Over the next three days, we toured a large portion of the heart of America's farmland. It was beautiful, rich in history, and relaxing.
Thursday, June 20: Branson MO to Lee's Summit MO
Today was a little of this and that. No big themes except for a lot of geocaching. And some unusual skies at the end of the day.
We left Branson after seeing a few more bigger-than-life sights and rode into Arkansas. Our first stop was in Omaha. Arkansas' Omaha is considerably smaller than Nebraska's which made it a perfect stop on the States of Confusion Tour.
Many eyes were watching us as we rode the back roads. Turkeys? Chickens? Turkeys I think, but it was hard to tell. However, there were a LOT of them.
As we approached Eureka Springs, pop. 2,073, I was surprised to see signs for a trolley and even more so that the stop numbers appeared to reach into the 80s and higher. What was the need for a tour trolley here?!?
Turns out that Eureka Springs is just about the cutest little Victorian village ever. The village center is in a steep valley, which was probably the center for the springs and baths that put it on the map. These days (since I suspect few people come just to "take the waters"), Eureka Springs hosts a Passion Play (with Holy Land tours that are open year 'round, a buffet, and a petting zoo), a wine country trail, a big barn that has "hoe-downs" and many shops and cafes, -- so plenty of something for everyone.The motels on the outskirts clearly catered to motorcyclists, which made sense because the roads in that areas made for lovely riding. It appeared the trolley makes stops at pretty much every hotel, motel, and restaurant. So the tourists don't need to drive and park, alleviating some of the pressure on traffic in the little village. Certainly a place that would be fun to come back to visit!
There are a number of cute shops. But Jeff stopped for only one -- the big chickens!
Our next stop was the Pea Ridge National Military Park, a nicely maintained but (on that day at least) very underutilized park. Easy to get our photo and take a quick look around before moving on.
The next town along the way was notable for its extraordinarily well-maintained approach, with lush gardens and tidy neighborhoods. The road led us to a small, picture-perfect, almost Disney-esque town square lined with old style shops. One appeared to be a 5 and dime -- oh, wait! Walton's 5 & 10! We were in Bentonville. The nicest little town money can buy!
The (free) museum in the old Walton's was actually pretty interesting. Sam Walton's office, a plaque describing how he went to an IBM seminar to learn how to use his new computer to track inventory, and well...the rest is history.
Leaving the Walmart empire behind, we stopped at an American Legion post in Bella Vista for a Tour of Honor photo and since there was a geocache at the Visitor's Center next door we stopped there too. The Visitor's Center was supposed to have not opened yet for the day, but as happened to us several time on this trip, there was someone there off hours who urged us to come in. We really wanted to just get the geocache, which was outside, but apparently they needed signatures in the guest book to prove the value of the center's existence. So I went inside to sign and found these delightful models.
We stopped for a bit of history about the Neosho, Missouri Doodlebug train crash of 1914 in a cemetery. The parking was dicey so we parked across the road and walked, which in full gear on a steamy day reduced the fun factor. After this I got better about shedding as much gear as possible at every stop! We also made a very brief visit to the George Washington Carver National Monument but it was so horribly hot by now that we didn't linger long. Back on the bike we were much more comfortable since we had the road-breeze streaming through our vented jackets.
This stretch of Missouri looked exactly like what the heartland is supposed to look like!
We turned down a gravel and dirt side road (followed by a security guard for a nearby casino for some reason) to visit this spot marking the intersection of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
While here, I headed into the brush to find a geocache. As I got close to where it thought it was, the brush was so thick I couldn't really see the ground, but it seemed like it was falling away very sharply. So I stopped. Jeff tried a different path, but that proved just as treacherous. Fortunately, all that protective motorcycle garb works in many situations. He reached the geocache after rolling part of the remaining distance.
Then back into Kansas on historic Rt. 66 to Oklahoma.
Before this trip, I had never been to Oklahoma. But I have been now. I've been to the Three Corners and also as far as the welcome sign plus a little further down the road to the Indian Territory marker below. And then we turned and went back to Kansas. Just a toe-dip. Maybe more next time!
