getting stuff done - the 1st 2 weeks

David & Anna's house, Richardson

Sunday, 9 - Saturday, 22 May 2021

When I got to town, I had 2 main priorities: get over this stupid stomach flu and get my RV cabin door fixed.  There were many secondary ones, but these were the get-done-no-matter-what type.  For the first, I spent a lot of time just lying around, waiting for the illness to run its course.  I'd already tried a generic Imodium, which worked very well.  But all it's intended to do is deal with the diarrhea, leaving the other symptoms untouched.  And while no-diarrhea is absolutely a worthy cause, I didn't really want to take it again because what I really wanted was for the illness to go away.

But the side effects of this illness - the dehydration (I could drink 4 bottles of water during a day and still not need to get up during the night), the nearly constant exhaustion and lack of energy - were the problems I actually wanted to solve.  It finally occurred to me that spinach salads with raisins might help; they usually have the undesirable side effect of causing constipation which, these days, was a desideratum, and I thought the extra iron might help.  And, in fact, the salads did help.  

So except for walking the dogs, I cut myself some slack and didn't try to do anything but read John Putnam Thatcher mysteries.  And over time, the diarrhea went away, I've gained strength and started to feel more like a functioning human being.

Alvarado

But while I was waiting to get well, I wanted to get moving on fixing the RV.  On Monday the 10th, David went with me out to Alvarado where I bought the RV several years ago.  They'd never bothered to return my phone calls, and I figured the only way to get an answer from them was to stand in front of them.  And that worked: no recalls in place for this RV.  The woman in Service who was helping me offered to set up an appointment to find out what was wrong with my door, but she said they'd charge $150 for an hour of labor just to make the determination.  What's more, she didn't say they'd waive that charge if I got the work done there, which shops often say (so do lawyers).

Given their failure to return my phone calls (a simple matter) and the sloppiness they'd shown in the finish work when I first bought my RV (remember they'd neglected to connect the water hoses in the kitchen sink?) and the possibility they'd charge me through the nose for work that might not be the best, I told her I'd think about it.

Rockwall

The next day David and I went out to Rockwall, to the place I've gone several times before that has done an outstanding (and not very expensive) job of making the various repairs I've asked them for.  Dodie, the owner, took one look at the cabin door and said, "You've got a broken hinge."  And he showed us quite clearly that one side of the hinge was attached to the door and the other side of the hinge was attached to the frame, but the two sides weren't attached to each other.  The whole hinge was completely split in two.  Which of course would go a long way toward explaining why I couldn't get the door to latch securely.

He said he couldn't start for 2 weeks and that it might take 2-3 weeks once he started, but he agreed they could do the list of 5 or 6 additional things I told him I wanted done (replace the torn screen door; fix the heater's thermostat - like that).  So I made the appointment.  I'd hesitated because that would put me still here until almost mid-June, which wasn't at all what I'd intended, but the work has to be done, and I trust these folks to do a good job, and anyway this is a busy time of year for everybody involved with RVs so I didn't figure anyone else would do it faster.

On the way over there, by the way, we saw a sign that said, 

     "Pray for Police.

      They Need God.

      We Need Them."

Gracie

On the way back from Rockwall, David told me to pull into a parking lot because he wanted to read me a text he'd gotten from Anna about Gracie.  She described some pretty bad symptoms (vomiting, inability to stand up, eyes whizzing back and forth, and more) she'd seen in Gracie and thought she'd had a seizure.  She made a vet appointment for us while we were on the way home.

The vet was one Anna had used in the past, who she trusted, and Anna went with me to describe the behaviors she'd seen.  Turns out she also did the heavy lifting because Gracie couldn't reliably stand up, let alone walk, so Anna carried her into the office.  Actually, they didn't want us inside but we realized that only when we were standing right at the door, in the pouring rain, with Anna's arms full of a 50-pound dog, and we were wearing masks, so they let us in.  They said later it was a weird feeling for them because they hadn't had a client in the office in over a year.

The vet said Gracie had had a stroke, not a seizure.  He said she's young enough (though she's 12) to have a good chance at making a full recovery.  That seemed impossible at that moment because she still couldn't even walk, she was holding her head at a very odd angle, her eyes were still whizzing around - she just looked very sick indeed.  But he gave me some pills for the next 5 days and various bits of advice and encouragement and the staff carried Gracie out to the truck, though Anna had to carry her into the house again.

And she did show vast improvement fairly quickly.  Daily we could see changes: when she rebelled against being carried and managed to walk on her own - not very well, doing a lot of staggering around at first, but she did it; when she started drinking water, when she started eating again; when her eyes gradually stopped whizzing around; when she started to have normal elimination again.  Bit by bit she's getting well.

