hit 90 degrees with 63% humidity. Ugh. We were expecting it, but nevertheless...As we pulled into Hamilton, we asked around and were pointed in the direction of Brock's repair job. A very humble establishment, but a super nice guy. He gave Winnie a freon charge and $26 and half an hour later we were on our way. I also had a good time playing with the little kid in the auto shop. His name was CJ and he kept "shooting" at me with a 1980's circuit board with knobs on it. Good times.

Tonight we are camped at a small campground, only about 20 sites. The weather had cleared by the time we arrived. In talking with our fellow campers we found out the electricity was out most of the day due to the thunderstorm. Lucky us, dry weather and everything works.

Looking forward to getting caught up on some sleep. We have another long day tomorrow, but never fear I got some fun activities planned!

 

 

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