We made various other stops in the remaining hours of the day on our way toward Kansas City. One of our last stops was to visit the first geocache placed in Missouri. We followed a running/biking trail through a local stream-side park near sunset, which was just lovely.
We were treated to a very interesting sky as the sunset.
Our hotel for the night was Super 8 in Lee's Summit, Missouri. (Broken clothes rack, no arm chair, no tissues, scant breakfast and truly horrible coffee.) The restaurant choices in the area were limited so I was delighted when my on-line search found "Johnny's Tavern" that had a veggie burger and brussel sprouts, just one exit away. The food was delicious which almost -- but not quite -- offset the misery of the din from the 65 TVs, all set to sports channels. There was no where in the restaurant, bar, or patio where a TV was not blasting at you. We gave up trying to converse in the first three minutes.
Friday, June 21: Lee's Summit MO to Beatrice NE
Jeff had told me the night before he wanted an early start. So I hustled out of bed and packed up. But Jeff seemed to be lollygagging. He mentioned rather offhandedly that there was some weather coming through. He thought we should wait a bit. By time we came back upstairs from breakfast, the sky outside our hotel room window, which had been a little overcast all morning, became truly, startlingly, stunning. But not in a good way. Accuweather was using phrases like “60 miles gusts” and “quarter-size hail.”
After the storm passed, the sky brightened. And then darkened. The second round came through. The cars on the road were throwing so much water into the air that the plumes of spray obscured the vehicles.
And so our morning was spent at the Super 8 in Lee's Summit. After checkout time we relocated to the harshly lit small lobby which was also the breakfast room and sat at one of the six or so tables there. The otherwise rather barren room was enlivened by a brightly colored (lipstick pink? red?) "throne" of a chair (I can't quite recall if was reminiscent of a heart or lips, just that it was startling).
Spending time in the lobby was like sitting on the set of a TV show while the stock characters warmed up to their roles. The manager shouted into the phone about his toilet paper order in a thick accent. A woman -- his wife, an employee? -- leaned on the door frame nearby as if she had seen this scene too many times before. A brassy blond, obviously a regular and perhaps on a sales route, was happy she had few calls to make that day and could sit out the storm; a fact she shared out loud, several times. A young-ish man walked in from the parking lot escorting a woman who was older than the world and so frail it was amazing the air friction didn't knock her over as she tentatively picked her way to a seat. Her voice, however, was tart, snappy, and strong as she repulsed the young man’s efforts to aid her. Small waves of other tourists, delayed as we were, ebbed and flowed through the lobby. A couple of the men came up to inquire about the bike and our trip. Finally, just before noon, the weather cleared, and we were released!
Fort Osage was something of a non-event, although it's place in history is interesting. The center appeared to cater mostly to school groups. We were a bit above the target age.
Then we moved on to Independence Missouri, for the Harry Truman National Park Site and house. We had a bit of a debate about the location. Garmin took us to the Truman Library. I had been to the house before, but had not seen the Library, so notwithstanding that we were at the address for the site identified by the infallible internet as the NPS site, it clearly was not. However, it was exactly the right place to find a Liberty Bell replica and we did.
But, wait! We had just found Missouri's bell in Jefferson City two days earlier. How come Missouri has two? Still trying to get to the bottom of that, but it seems perhaps that the Truman one came direct from the foundry.
After getting our photo, we headed downtown to the Truman house and the NPS Visitors Center. The house was not open for tours, although I'm not sure why. When I was here several years ago during a government shutdown, the Truman farm was not open. I was, however, able to tour the in-town house. As an astute reader may have surmised by now, one of us likes house tours and one would just as soon wait in the parking lot. So, since I had already seen this very modestly furnished but "homey" house, we could both move on without regrets.