But I was thanking my lucky stars that this hadn't happened while I was alone, living in the RV, that has steps in and out.  I honestly don't know how on earth I could have handled that.  Here, I have lots of help and support and a floor on the same level as the outside so no steps.

Dexter

The following Saturday, the 15th, David drove me and Dexter to a different vet to check out the growths he has on his back and side.  The vet's conclusion: though the one on his back is likely no big deal, the fact that it's growing means they should remove it.  We have an appointment for that on Thursday, the 27th.  They couldn't find the one on his side, mainly because I told them the wrong side.  They suggested I mark it with lipstick so they could take a look when I bring him back in.

Lipstick is hard to come by in this household (nonexistent in mine), so Anna thought we could mark that side growth with Halloween face paint instead.  The hard part of this procedure is, because they'll need to sedate Dext to remove the growth, I'll have to keep him from eating breakfast on that Thursday morning.  Dexter doesn't understand the concept of not eating - anything - so I expect a lot of pushback on that one.  The vet said to have him at their office by 8:30 AM, and I said I'd bring him in as early as I could so I didn't have to deal with his non-breakfast distress.

COVID vaccine

I don't think I mentioned that when I was in Iowa, I tried to find someplace to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine specifically and was finally reduced to calling the Iowa Dept. of Health.  The woman I talked to listened carefully to my explanation of my traveling life and told me many places were refusing to give people a 2nd dose if they hadn't given them the 1st dose as well.  She said one couple who had gotten their 1st shots in Florida were now in Iowa looking for someone to give them their 2nd shot, and having a lot of trouble with it.  I honestly can't imagine what the problem would be if they have the little vaccination card that says what they got and when they got it, but apparently it's a thing.

The wait time between doses for the Pfizer vaccine is 3 weeks, and it's 4 weeks for the Moderna version.  I can't be certain I'll ever be anywhere even in 3 weeks, let alone 4, and certainly not so I can go back to the place I got the 1st dose.  All of that just reaffirmed to me that the J&J vaccine is the only possible one I can get.  

And yea! I finally got the vaccination the same Saturday Dext had his vet appointment.  David found a Walgreen's that's vaguely in this general part of town that said they had the Johnson&Johnson version available.  And just that same day I saw a news article that the government was going to stop shipments of the J&J doses until they'd cleared the manufacturing plant of concerns about proper conditions.  I'd been running a low-grade fever all morning and not feeling very well, making me think they wouldn't let me get the shot.  But I was also afraid that, if I waited until I was wholly healthy again, the J&J wouldn't be available for who knew how long.  So I decided to chance it.

And I was surprised that the Walgreen's took my temp and didn't say anything, so either my temp had gone down or they thought it was within a normal range.  And I got the shot.  My only side effect was immediate: the person giving me the shot was definitely not a pain-free shooter.  Other than that, I've had no side effects at all.

I won't be covered until Saturday, the 29th.  And even then I won't stop wearing a mask or gloves, because I'm worried about the variants and because I have so little faith in my fellow citizens that I'm convinced lots of them are walking around unprotected both by masks and by vaccinations.  Which means they could be dangerous.

Actually, I don't understand why people are being so weird about wearing a mask.  Tough guys in the Wild West did.  And it means you don't have to worry about having spinach caught in your teeth.  Where's the problem?

Weather

This area is having an unusual amount of rainfall these days.  In fact, I think it's rained at least a little every day since I've been here.  A few of those days have included thunder, and Anna put Gracie's Thundershirt on for her, so I could learn how to do it right.

One day we had a tornado scare in the middle of the day.  Anna's and David's phones suddenly let off an alert about possible scary weather.  I put the dogs on their leashes, stuffed Lily in her crate (she was not happy about that and said so, often), Anna pulled a couple of dog beds into the hallway, we closed the doors and all hunkered down until the weather service (Anna had them on Facebook) said the danger had passed us.

It reminded me of doing the same thing in Waco in the '50s - Momma gathering us kids together in the hallway and closing the doors and waiting for tornadoes to pass.  I remember it being a little scary and a little fun - Momma tried to distract us with games and things.

This time it was my dogs that were nervous, because they knew we'd never done this before and they could tell we (the humans) were worried.  Lily was just displeased.  Very vocally.

So for now . . .

. . . we're all doing okay - even Gracie, who's getting better every day.  It's an adjustment being in a house instead of our little mobile home, but the dogs love having a back yard with grass and plants, and Lily likes having so much room to roam around in.  And I'm gradually getting past this infection and also feeling better knowing that I'm taking care of some of the things that have been on my mind.

