December 18, 2012

December 18, 2012

We crossed into Missouri this morning. Our first stop is the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. I read they give money away to every visitor. Jobless we need to take advantage of every opportunity.  After passing through security they hand us each a bag of cash.  Unfortunately it is all shredded.  It is going to take us a long time to paste the bills back together.  I may not be buying Aimee’s Christmas present till Spring!  While at the bank we decide to run through the Money Museum.  It is mildly interesting.  The best part is the window overlooking the cash operations.  There they sort and clean pallets of paper money filtering out counterfeit and torn bills.  A guard tells us that most of the money they get back is filthy.

The main reason we are in town is to visit the National World War I Museum across the street. The museum is relatively new and was built beneath an old WWI memorial that looks like a fat Washington Monument. WWI is kind of an enigma to me. I never understood why it started or why the US got involved. I thought this was a great opportunity to learn more about it. Apparently I am not the only one scratching my head. The introductory movie starts off saying historians to this day are also not sure why it started. An assassination in Serbia of an Austrian prince was merely a spark that lit a powder keg. Considering this was a war that nobody could clearly explain, the consequences were devastating. Europe was bankrupted, and almost ten million died, most slaughtered by the newly invented machine gun that could mow down thousands in mere minutes. A recount of the war is pretty monotonous. Most battles on the Western Front occurred back and forth over the same small stretch of northern France.

Even the American entry into the war is unclear. The best I could piece together was that our leaders were irritated that German U-boats were interfering with American business profits on sales to France and Britain. The US went “over there” late into the war when both sides were exhausted and starving. Our troops spent more time touring France and having a good time, than they did fighting. After the armistice we even organized an Olympic competition in Paris while waiting for troop ships to take our soldiers back. Our soldiers learned to drink French wine but discovered to their horror that Prohibition was passed while they were gone.

In the end we have to zoom through the big museum because we still have a long drive ahead. We arrive in Godfrey, IL long after sundown.