Unfortunately, downtown Independence was also the place I noticed my prescription glasses were missing. Without glasses, my long-distance eyesight is just on the boarder of being able to legally drive. Corrected, I meet the minimum needed for distance, but it's not really much different, especially in the daylight. I do however absolutely need reading glasses. Either bifocals or the drugstore readers work for that purpose. Therefore, I don't generally wear glasses for walking around since they make little difference for distance, but on the bike I wear my bifocals so I can both read and see distances. But if I'm not reading, it's pretty easy for me to forget whether I'm wearing glasses or not. Apparently I was not. And hadn't been since the Library. A trip back to the Library and we found them -- in the parking lot and partly twisted out of shape. Oh well. Drugstore magnifiers got me through the rest of the trip.
Independence is also home to the National Frontier Trails Museum. While perusing the gift shop, Jeff directed my attention to a "treasure" he had found. Four of our children (2 apiece) were just old enough to have become adept at computer games in the mid- to late-1990s when the game Oregon Trail was all the rage. I was solemnly assured repeatedly by my then pre-school aged sons, that if ever necessary, they were such good shots that they would be able to hunt all the game needed so that our family would never starve! (If only it were as easy as shooting on a screen!) So, although I had never played Oregon Trail myself, I was able to fully appreciate the tote bag that Jeff had found:
My sons chuckled too when I texted them the photo!
We enjoyed wandering the grounds as well.
In all honesty, Jeff does most of the trip planning. I have input, but then he spends hours massaging the possibilities and creating something do-able. He draws on a huge database of "stuff" that include past rally bonuses, National Parks, geocaches, Road Side America sites, and various other "collections." So, the content is huge and varied. Most of this trip was organized around National Park Service-administered sites that had been selected by the Tour of Honor or that would otherwise count toward the IBA Grand Tour, and Lewis & Clark sites. But occasionally there were surprises like our our next stop.
This was a geocache, and it took us into a lovely neighborhood of high-end homes set among winding, hilly streets. We stopped at the home of Thomas Hart Benton. Sound vaguely familiar? Can you recall why? I couldn't. But we pulled up to his home and wandered into the museum and as soon as I saw his art, I recognized it.
He was an interesting and some what controversial figure who helped define the artistic style that I always associate with WPA projects. I enjoyed getting some more context for that period. As usual, we did not do the house tour. That will have to be on another trip!
Finishing our artistic interlude of the day, we were back on the trail of Lewis & Clark. We stopped at a park with a great view in Kansas City, Missouri, and then crossed the river to Kaw Point, in Kansas City, Kansas, which was the site of one of the encampments, June 26-29, 1804. It is the point at the confluence of Kansas and Missouri Rivers.
We scored some points for our States of Confusion tour by taking photos to prove we had been in Kansas City (Missouri and Nebraska), and North Kansas City, and lastly, Oregon (Missouri).
With our late start, the day was nearing its end. We rode on to Beatrice Nebraska to position ourselves for the next day's adventure.
Inexplicably, many of the hotels here were sold out or extremely high priced relative to quality, so Jeff found what he could. Usually we try to position ourselves so that we can park the bike for the night. check in to the hotel, and then walk to dinner. Late in the day, we play "what's for dinner?" which consists of me trying to find a place that is within walking distance of our lodgings, has vegetarian selections (for me), and "meat and potatoes" or at least nothing terribly exotic (for Jeff), plus beer and wine (for both). With the slim pickings for lodging, walking distance was not an option here (similar to the night before). But after searching the area, I found a place called Risky's. It had only 25 TVs and otherwise met our criteria and was one of the few places that would be open late enough to accommodate our late arrival. So, as we neared the area, we tried to search it out.
We found the address in a highly distressed looking strip mall, but couldn't find Risky's. Just blank storefronts and places that seemed closed. We continued up the road, finding nothing open, and decided to give it one more shot. This time we had a better perspective, and more importantly, someone opened the papered-over door on their way out. So we got off the bike and sure enough a huge space had been carved out of what was probably a former anchor store for this distressed strip mall. It had a large bar, a sort-of diner-like vibe and menu, and a bunch of small children running around and screaming (at 10 p.m.). Jeff expressed appreciation that we were not seated in the daycare section and we got some food. The beer selection was rather dismal.
