We are on the road again…and have spent most of the past nine days literally on the road, driving to Western Kansas where we are currently. Of course, we can’t just drive day after day, so we did make some stops along the way and see some sights!

We left home on Saturday, September 20^th, and headed just a couple hours southwest of home to Normal, IL and a Love’s RV Stop. We’ve stayed at Love’s locations a couple of times, and there are usually two or three other RVs there. This place, however, was full! And some of the RVs looked like they were there long-term. Really weird (but maybe it’s ‘normal’ in Normal, IL!) – I guess there are no other campgrounds anywhere in the vicinity or something.

On Sunday, we drove another couple hundred miles to Northwest of St. Louis, and we had a fun day on Monday exploring more of the area (we visited St. Louis in 2023, but definitely had more places we wanted to see). Our first stop was the public library; we had walked through in 2023 and were amazed by the architecture and beauty, and this time around, we were able to catch a guided tour of the building. It was fascinating to learn more about the history of St. Louis and the story of this incredible library built in 1912. Each room’s ceiling is unique and many are designed based on famous ceilings elsewhere in the world.

We wandered around near the library and admired some of the city’s architecture.

From there, we headed toward the Gateway Arch. On our last visit to St. Louis, the Old Courthouse portion of the National Park was being restored and was closed to the public; it just re-opened in May, so we decided to check it out. The courthouse is historically significant because it’s where Dred Scott and his wife Harriet sought freedom from enslavement in 1846. After 11 years of court cases, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled against them, and the case is believed to have been a crucial step on the path to the Civil War. The rotunda is beautiful, and the exhibits throughout the building are all new and really well-done. 

For some more St. Louis history, we drove to Union Station, another incredible piece of architecture. Built in 1894, it was the largest and busiest train station in the world at that time! It’s no longer in use as a train station, but they have preserved the Great Hall which has an amazing barrel-vault ceiling. Hilton operates the hotel, which is original to the property (hopefully it’s been updated since 1894!). They’ve repurposed the old trainshed area to an entertainment venue, with an aquarium, restaurants, ferris wheel, and more. Similar to what we saw in Cincinnati, it’s a fantastic re-use of an historic building! I’m really enjoying seeing what’s been done with these beautiful old train stations!

That wrapped up our time in St. Louis, and on Tuesday, we were back on the road, heading West across Missouri. It was a rainy day which is never fun when you have a long drive, but we made it safely to Lees Summit, Missouri, which is a suburb of Kansas City. I only drove for a short time, but it was through a construction zone where they had concrete barriers up on both sides and a lane that felt like it was only a few inches wider than RoVer. Talk about white knuckles…it would have been nasty on a clear day, but in the rain? It was terrifying!

I had to make a quick grocery run, and was greeted by this horrible display just inside the door…ugh. As Connor said, ‘behind enemy lines’…

We love our campground – it’s a county park, so the sites are huge and shady and private. Unfortunately, when they laid the concrete pad for our site, they didn’t bother to level it, so we had to use a few blocks to even things out!

On Wednesday, we drove north to Independence, MO, home of our 33^rd President, Harry S Truman. Did you know…the S doesn’t stand for anything – his parents couldn’t agree on a middle name, but both names they liked started with S…so they named him Harry S Truman. As you may have noticed, we like visiting Presidential Libraries & Museums, so we spent a couple hours learning about his two terms in the White House (or, as he called it, “The finest jail in the world”). He really faced an unbelievable set of challenges from the moment he assumed office after FDR’s death. Just four months into his time as President, he had to make the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A few years later, he had to decide to send troops to Korea.

The museum has some wonderful artifacts and does a nice job outlining they key moments of Truman’s presidency.

From there, we went to the Harry S Truman National Historic Site in downtown Independence. The site encompasses several buildings, but most notably, the Truman home. It’s actually where Bess Wallace Truman lived and where she and Harry met; after they married, they lived there with their daughter Margaret, and they returned there after leaving Washington DC. We toured the house with a Park Ranger, but weren’t allowed to take pictures inside. Because it was always owned by the Wallace/Truman families, it’s full of artifacts from several generations, and is a time capsule of the early 1980s when Bess Truman died and gifted the house to be preserved for the American people.  

We wandered around Independence a bit, as well, before heading back to our campground.

On Thursday, we drove into Kansas City (Missouri, not Kansas!) to visit the National WWI Museum and Memorial. I asked Gemini why it’s located there, and it’s really only because the city and the citizens acted quickly after the war ended to raise money and create the memorial which was dedicated in 1926. The museum is located underground, and Liberty Memorial Tower sits on top of it. We started with a visit to the tower which is 217 feet tall. Fortunately, an elevator takes you most of the way to the top, followed by 45 stairs. The view from the top is really impressive, but unfortunately, there were swarms of wasps around much of the tower so we didn’t go all the way around.

From there, we entered the museum. The entry area has a glass bridge, and below it is a  field of poppies which are the symbol of WWI remembrance. Once again, I asked Gemini why poppies are associated with the Great War, and it’s because these flowers thrived on the battlefields in Northern France and Belgium, and the poem “In Flanders Field” recalls the sight of poppies growing around the graves of soldiers.

