HCOD Road Trip Days 4 and 5

The Missouri River from a vantage point near Rocheport, Missouri

This will be a short update post as it is very late.  We are having such a good time that we don't get to our hotel and nightly destination until late in the evening.  I'm not having a lot of time to sum up the day's activities and post a blog entry with photographs.

Yesterday, we visited the last home of Daniel Boone, the American frontiersman.  He lived his last years and died at his son's home in Defiance, Missouri.  It is quite a compound, really a small town. The property housed many buildings, a chapel, blacksmith shop and others.  It was quite an accomplishment to construct all of this on his son's land in the NW frontier in the early 1800s.

We also hiked the Osage Trail just outside of Jefferson City, the state capital, to the vantage point where William Clark viewed the lay of the land where the Missouri River meets the Osage River.  It was a strenusous hike up and down and up and down, quite steep hills, on a muddy path about 3/4 mile long.  When we reached the end to see Clark's view, most of it was overgrown with trees and vegetation so we couldn't see much.  Needless to say, we were disappointed.

Last night we spent the night in Columbia, Missouri. All of us were tired from a very full day.

Today, we pushed on to Independence, Missouri where we visited two attractions.  First, the Frontier Trails Museum, which gave us an idea of what is was like to leave the area of Independence, Missouri in the middle of the 19th century and head west via either the Santa Fe or Oregon Trails.  I have to say that I admire the individuals who pushed westward to California and Oregon as it was anything but really a easy trip.  Many didn't make it or, if they did, they jettisoned most of their possessions to lighten their loads.  Would-be settlers who followed along those trails, wrote that they found the trails littered with pianos, dressers, dead animals, perfectly good wagons, etc. from those who proceeded them but finally had to divest themselves of their possessions so as not to fall behind.

We then had a great lunch at a restaurant which I can highly recommend in Kansas City. The Gates' Barbecue Restaurant had wonderful Kansas City Barbecue. It was recently rated #2 in the area for good barbecue.  I would put their barbecue sandwich right up there with a Philly Cheese Steak.  You can't visit Kansas City and not have Kansas City Barbecue!

A recreation of President Harry S. Truman's Oval Office

 Later, we visited the President Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.  After spending a couple of rushed hours visiting the facility, I can't understand why anyone would want to be President of the United States.  I saw a lot of similarities in situations with which Truman had to deal as are happening today.  I always liked President Truman, who was in office when I was born.  I now know quite a bit more about him, his life and his presidency.  Very interesting. I can recommend a visit to his Library and Museum to everyone.,

We then drove on the Council Bluffs, Iowa, trying desperately to outrun the severe thunderstorms where were all around us and where we will spend the night. We will be ready for a full day heading north and visiting the interesting Lewis and Clark historical sites as well as other interesting sites along our way.

Sorry for the rather short and uninteresting post, but it has been a long day.  It is now after 11 p.m. and I am ready to hit the sack.  More tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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