After dinner, we rode the short distance to our hotel. The hotel had been passed back and forth among different chains. It still had the Super 8 carpeting, but was now branded an America's Best Value. Free WiFi and breakfast. My first impression was that this was a one to two star amenity place, but working hard to exceed expectations. It was reasonably clean although somewhat shabby. The person at the desk was very friendly and helpful. It may have been the owner, and if not, he still acted like someone with a real stake in the business. Parking lot was full but he told us to pull the bike up near the awning.
Saturday, June 22: Beatrice NE to Coralville IA
Unfortunately, check-in was the highlight of America's Best Value. Breakfast was the grimmest we encountered on this trip. No orange juice at all, not even bad OJ. The machine wasn't working. I had a stale Lenders-style bagel, picked from among one or two other white bread options and a mini chocolate chip muffin, which was sickeningly sweet but otherwise tasteless. (I thought it was blueberry when I picked it up). Options I skipped were the cereal from a dispenser that looked like it’s never been cleaned and waffles from a container of batter sitting in the fridge, which given everything else, I didn’t trust to be fresh. Coffee like water. Oh well. It was one night and we'll never go back.
Our first stop of the day was the Homestead National Monument. This was NPS at its finest. The approach to the visitor's center immediately engaged you with the enormity of the homesteading program and its impact on the country. The exhibits addressed day-to-day life as well as the historical scope. We by-passed the opportunity to walk an acre as if plowing furrows, but I was completely entranced by the concept. If I ever have grandchildren, I'm bringing them here.
We encountered more closed roads, but this time for a small town's parade. We passed back through Beatrice and then moved on north.
Lincoln Nebraska, is home to Nebraska's Liberty Bell replica. Practical Midwesterners, the Nebraskans did not paint a fake crack on their perfectly solid bell.
Antelope Park, where the bell is located, housed a number of other memorials. We photographed a monument placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution honoring soldiers of major U.S. wars. Since the statue was erected in 1937, WWI was the last memorialized there.
Wandering around to the far side of the park, we discovered another of the new Gold Star Family memorials. We've seen these before, but although the shape and themes are the same, the etched images distinguishes each of them. Lincoln Nebraska's is below.
As usual, we encountered all sorts of quirky stuff on our travels, some intentional and some not.
From a public perspective, it would have been more appropriate for Gordon MacRae to have been buried in OOOOOOklahoma! But his career was larger than that.
From Lincoln we continued on to Omaha. We did a drive-by of the very expansive Wagons Ho! sculpture in Courage Park (neither our pictures or video did it justice; it must be seen in person), and then headed down to the Lewis & Clark Landing. This area housed the NPS Midwest Regional Office and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Headquarters and Visitor Center, a sculpture honoring labor, and a number of historical markers. Flooding had closed part of the waterfront to pedestrians, but there was a large elevated park area that we walked through after stopping at the visitors center.
Lewis & Clark Landing is on the west bank of the Missouri River. Council Bluffs, Iowa faces it on the east side. That was our next stop. The bluffs provided a sweeping view of the river, and a birds' eye perspective of the extent of the flooding.
The next L&C memorial marks the first council the expedition held with Native Americans.
From here we dove into the heart of Iowa. We traveled parts of Route 30, the Lincoln Highway. At this point in our journey, we had begun moving back toward the east, although not without a significant northern loop to come. But for tonight, our destination was Coralville Iowa, which meant we had about 3/4 of the state yet to cover. Onward!
While I tend to include pastoral landscapes in my narrative, we passed through many cities and towns too. Just a short way down Iowa Route 30 we passed through Missouri Valley, Iowa which looked like the quintessential mid-American town. A town with several angry eagles, that is. But it qualified as another bonus for the States of Confusion tour.
Of course, Iowa is known for corn. And corn products. And subsidies for corn products. Hence 85% ethanol. No question I was in Iowa!
(For the record, I'm all for biofuels, but ones with lower adverse impacts on land and food.)
