Tuesday, 20 April 2021
Snow had been predicted for overnight, and when we got up this morning and didn't see even so much as a slick road, I thought the weather system had passed us by. Instead, it was just late.
It started snowing about 6:30, melting away almost immediately but definitely a snow shower. But as time went on, it kept snowing and, though it never caused any problem with the roads, it was definitely snow. I passed snow on the fields, I had slush on the windshield. The roads were wet and strong wind gusts hit us broadside. Not the most comfortable of driving conditions but it could have been so much worse.
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| today's route |
On the road
Heading northeast from the state park, I went through a series of small towns, including Center, pop. 508. School buses were running in all of them, and I was again interested to see that everybody stopped for the stopped school buses. I never rode a school bus when I was a kid, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this then. I wonder what today's kids will think when they get old enough to drive and learn about the precautions that have been taken for them.
Today I drove 153 miles and saw 5 Trump signs/flags, starting in Center. I was curious about that name, because it's not at all in the center of the state, and learned that it's in the center of the county. I also learned (from the town's version of its history) that in the 1870s or so, there were 2 schools in the area (the one north of town was taught by Mr. Christian; the one south of town was taught by Mr. Dunlop) and the only students were adults.
I got on US 61 and kept seeing signs saying "Avenue of the Saints" but never any explanation. I've looked it up and learned that US 61 is part of a 563-mile-long route between St. Louis in MO and St. Paul in MN - thus, "the Saints."
I heard on the radio that 93,000 Missourians have a medical marijuana card. The state's current population is around 6 million.
Mark Twain/Hannibal
Hannibal, a town of about 18,000, had numerous signs encouraging visitors to sign up for a tour of Twain-related places, but I didn't even bother to see if it was open - what with the virus and the snow. Still, the dogs and I walked around a little and found a few signs for special places.
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| J. M. Clemens Justice of the Peace |
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| sign in front of the building at left |
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| Becky Thatcher's house - almost next door to Mr. Clemens's law office, though I don't know if they were always this way or if one or both were moved later. |
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| Tom Sawyer's fence |
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| Tom and Huck |
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| a small slice of Hannibal |
As you can see, it was snowing, so walking the dogs wasn't as much fun as it might have been if we weren't getting cold and wet. But at least we had the town almost to ourselves.
Back on the road
From Hannibal, we started west on US 36, dubbed by the State of Missouri as "The Way of American Genius," due to the unusual number of world-changers that were connected to the towns near this road. As a sample, beginning with Twain in Hannibal and besides Gen. Omar Bradley, there were Gen. John J. Pershing, Walt Disney, J. C. Penney, and Walter Cronkite. In addition, the Pony Express began in St. Joseph - the western end of US 36 in Missouri - and the first machine to slice and wrap a loaf of bread was sold in 1928 to a baker in Chillicothe (MO), having been invented by a jeweler in St. Joseph (really - a Chillicothe museum has the original bread slicing machine on loan from the Smithsonian). Hard to imagine a world without Mark Twain, Walter Cronkite, or sliced bread.
Meanwhile, I was driving through farming country and saw an electronic highway sign: "Planting Season - Watch for Farm Vehicles."
I heard on the radio that there'd been a 2.4 earthquake near Eureka MO early this morning. Since I'd just spent a week in that area, I couldn't help but be interested. News reports said that area residents felt the shaking but no damage had been reported.
As I drove I gradually began to notice my very own ice floe.
I started having trouble remembering to pay attention to my driving, because this very gradually growing piece of ice was seriously distracting. Of course, what it was doing was slowly sliding down the overhanging piece of the RV, then being driven up and under by the wind. Still it was hypnotizing.
Something else I was noticing was the accumulation of snow on the fields.
I was lucky that it never stuck to the road for long, but you can see that it really was coming down.
I was driving under a very low ceiling, as you can see in these pictures, past very large cropfields and scattered farmhouses. Luckily considering the weather, US 36 here in Missouri is a wide, 4-lane well-maintained divided highway, much like an interstate. But I gradually became a little dissatisfied with it because, like an interstate, this road wasn't taking me into the little towns along the way, which is what I'd hoped for. Most of them are off the highway and you have to plan to go visit them.
