July 31, 2006

July 31, 2006

Well today we had some real excitement on our Big Adventure, but I am getting ahead of myself. Our RV Park is just off downtown Independence. Our first stop is only a couple blocks away at the National Frontier Trails Museum. This is a museum about the trails pioneers followed to “go west”. Independence, MO being on the western edge of civilization was a common starting point for many pioneers. The Santa Fe was one of the earliest trails and was mainly a trade route established for commerce between the isolated Mexican town of Santa Fe and the US. The Oregon and California trails were one-way routes for settlers to make their fortunes in the west coast. The majority of the museum is about what the pioneers saw and experienced along the trail. It is interesting and I would have liked to stay longer but Aimee is getting museum-ed out.

Next to the parking lot of the trails museum I spy a restored train station with the name Chicago&Alton Railroad. Since I was born in Alton and lived in Chicago, I have Aimee take my pic in front of it. As we open the door of the depot, we are greeted by an attendant that asks if we would like a tour. Aimee and I agree expecting a quick show around the small station. It turns out to be an hour long. Although we initially felt trapped by this enthusiastic host, the tour does get interesting as we progress around the depot. The local preservation society did a great job saving, restoring and outfitting the station with authenticity.

Our second stop is across the street at the Bingham-Waggoner Estate. We only stop because the RV park owner recommended it. Bingham was a very famous pioneer artist and was an owner of the house for a short time in the 1880’s. However, it was the wealthy Waggoner family that expanded it to its mansion size and lived in it the longest. I have seen a lot of old mansions. This one’s notoriety is that the final Waggoner owner was a childless, wifeless, elderly packrat; so when he died he left the mansion still decorated and furnished as it had been by his mother at the turn of the century.

To get out of the area, we have to drive thru downtown Independence. As we do, we notice an unusual church. It is a very large spikey structure that looks like a cross between a circus tent and a witch’s hat. I am not familiar with this Community of Christ religious organization that it belongs to. Next door is a large auditorium and a Mormon Visitors Center. Being hot, tired and hungry, we don’t stop to look but I make a mental note to google these when we have an Internet connection again. We also pass on seeing Harry Truman’s home and Presidential library, also in downtown Independence. They will have to wait until our next trip through town. Instead we head back to the interstate; stopping at a pizza buffet along the way.

Further east on I70, we veer north ten miles to the restored site of Fort Osage. Fort Osage was a fort established on the banks of the Missouri river after the Lewis and Clark expedition to protect traders plying the Missouri. The tourist office is closed for some reason so we make a quick tour and get back on the road.

We head east a short ways down the Missouri river to the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site. Unbeknownst to me, a couple of the earliest battles of the Civil War occurred in Missouri. Missouri was a heavily divided slave state and the strategic gateway to the western states. Both North and South wanted Missouri on their side. Lexington was where the two sides met. 12,000 Southern forces headed by the Missouri National Guard General Price besieged a few thousand Union troops from Irish Chicago holed up on a hilltop beside the Missouri. Most of the battle site has never been built upon. You can still see original buildings and the outline of much of the defensive breastworks. Interestingly the South brought the siege to a quick conclusion and victory by rolling large bales of hemp slowly up the hill. These bales protected the Southern forces from bullets until they could overrun the hilltop.

From here we head back to I70 and continue east. Since Missouri is having a record heat wave we are thinking of driving late into the evening. A half hour later, the RV is acting like the road is bumpy. Thirty seconds later, we hear terrible thumping under the RV. I come to a quick halt and pull off onto the shoulder. I am thinking I dropped a water tank. I look all under the RV and I don’t see anything. Upon second examination I see that one of the inner back tires lost its tread. There is still a strip of rubber attached making the noise. I spend fifteen very hot minutes trying to snip thru the steel belts unsuccessfully. Finally I brace my feet under the tire and pull the remnants off. We are not going to make St Louis tonight. Fortunately luck is smiling on us again and we are only about a 100 feet past an exit. Aimee looks in our guidebook and finds an RV park less than a mile north. We slowly back up, take the exit and make it to the park. It has plenty of room for us. We are so happy we are not in the middle of nowhere. After parking, Aimee and I head to the swimming pool to relax and cool off. This is a problem we can solve in the morning.