Happily, Iowa grows wind too.
Iowa can brew up some nasty weather as well. Fortunately, we missed most of this.
A brief stop in Des Moines gave us both another Liberty Bell and a glimpse of the lovely State Capitol building and the building that houses its Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. A Statue of Liberty was an unexpected bonus.
Then, after a brief visit to Delaware Township (States of Confusion), it was on to Coralville for dinner at Casa Azul. We scored a table on the patio, just feet from the bike, and enjoyed a nice dinner before cruising a bit further down the street to our Super 8 for the night. This Super 8 was a bit fancier than most. The next morning we were able to do a load of laundry before/during/after breakfast. (Second laundry re-fresh of the trip.)
The northern loop was soon to begin.
Thursday, June 20: Branson MO to Lee's Summit MO
Today was a little of this and that. No big themes except for a lot of geocaching. And some unusual skies at the end of the day.
We left Branson after seeing a few more bigger-than-life sights and rode into Arkansas. Our first stop was in Omaha. Arkansas' Omaha is considerably smaller than Nebraska's which made it a perfect stop on the States of Confusion Tour.
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| One of many poultry farms |
As we approached Eureka Springs, pop. 2,073, I was surprised to see signs for a trolley and even more so that the stop numbers appeared to reach into the 80s and higher. What was the need for a tour trolley here?!?
Turns out that Eureka Springs is just about the cutest little Victorian village ever. The village center is in a steep valley, which was probably the center for the springs and baths that put it on the map. These days (since I suspect few people come just to "take the waters"), Eureka Springs hosts a Passion Play (with Holy Land tours that are open year 'round, a buffet, and a petting zoo), a wine country trail, a big barn that has "hoe-downs" and many shops and cafes, -- so plenty of something for everyone.The motels on the outskirts clearly catered to motorcyclists, which made sense because the roads in that areas made for lovely riding. It appeared the trolley makes stops at pretty much every hotel, motel, and restaurant. So the tourists don't need to drive and park, alleviating some of the pressure on traffic in the little village. Certainly a place that would be fun to come back to visit!
There are a number of cute shops. But Jeff stopped for only one -- the big chickens!
Our next stop was the Pea Ridge National Military Park, a nicely maintained but (on that day at least) very underutilized park. Easy to get our photo and take a quick look around before moving on.
The next town along the way was notable for its extraordinarily well-maintained approach, with lush gardens and tidy neighborhoods. The road led us to a small, picture-perfect, almost Disney-esque town square lined with old style shops. One appeared to be a 5 and dime -- oh, wait! Walton's 5 & 10! We were in Bentonville. The nicest little town money can buy!
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| I seldom see hay rolls and sidewalks at the same time. But, I was in Bentonville! |
Leaving the Walmart empire behind, we stopped at an American Legion post in Bella Vista for a Tour of Honor photo and since there was a geocache at the Visitor's Center next door we stopped there too. The Visitor's Center was supposed to have not opened yet for the day, but as happened to us several time on this trip, there was someone there off hours who urged us to come in. We really wanted to just get the geocache, which was outside, but apparently they needed signatures in the guest book to prove the value of the center's existence. So I went inside to sign and found these delightful models.
This stretch of Missouri looked exactly like what the heartland is supposed to look like!
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| Missouri. No sidewalks near this hay field. |
We turned down a gravel and dirt side road (followed by a security guard for a nearby casino for some reason) to visit this spot marking the intersection of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
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| A three corners monument now, sadly, missing its plaques. |
While here, I headed into the brush to find a geocache. As I got close to where it thought it was, the brush was so thick I couldn't really see the ground, but it seemed like it was falling away very sharply. So I stopped. Jeff tried a different path, but that proved just as treacherous. Fortunately, all that protective motorcycle garb works in many situations. He reached the geocache after rolling part of the remaining distance.
Then back into Kansas on historic Rt. 66 to Oklahoma.Before this trip, I had never been to Oklahoma. But I have been now. I've been to the Three Corners and also as far as the welcome sign plus a little further down the road to the Indian Territory marker below. And then we turned and went back to Kansas. Just a toe-dip. Maybe more next time!
