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Day One - One looong day - May 30, 2014
Our
first travel day started at around 1:30 pm on Friday, May 30. We
planned our departure on what I expected would be off-peak traffic
hours for Chattanooga and Nashville. Our
timing was perfect. We breezed through both cities with little
delay. Our only stop before St. Louis was a restroom break for me in
Monteagle, Tennessee. A large fuel tank, bathroom, and
kitchen all lend themselves to making good time. By dusk we were
almost to St. Louis. We stopped briefly to refuel in east St. Louis
before heading to St. Peters, just a few clicks west. We'd
originally planned to dry-camp at a Wal-Mart, but friends told us
about a nice little municipal park there with full RV hookups. Very
good choice!
Day Two - Let The Fun Begin - May 31, 2014
We awoke to a beautiful sunrise over the lake at
370 Lakeside Park. It certainly set a positive tone for the rest
of the day. I took a stroll on the walking/biking path a little
enjoying the cool morning. There were people fishing, biking, and
walking their pets along the path. I could see fish jumping which
made me wish we had more time, but we had a pretty lively itinerary
for the second leg of of our journey.
Happy Trails
Frontier Trails Museum, Independence, MO.
Being the ever curious family, we wanted to see where the western
explorers and pioneers began their journey. Famously, Independence,
Missouri is that place. We arrived by late morning and began
exploring the museum. We watched a short video that described the
new frontier and its attraction as well as the hardships experienced
by the early adventurers. I found the kids are more familiar with
this part of history than I. This knowledge is partially due to
school, and partially due to a set of Carole
Marsh mysteries they
were all reading. As I mentioned in
Part 1, we
worked out a deal with them beforehand: We would pay them $5 for
each book read on the road. The challenge provided them with some
spending money, helped keep their noses out of their technology, and
provided a pretty good education and interest in our destinations.
We spent a good deal of time walking through the exhibits before
heading across the street to the Bingham/Waggoner
Estate. We didn't take the time to tour the buildings (we were
in a hurry to see the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph), but we
took the rather steamy walk to see the swales caused by horses and
wagon wheels leaving this very location. It was exciting to imagine
their thoughts and excitement as they began their life-altering, and
often life-ending journey.
Pony Express
Pony Express National Museum
- St Joseph, MO
Continuing this day's theme of western exploration and settlement,
we decided to visit the Pony Express museum in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Everyone knows the basic story of the Pony Express, but this museum
really tells the entire story graphically.
As soon as we arrived, the kids got their National Parks
Passport stamped in the gift shop. We paid a reasonable entrance fee
and began our self guied tour. The Pony Express National Museum is
much more child friendly than the Frontier
Trails Museum we'd visited earlier in the day. The tour of the
museum leads visitors through the origins of the Pony Express, and
there are lots of life-size models and exhibits to make it enjoyable
and believable. Rebecca has been working on some videos to enhance
the local school systems curriculum, so we shot a little video along
with taking pictures during this visit. The kids were so excited by
the end of the tour, they insisted on purchasing mementos. The gift
shop provided the required resources.
Across the street from the museum is a park area with several
historic markers, and the one item that put a final end to the
Pony Express, a steam engine. Very cool!
Happy Campers
After we'd finished exploring the Pony
Express Museum, we headed north toward Omaha, Nebraska. We had no
campground reservations, but decided we wanted to have RV hookups
for the evening, so we started looking. We lucked-up on a very clean
and well groomed RV Park south of Omaha called Victorian Acres. It
was just across the Missouri River from the interstate, so it was
very convenient. It was also reasonably priced! The evening was
cool, a welcome change from the heat back home in Georgia. Victorian
Acres doesn't have fixed fire rings, but they brought us a portable
fireplace that worked great! A lovely cool evening, a sunset, and a
fire. Pardon the cliché' but "it doesn't get much better than this." |
Sunrise at 370 Lakeside Park in
St. Peters, MO
Carole Marsh Books helped narrate
our adventure.
The kids wanted so bad to ride in
these covered wagons. They're really quite beautiful.
The Pony Express Museum is housed
in the very stable where the the whole thing began in 1860.
The Pony Express Museum features life-size models and exhibits
to make it enjoyable and believable.
Day two
concluded at Victorian Acres RV Park in Nebraska City, NE. Very
nice! |