I was about 30 miles west of Hannibal when I saw a Confederate battle flag hanging on a flagpole under a US flag. Well, as I'd learned yesterday, this area is part of Missouri's Little Dixie, but for crying out loud, it's been 157 years since that war was over, and the CSA lost. Are we just looking at sore losers, multiple generations removed?
The snow was moving across Missouri from west to east, so I was driving into areas where it'd been coming down for quite a while. The landscape was starting to look like winter instead of spring. Snow was covering the fields, the trees, and the cars. Weird.
I passed the town of Macon, which calls itself "The City Of Maples" because it has more than 275,000 of them. It only had about 5,500 residents in 2010 so the trees way outnumber the folks. And it's a county seat, a fact I'd overlooked when I was planning today's route so I missed the courthouse and the maples. Well, next time. . .
I was still meeting hills - sometimes steep hills - but I still found the countryside much flatter overall than it had been farther east, and especially farther southeast. I guess I'm leaving the Ozarks here.
I crossed the Chariton River, and a bit later the Old Chariton River. I'm used to towns and roads being stuck with an "old" added as they're replaced, but not a river. I wouldn't have thought a river could get replaced, but in this case it did. The Chariton River is 218 miles long and comes down into Missouri from Iowa, eventually dumping into the Missouri River. Apparently at points in the past, this river got straightened (sounds like braces on somebody's teeth), but the Old Channel and its historic bridges still exist and, in places, still provide fish habitat. I guess I found one of the places because both these rivers had water in them.
Missouri has a town named Lingo - named for an early settler.
Walt Disney/Marceline
As I took the exit for this town, I saw one of those warning signs for Amish horse-and-buggy outfits. I also learned that this is Tiger Country, according to the local water tower.
Marceline, pop. 2,221, looks just like you'd expect a town Walt Disney grew up in to look. And in fact, it's known as the first Main Street, USA - which I understand is a reference to a place in Walt Disney World, which is someplace I've never been. Disneyland either, for that matter. But this was the inspiration.
Actually, Disney only lived here from age 5 until age 9 or 10, but he came back several times as an adult, telling people that here he'd had some of the happiest times of his life. What I saw was a very attractive old-fashioned 2 or 3 block downtown, surrounded by houses from the early 20th century. The only chain I saw was a Sonic, which had been closed - possibly a casualty of the virus?
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| Walt Disney Hometown Museum |
We stopped at the town square, took a walk in the snow, and then ate lunch. By then I was getting tired and knew I still had some driving to do so decided not to go in the museum. Maybe another time.
Back on the road
The sun was starting to show itself as we continued west. The snow seemed to be melting fast and the temperature was in the mid-30s.
Gen. John J. Pershing/Laclede
About 15 miles down the road we came to the town of Laclede, pop. 345, best known as the birthplace and boyhood home of Pershing and the state historic site for him.
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| Pershing home |
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| Pershing statue |
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| Prairie Mound school built 1874 |
These buildings are part of the state historic site. The office was in between the family home and the school (above), and I assumed it was closed because so many other state buildings have been. That school, attended by Black children as far as I can tell, was where Pershing taught before he finished Normal School (teacher training school, way back then) and then was accepted to West Point.
In 1919, Congress created the rank of General of the Armies of the United States - the highest rank in the military - especially for Pershing and authorized the president to promote him to this rank. In 1976, Congress did a re-think and decided that they didn't want even Pershing to outrank Gen. George Washington, so they did some finagling to bump George up, but these two are still the only ones to have held this rank.
He seems to have been a very interesting person. Here's the short version of his life from the state historic site. https://mostateparks.com/pershing And here's a much more detailed version from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/John-J-Pershing
Tonight's campground was only about 3 miles along the road, which was just as well, because I was really getting tired. It certainly wasn't the number of miles I drove - only 150 - or even the driving conditions, because the roads were fine all day. I guess it was just the fear that they would get worse, that ice would form or that snow would stick, that caused me to feel tension all day.
The campground was small - only about 35 campsites - and only 2 others were occupied besides us and the park host. It was comfortable, I could get an internet signal, and I didn't have any trouble walking the dogs. Hard to beat.
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