We made various other stops in the remaining hours of the day on our way toward Kansas City. One of our last stops was to visit the first geocache placed in Missouri. We followed a running/biking trail through a local stream-side park near sunset, which was just lovely.
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| Out for dinner |
We were treated to a very interesting sky as the sunset.
 |
Our hotel for the night was Super 8 in Lee's Summit, Missouri. (Broken clothes rack, no arm chair, no tissues, scant breakfast and truly horrible coffee.) The restaurant choices in the area were limited so I was delighted when my on-line search found "Johnny's Tavern" that had a veggie burger and brussel sprouts, just one exit away. The food was delicious which almost -- but not quite -- offset the misery of the din from the 65 TVs, all set to sports channels. There was no where in the restaurant, bar, or patio where a TV was not blasting at you. We gave up trying to converse in the first three minutes.
Friday, June 21: Lee's Summit MO to Beatrice NE
Jeff had told me the night before he wanted an early start. So I hustled out of bed and packed up. But Jeff seemed to be lollygagging. He mentioned rather offhandedly that there was some weather coming through. He thought we should wait a bit. By time we came back upstairs from breakfast, the sky outside our hotel room window, which had been a little overcast all morning, became truly, startlingly, stunning. But not in a good way. Accuweather was using phrases like “60 miles gusts” and “quarter-size hail.”
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| Before the first onset. |
After the storm passed, the sky brightened. And then darkened. The second round came through. The cars on the road were throwing so much water into the air that the plumes of spray obscured the vehicles.
And so our morning was spent at the Super 8 in Lee's Summit. After checkout time we relocated to the harshly lit small lobby which was also the breakfast room and sat at one of the six or so tables there. The otherwise rather barren room was enlivened by a brightly colored (lipstick pink? red?) "throne" of a chair (I can't quite recall if was reminiscent of a heart or lips, just that it was startling).
Spending time in the lobby was like sitting on the set of a TV show while the stock characters warmed up to their roles. The manager shouted into the phone about his toilet paper order in a thick accent. A woman -- his wife, an employee? -- leaned on the door frame nearby as if she had seen this scene too many times before. A brassy blond, obviously a regular and perhaps on a sales route, was happy she had few calls to make that day and could sit out the storm; a fact she shared out loud, several times. A young-ish man walked in from the parking lot escorting a woman who was older than the world and so frail it was amazing the air friction didn't knock her over as she tentatively picked her way to a seat. Her voice, however, was tart, snappy, and strong as she repulsed the young man’s efforts to aid her. Small waves of other tourists, delayed as we were, ebbed and flowed through the lobby. A couple of the men came up to inquire about the bike and our trip. Finally, just before noon, the weather cleared, and we were released!
Fort Osage was something of a non-event, although it's place in history is interesting. The center appeared to cater mostly to school groups. We were a bit above the target age.
Then we moved on to Independence Missouri, for the Harry Truman National Park Site and house. We had a bit of a debate about the location. Garmin took us to the Truman Library. I had been to the house before, but had not seen the Library, so notwithstanding that we were at the address for the site identified by the infallible internet as the NPS site, it clearly was not. However, it was exactly the right place to find a Liberty Bell replica and we did.
But, wait! We had just found Missouri's bell in Jefferson City two days earlier. How come Missouri has two? Still trying to get to the bottom of that, but it seems perhaps that the Truman one came direct from the foundry.
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| Fake crack |
After getting our photo, we headed downtown to the Truman house and the NPS Visitors Center. The house was not open for tours, although I'm not sure why. When I was here several years ago during a government shutdown, the Truman farm was not open. I was, however, able to tour the in-town house. As an astute reader may have surmised by now, one of us likes house tours and one would just as soon wait in the parking lot. So, since I had already seen this very modestly furnished but "homey" house, we could both move on without regrets.
