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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Back in the USA...Just in the knick of time

Allatoona Lake, Sweetwater Campground, GA

 

We had an early afternoon flight so thought it would be good to stretch our legs while we had the chance. We stumbled upon a great indoor mercado that had just about everything you could imagine in it. All kinds of foods from meat, fish, cheese, produce, dried herbs, baked goods and cooked meals. There was also fashion items, shoes, watches, jewelery, electronics, etc. So fun to see all the colors and everything beautifully displayed. Sure beats our indoor shopping malls. Kudos to Costa Rica for doing it right.

 

We also enjoyed walking around the town square and doing some people watching. I especially loved the sweet old ladies eating ice cream at 9 o'clock in the morning. They're my role model. Is it too early to start this ritual at almost 60??

 

 

A delicious breakfast was offered at our little hotel. We sat in the courtyard and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Breakfast was yogurt with granola and some of the best flavored pineapple, banana, papaya and watermelon we ever tasted. Dang, sure makes a difference when it's harvested ripe! We also got made to order omelettes. Spinach and cheese for me, tomato and cheese for Ned. We enjoyed talking with the other hotel guests. Great way to spend our last day here.

Thanks Costa Rica for great memories, great hospitality and wonderful food. We are definitely coming back and spending more time!

 

 

 

The airport was literally 5 minutes away. We had plenty of time to shop and get rid of our last colones. We naturally migrated to the great big fake cocoa tree knowing that there would be lots of Costa Rican chocolate nearby.

That Ned, always smiling, especially when there's chocolate around.

 

Our plane was delayed, but we sailed thru customs in record time. And here's Winnie waiting so patiently for us. So good to be back in the saddle again! Bikes were good, air conditioning works and she fired right up and was raring to go. (Notice how light it is at 9 pm? How different from the 6 pm night sky we got used to).

Our biggest challenge was getting to this evening's campsite before 10:30 when the gates are locked. Why this campground? It has a washer and dryer available. All our clothes are a bit damp from all the humidity in Costa Rica. There isn't a dry item in our bag and everything kinda reeks. We are meeting up with family on Friday and have two six hour driving days to get there and not much time to fit in doing laundry. Yeah, a bit of a push, but well worth the extra days we stayed in Costa Rica. We made into the campground with 10 minutes to spare! Whew. Doing laundry now, close to midnight, as I type up my blog. Long day indeed...

 

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