. . . and then drove back to Texas

Hillsdale State Park, Paola KS

Thursday, 6 May 2021

Lake Eufala State Park, Checotah OK

Friday, 7 May 2021

David & Anna's house, Richardson TX

Saturday, 8 May 2021

I didn't take any notes during my drive south, because I wasn't feeling well and was almost solely focused on getting back to Texas safely.  So for this post, I'm relying solely on my memory.

Kansas

I know that we stayed at Hillsdale State Park during my month in Kansas, but things were a little different this time around: they would accept a reservation only in one section of the park, which wasn't the section I'd stayed in before.  For some reason I had a real problem understanding the park's website and finally just called the campground for help.  A very nice woman took the time to understand my concern (crowded campground and 2 bouncy lab mixes) and found a campsite that worked perfectly for us.  It backed up to a road, so all we had to do was walk across a small field and we could avoid other dogs (helpful because there were many nearby).  This section of the campground had unusually large campsites, so there was lots of space between ours and our neighbors - also helpful.

I'd forgotten that when I spent my month in Kansas, I bought a year pass to the state parks to help lower the price.  That applied only to a calendar year, and I tried a while back to remove the sticker from my windshield when it expired, but with no luck.  The campground host sold me a one-day pass, since I didn't figure I'd need one for the year, and he loaned me a razor to take off last year's sticker.  Nice of him.

It was beautiful when we got there, but then it got really cold at night, and there was a strong wind blowing, which made the temp seem even colder.  That's the same strong wind that had been blowing while we were driving from Iowa.  Google said it'd take me just over 4 hours to make the trip, but it actually took several hours longer because of stops.

Oklahoma

There's a section of highways in OK that gives me trouble every time I'm there.  Up in northeastern OK, several toll roads and several state and local roads all come together within a fairly small area.  When I'm driving through, I'm having to take all sorts of little roads to transfer from one state road to another while avoiding the toll roads, and every time I've gotten lost.  I've finally decided Google just can't handle it - my refusing to take a toll road - and it's muffing the directions on the local roads.

This trip was no exception.  I spent at least an extra hour driving back and forth on roads Google hadn't bothered to mention, trying to find the ones it did mention.  At one point I stopped in the driveway of someone's ranch and consulted the compass David and Anna gave me for Christmas.  And that was weird because it told me I was going east when I was absolutely certain I was going west.  For at least a minute I decided the compass was broken.  Then I came to my senses and decided to explore the idea that I wasn't where I thought I was.  So back down that road yet again, finally stopping in a partly empty parking lot and pulling out my trusty AAA map and figuring out where I really was.  That map was right.  

I didn't have a whole lot of spare energy, thanks to the continuing diarrhea and dehydration.  Once I'd gotten out of this scrambled highways mess I still had almost 2 hours of driving to go.  Google said today's drive would take me 5 hours, but of course it took much longer than that.

I've never stayed at Lake Eufala before, mostly because it's so popular it's hard to get a reservation.  I honestly don't know how we got this one on a Friday night.  And it turned out to be the absolutely perfect spot.  Most of the RV campsites seemed to be set up in pairs, with the utilities for each pair next to each other, which would have the RV pairs back to back, in a way.  Their cabin doors would open away from each other so they could have their picnics or whatever in separate areas.

My pair of spaces was almost a quarter of a mile away from all the others, and the other RV in my pair was owned by a couple about my age (without dogs) who were clearly not the wild-party type but instead had come out to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature.   This set-up let me walk my dogs around the area without worrying about other dogs, always a relief.  

And in the morning, it was a beautiful day with a pleasant temperature and a mild breeze and serious bird songs - I walked the dogs a couple of times but mostly just sat with the windows open enjoying the incredible peace and tranquility of the situation.  Google told me it'd be a 3-hour drive from there to David & Anna's house, which I figured meant a 5-hour drive, but that still gave me a chance to just relax and enjoy the wonderful dose of nature we had.  I think we didn't leave until nearly 10:00.  Given OK's roads and traffic on a Saturday, the tranquility didn't last long, but it was nice while I had it.

I took US 69 south to Atoka OK, where I ran into US 75, which runs right through Dallas and about 2 miles from my family.  Today too we had a hard time finding a place to stop for a break and a walk and some lunch, and I finally just pulled into a casino parking lot set aside for semis.  Lousy place to walk because of no grass, but at least we got a little bit of a break.