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| The Truman House |
Unfortunately, downtown Independence was also the place I noticed my prescription glasses were missing. Without glasses, my long-distance eyesight is just on the boarder of being able to legally drive. Corrected, I meet the minimum needed for distance, but it's not really much different, especially in the daylight. I do however absolutely need reading glasses. Either bifocals or the drugstore readers work for that purpose. Therefore, I don't generally wear glasses for walking around since they make little difference for distance, but on the bike I wear my bifocals so I can both read and see distances. But if I'm not reading, it's pretty easy for me to forget whether I'm wearing glasses or not. Apparently I was not. And hadn't been since the Library. A trip back to the Library and we found them -- in the parking lot and partly twisted out of shape. Oh well. Drugstore magnifiers got me through the rest of the trip.
Independence is also home to the National Frontier Trails Museum. While perusing the gift shop, Jeff directed my attention to a "treasure" he had found. Four of our children (2 apiece) were just old enough to have become adept at computer games in the mid- to late-1990s when the game Oregon Trail was all the rage. I was solemnly assured repeatedly by my then pre-school aged sons, that if ever necessary, they were such good shots that they would be able to hunt all the game needed so that our family would never starve! (If only it were as easy as shooting on a screen!) So, although I had never played Oregon Trail myself, I was able to fully appreciate the tote bag that Jeff had found:
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| An common Oregon Trail fate, at least on-line. |
We enjoyed wandering the grounds as well.
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| National Frontier Trail Museum |
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| National Frontier Trail Museum |
In all honesty, Jeff does most of the trip planning. I have input, but then he spends hours massaging the possibilities and creating something do-able. He draws on a huge database of "stuff" that include past rally bonuses, National Parks, geocaches, Road Side America sites, and various other "collections." So, the content is huge and varied. Most of this trip was organized around National Park Service-administered sites that had been selected by the Tour of Honor or that would otherwise count toward the IBA Grand Tour, and Lewis & Clark sites. But occasionally there were surprises like our our next stop.
This was a geocache, and it took us into a lovely neighborhood of high-end homes set among winding, hilly streets. We stopped at the home of Thomas Hart Benton. Sound vaguely familiar? Can you recall why? I couldn't. But we pulled up to his home and wandered into the museum and as soon as I saw his art, I recognized it.
He was an interesting and some what controversial figure who helped define the artistic style that I always associate with WPA projects. I enjoyed getting some more context for that period. As usual, we did not do the house tour. That will have to be on another trip!
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| In Kansas City, Missouri |
We scored some points for our States of Confusion tour by taking photos to prove we had been in Kansas City (Missouri and Nebraska), and North Kansas City, and lastly, Oregon (Missouri).
With our late start, the day was nearing its end. We rode on to Beatrice Nebraska to position ourselves for the next day's adventure.
Inexplicably, many of the hotels here were sold out or extremely high priced relative to quality, so Jeff found what he could. Usually we try to position ourselves so that we can park the bike for the night. check in to the hotel, and then walk to dinner. Late in the day, we play "what's for dinner?" which consists of me trying to find a place that is within walking distance of our lodgings, has vegetarian selections (for me), and "meat and potatoes" or at least nothing terribly exotic (for Jeff), plus beer and wine (for both). With the slim pickings for lodging, walking distance was not an option here (similar to the night before). But after searching the area, I found a place called Risky's. It had only 25 TVs and otherwise met our criteria and was one of the few places that would be open late enough to accommodate our late arrival. So, as we neared the area, we tried to search it out.
We found the address in a highly distressed looking strip mall, but couldn't find Risky's. Just blank storefronts and places that seemed closed. We continued up the road, finding nothing open, and decided to give it one more shot. This time we had a better perspective, and more importantly, someone opened the papered-over door on their way out. So we got off the bike and sure enough a huge space had been carved out of what was probably a former anchor store for this distressed strip mall. It had a large bar, a sort-of diner-like vibe and menu, and a bunch of small children running around and screaming (at 10 p.m.). Jeff expressed appreciation that we were not seated in the daycare section and we got some food. The beer selection was rather dismal.