The museum is divided into two galleries, one dedicated to the first three years of the war, before the US entered battle, and the other dedicated to the final two years and the United States’ involvement. They have an amazing collection of artifacts from across the world. The US gallery was particularly interesting, and it’s just incredible to think of how quickly the US readied for war and sent soldiers abroad.

On the lower level of the museum, I found their “Open Storage” area fascinating. Like most museums, they have far more items in their collection than they can ever display in the main part of the museum; instead of keeping everything behind closed doors, they’ve put in glass display cases so you can see more of the historical pieces. Of course, there are many more items still stashed away, but this opens up more of the collection to the public. We also got to see the base of the tower and a wonderful display of letters that a father sent to his soldier son, each beautifully illustrated.

From the museum, we took a short drive to KC Union Station – yet another old train station! Amtrak still uses the station, but much of it has been repurposed for restaurants, a planetarium, a science museum, and more. The 1914 building is full of beautiful details!

We made a quick stop at the Frontier Trails Museum in Independence; turns out three of the westward frontier trails – Santa Fe, California, and Oregon – originated in or near Independence, largely because of its location on the Missouri River. It was a small, but interesting, museum. After dinner and some errands, we were back at the campground, and ready to head out the next morning.

Friday took us into Kansas, a state we’ve never visited before. It’s my 45^th state and Mark’s 44^th. We were both quite surprised at how hilly the terrain was – we pictured it being completely flat and nothing but farmland, but there are lots of trees, too!

We made a stop in Topeka, the state capital, to visit a National Historical Park that is dedicated to Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark, unanimous Supreme Court decision that ended racial segregation in schools. The visitor center is located in Monroe Elementary School, where Linda Brown attended classes, even though there was a white school much closer to her home. The exhibits did a really nice job explaining what the case (and four others like it that are all grouped together under Brown v. Board of Ed) was about, how it affected the Civil Rights movement, and the lasting impact it has had on America.

From Topeka, we continued West to our campground in Salina, Kansas. 650 miles driven so far, lots more to go. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that we are headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the 53^rd annual Balloon Fiesta, an event I’ve wanted to see for a very long time. So excited that we are on our way there!

On Saturday, we drove to Abilene, Kansas, the hometown of our 34^th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower and the site of his Presidential Library & Museum, and his boyhood home. It’s interesting that Truman and Eisenhower’s hometowns are so close to each other, and they served consecutively as President. The museum is primarily dedicated to Eisenhower’s military service prior to his election in 1953 – likely because it’s what he was most proud of, and because it’s so critical to our nation’s history. It was fascinating to read about his many assignments in the Army after he graduated from West Point, how quickly he rose from one-star to five-star general, and everything he did to ensure the success of D-Day. It was largely his military achievements that made him the nominee for President, and the American people agreed…“I like Ike” was one of the most successful campaign slogans of the century!

The museum also had a wonderful exhibit done by artist Mary Whyte, who traveled to all 50 states and painted a watercolor portrait of a veteran in each state. The portraits were all stunning and thought-provoking about the post-service life of our veterans.

We toured the Eisenhower home, where Ike lived from ages 8 to 20 – it’s a modest home that he shared with his parents and five brothers, and was quite literally, “on the wrong side of the tracks” in Abilene. The house is located in the middle of the library and museum campus.

Ike and Mamie are buried in the “Place of Meditation” on the museum campus. It’s a simple but elegant building with brightly colored stained glass windows.

As we left Abilene, we were impressed with the many beautiful homes lining the main street…large, well-maintained Victorian homes. It’s a cute downtown area full of colorful murals, as well. We also made one quick stop at a nearby Russell Stover Chocolate store…because…well, chocolate…

Sunday morning, we hit the road again to continue our journey across Kansas. I-70 is a great route – not a lot of traffic and roads are in good shape…made a long day of driving much easier! Plus we got to listen to the Bills game while we were driving – not quite as good as watching, but grateful that Sirius XM has a channel with play-by-play coverage. We even ‘tailgated’, eating our lunch in the parking lot at a Love’s! Overall, we gained about 2,400 ft of elevation as we headed West – so clearly, Kansas is not flat! We crossed into Mountain Time, and arrived at the Goodland KOA around 1pm.  

Monday was a quiet day; there’s not much to do in Goodland, Kansas…but we did find out that there’s a National Weather Service office here, and they offer tours! We spent about an hour there and it was so interesting! A young meteorologist named John showed us the systems that he uses and talked about the process for forecasting. This office is one of 122 across the country, and this one covers Northwest Kansas, as well as a small portion of Southwest Nebraska and Eastern Colorado. He normally works in Central Illinois, but apparently they have some trouble staffing the Goodland office (because it’s in the middle of nowhere!) so he was called in to cover for a short time. They had a job opening there recently, and over 150 people applied for it, because there are a lot of people studying meteorology but very few jobs! It’s a 24/7/365 operation, so they rotate shifts. We talked a bit about how they use AI to help with their forecasts, and how it is to have a job where you can be wrong most of the time and still get paid!

From there, we drove through their nice little downtown area, stopped at the smallest Walmart I’ve seen in a very long time, and saw the roadside attraction that draws people to Goodland…the “Big Easel” and Van Gogh painting!

And with that, we’ll be packing up tomorrow and heading into Colorado, and then continuing on to Albuquerque. Lots more adventures to come!