West into Kansas


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June 8th 2008
Published: June 8th 2008
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St Louis, MissouriSt Louis, MissouriSt Louis, Missouri

Gateway Arch, which commemorates St Louis as the gateway to the west and starting point for much western migration in pioneer days.

Louisville Kentucky to Graham Cave State Park west of St. Louis, Missouri
And on to Lenexa, KS, (PRA), Santa Fe Trail, & Baldwin, City Kansas



Mon June 2 to June 6


We keep on plugging west. The morning of packing out from Mammoth Cave I fell ill, kind of fainted, had to lie on a thermarest while Rollie and the boys packed up. Of course it rained while we were taking the tent down. I had begun a medication just before leaving, and got confirmation from our doc in Cville to stop that.

Once all packed they headed off to ride a bike trail in the park while I slept. I felt a bit better in the car and got some work done on the interstate while we drove on to Louisville. There we hung out 2 nights with my friend from grad school, Melissa, and her kids. I started pumping iron again (of the nutritional supplement type), got some work done while Melissa and Rollie took the kids to the pool, and then the 2nd evening we went out to a good Cuban restaurant.

Next day - after a night of drying out our tent in the
Max and MilesMax and MilesMax and Miles

Santa Fe Trail Marker in Kansas
basement, we head on down the highway toward St. Louis. We stopped briefly to see the Gateway Arch (it is a very pretty park on the Mississippi). Max took some cool shots of the arch. In our usual fashion we pulled into the camp ground in Missouri at dark. Rollie and I raised the tent. The boys didn’t want to help & were told they’d sleep in the van that night if they didn’t. They chose the van. It was hot with the windows up and buggy with them down - but they were happy with their choice and fell asleep in various contorted poses that didn't phase them one whit.

We headed off to find a place to eat and missed our turn for “Maggie's,” recommended by the campground host, but found instead a parking lot full of cars (good sign) for a place called Dani Mac’s Steakhouse and Saloon, with a big colorful painting on the side of the building labeled “El Ranchero Restaurant.” When we stepped inside it looked like a bowling alley - but the pins were just décor for the pool hall part, where an active karaoke competition was going on. We were escorted to a quieter back room and ordered from the Mexican side of the menu - and it was all delicious. Cold beer, steak fajitas, bean burritos - who could ask for anything more! (I am ordering steak at every meal out now, plus eating lots of prunes for iron).

In the morning, although it was sprinkling again, Murphy's Law being what it is, the boys headed off on bikes to find the cave and explore it. I confess Rollie and I were too busy packing up the wet tent to bother, having had our fill of caves, for the time being, at Mammoth Cave. Then we had a taste of the real Midwest, taking the road less traveled - Highway 50 - through Missouri toward Kansas City. I had purchased and pored over Roadtrip USA, the book by Jamie Jensen, while planning this trip, and whenever we could take the time had planned in a route off the interstates, relying heavily on this guide. I recommend it for anyone planning this kind of trip. We stopped at a diner in Olathe and had traditional diner food; we didn’t go looking for the town's celebrated albino squirrels, but saw a photo of them in the diner! I worked, boys game cubed, Rollie drove. We also played word games, listened to music and noted the scenery: field, field, cows, silo, field, field, houses, silo, silo, oil derrick. Corn, corn, wheat, soybeans, corn. Sky and more sky. Wind blowing constantly. Flatness. It was good. The real countryside and not just the endless concessions of the freeway.

Once nearing Lenexa, having looked up the directions to the PRA office, we saw that a potential stopping point (a historic marker for the Santa Fe trail and an area with visible wagon ruts) was right on our way. We located it after a false stop at a golf club with the same name as the park we sought on the banks of the Blue River - Minor Park. The pioneer wagons of the westward trail had carved huge swales in the ground. An set of park service signs gave us the lowdown. We picnicked there in the shade and then I made a brief stop at the PRA office to put some files on the server and touch base.

Then we headed out toward Baldwin City, Kansas to see our former neighbors Andy & Juda and their boys. They are now on a lovely 11-acre farm in a beautifully-appointed old farmhouse, with a straw-bale guest cottage that provided a quiet and private night for me and Rollie.

As soon as we were out of the van the 4 boys got right down to the business of moving: running around, playing around the pond, whooping it up, sword fighting with sticks, climbing trees, and finally, long after dark, settling down to cards (Magic and Pokemon!)

We got a tour of the farm and house, saw a patch of virgin prairie, and heard of the changing sequence of flowers that fill it - now it is daisies. How nice to visit with friends, to be so warmly welcomed, to shower, and not worry about what to cook on the Coleman stove for dinner!! Also how pleasant to be given nettle tea for boosting iron, to locate my supposedly lost package of medicines (to everyone I called - I found them - sorry to have bothered you!!) and to head in to town to visit the Farmer's Market and local coffee shop.

Ozawkie (just west of Oscaloosa!) and Topeka next.

Love to all. Hug Muffin for us!

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11th June 2008

Keep the blog comin'!
Anna and Russell and Allen are really enjoying these! They'll make a good journal of the trip for you at the end. This is so easy for us - we feel like we're travelling across the country ourselves. Anna is very interested in the grasslands - wondering if Buffaloes graze there?

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