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| To the right -- not Risky's. The part that looks like a signboard? The main entrance! |
After dinner, we rode the short distance to our hotel. The hotel had been passed back and forth among different chains. It still had the Super 8 carpeting, but was now branded an America's Best Value. Free WiFi and breakfast. My first impression was that this was a one to two star amenity place, but working hard to exceed expectations. It was reasonably clean although somewhat shabby. The person at the desk was very friendly and helpful. It may have been the owner, and if not, he still acted like someone with a real stake in the business. Parking lot was full but he told us to pull the bike up near the awning.Saturday, June 22: Beatrice NE to Coralville IA
Unfortunately, check-in was the highlight of America's Best Value. Breakfast was the grimmest we encountered on this trip. No orange juice at all, not even bad OJ. The machine wasn't working. I had a stale Lenders-style bagel, picked from among one or two other white bread options and a mini chocolate chip muffin, which was sickeningly sweet but otherwise tasteless. (I thought it was blueberry when I picked it up). Options I skipped were the cereal from a dispenser that looked like it’s never been cleaned and waffles from a container of batter sitting in the fridge, which given everything else, I didn’t trust to be fresh. Coffee like water. Oh well. It was one night and we'll never go back.
Our first stop of the day was the Homestead National Monument. This was NPS at its finest. The approach to the visitor's center immediately engaged you with the enormity of the homesteading program and its impact on the country. The exhibits addressed day-to-day life as well as the historical scope. We by-passed the opportunity to walk an acre as if plowing furrows, but I was completely entranced by the concept. If I ever have grandchildren, I'm bringing them here.
We encountered more closed roads, but this time for a small town's parade. We passed back through Beatrice and then moved on north.
Antelope Park, where the bell is located, housed a number of other memorials. We photographed a monument placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution honoring soldiers of major U.S. wars. Since the statue was erected in 1937, WWI was the last memorialized there.
Wandering around to the far side of the park, we discovered another of the new Gold Star Family memorials. We've seen these before, but although the shape and themes are the same, the etched images distinguishes each of them. Lincoln Nebraska's is below.
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As usual, we encountered all sorts of quirky stuff on our travels, some intentional and some not.From a public perspective, it would have been more appropriate for Gordon MacRae to have been buried in OOOOOOklahoma! But his career was larger than that.
From Lincoln we continued on to Omaha. We did a drive-by of the very expansive Wagons Ho! sculpture in Courage Park (neither our pictures or video did it justice; it must be seen in person), and then headed down to the Lewis & Clark Landing. This area housed the NPS Midwest Regional Office and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Headquarters and Visitor Center, a sculpture honoring labor, and a number of historical markers. Flooding had closed part of the waterfront to pedestrians, but there was a large elevated park area that we walked through after stopping at the visitors center.
Lewis & Clark Landing is on the west bank of the Missouri River. Council Bluffs, Iowa faces it on the east side. That was our next stop. The bluffs provided a sweeping view of the river, and a birds' eye perspective of the extent of the flooding.
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| Lewis & Clark Park, outside Council Bluffs Iowa |
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| Looking across the Missouri River and Eppley Field, toward Omaha |
The next L&C memorial marks the first council the expedition held with Native Americans.
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| Depiction of "First Council." Seaman takes center stage. |
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| Hark! The spaceman approacheth! |
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| Moonshine or fuel? |
Of course, Iowa is known for corn. And corn products. And subsidies for corn products. Hence 85% ethanol. No question I was in Iowa!
(For the record, I'm all for biofuels, but ones with lower adverse impacts on land and food.)
Happily, Iowa grows wind too.
Iowa can brew up some nasty weather as well. Fortunately, we missed most of this.
A brief stop in Des Moines gave us both another Liberty Bell and a glimpse of the lovely State Capitol building and the building that houses its Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. A Statue of Liberty was an unexpected bonus.
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| The State Capitol and the Liberty Bell |
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| The Court Building |
The northern loop was soon to begin.
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