December 30, 2008

December 30, 2008

From Godfrey, IL we get an early start hoping to skirt the St Louis metro area before rush hour. Heading southwest we drive across Missouri stopping just shy of the border. Needing to stretch our legs, we stop for a quick visit at the George Washington Carver National Monument. This first National Park site dedicated to a black man is Carver’s birthplace. He was born a slave near the end of the Civil War. After his father died in an oxcart accident (This just begs for some detail) and his mother kidnapped by slave raiders, George was taken in and raised by his former owner. Brilliant and intellectually curious he went on to become the most famous black scientist. Carver, who was devoutly religious and very frugal, joined the Tuskegee Institute and devoted his life to agricultural research. Although known for finding 1000 ways to use the peanut, his real legacy is finding alternative crops for the struggling Deep South farmer after King Cotton was humbled by the Boll Weavil. We watch a very good film on Carver's life and legacy and then breeze thru the crowded exhibit area. We pass on the ¾ mile walk around the former farm and return to the highway but not before getting lost trying to take a route closed to trucks. I hope nobody saw me cross that little bridge with the 5-ton maximum weight.

We continue driving on I-44 until dusk stopping at a small town east of Oklahoma City.