Texas

We pulled into the driveway in mid-afternoon, David and Anna helped me unload a bunch of stuff, including the critters, and I took the RV down the street and locked it.  Very odd to leave it, since for the last 40 months (nearly), we've spent every day living in it and every night sleeping in it.  So I was sick and disoriented and tired and sleepy, but here I wouldn't have to shoulder all my burdens alone, and that's worth a lot.

. . . and spent days in the campground . . .

Newton/Des Moines East KOA, Newton

Sunday, 2 - Wednesday, 5 May, 2021

Over the course of these days, I came to realize that I was once again the victim of that stomach flu I'd had in January.  I had terrible diarrhea, which left me dehydrated and low on sleep.  I had a low-grade fever, no energy, and little interest in food.  Walking the dogs took almost all my energy during the first few days.  I don't know why I keep getting this illness.  I wash my hands; I wash my food; I wash my dishes; I don't even kiss my pets, let alone let them lick me; I don't eat spoiled food.  And I don't actually remembering ever having this particular illness before 4 months ago.  And now, the 2nd time.  Yuck.

I did get a few things done.  I made and kept an appointment for Lily to have her claws clipped and her flea medicine applied.

I took my RV to a tire shop and had them check my right rear tire that looked too low - and it was too low.  They filled it with air and checked all the tires to be sure I was okay and didn't charge me a nickel.  Nice folks.

I called every RV place I could find in Iowa to find someone who could fix my cabin door.  Nobody was willing to even look at it for at least the next 2 weeks and, since they were all in the Des Moines area, I couldn't see how I could tour Iowa and still get the door fixed.  One of the places I called suggested I get in touch with the place where I'd bought it to find out if this was a problem under recall.  I called the dealer twice, left messages, and never got a return call.

The door flew open again, by the way, when I was driving back to the campground from my trip to town.  Luckily I was on a semi-residential road instead of a highway.  Clearly, it's not safe as it is.

And after days went by with my illness not really abating much and my door not looking like it was going to get fixed soon and feeling overwhelmed with it all, I threw in the towel.  I emailed David and Anna and asked if we could all come stay for a while while I got these problems tended to.  And generous people that they are, they agreed without hesitation.  This time, I suggested we do what they'd wanted me to do a year ago, which was to stay in the house with them and park the RV down the street in the neighborhood overflow parking lot.  We were all hoping it wouldn't be there long, that I'd be able to get it in to a repair shop and let it sit there instead.

So I planned a driving route back to Texas, made campground reservations, and got us ready to take another trip.  At least, this time I figured I'd be a safer driver than the last trip.

But this is why Iowa will not be my 30th state.  I'll have to put it off until later.  A real shame, because I've really been looking forward to seeing what Iowa has to offer.

I went to Iowa . . .

Newton/Des Moines East KOA, Newton 

Saturday, 1 May 2021

My plans to get an early start and see several places in Iowa before going to tonight's campground got torpedoed during the night.  It turned out that fever I had last night meant I was actually sick.  I slept until about midnight, then got up to deal with diarrhea, back to bed and slept until about 3:00, got up for more bathroom time and to walk the dogs, then back to bed and slept until 8:00 AM.  I never sleep that late, but I'd lost a lot of sleep during the night. 

By the time I decided I actually had to get up (not only did I already have a reservation in Iowa but also the campsite I was in had been reserved by someone else for tonight), I realized the most I'd be able to ask of myself was to simply drive straight to tonight's campground.  No sightseeing on the way.

today's route - sort of

I can't find a map of Iowa, so I'm using a close-up shot of this US map (dated 2009) I have.  The little box on US 36 east of St. Joseph in MO is about where Pershing State Park is, and I've boxed in Newton, east of Des Moines, where we'll stay tonight.

We finally got on the road at 9:30.  I drove northwest, mostly along miscellaneous MO highways (MO 145, MO Hwy B, MO Hwy N) until I got to I-35.  Given my somewhat precarious physical condition, I knew today wasn't the day to spurn interstates.  I-35, the highway that runs throughout the US from Texas to Minnesota, runs directly through Des Moines.

In northern MO, I saw more of those watch-out-for-Amish-buggies signs - and then I saw an actual Amish buggy along the road.  I also saw an Amish man using a team of horses to plow a field.

Princeton, pop. 1,166, claims to be the Birthplace of Calamity Jane.

I take notes as I drive, so I can remember later what I saw along the way.  My notes for this drive are right on the edge of illegible.  Partly that's because many of the roads I took weren't great, partly it's because we had a very strong wind today that blew us around, and partly it's because I wasn't feeling well and was having a hard time staying awake besides.  What a day.

Then I came to a sign: "The People of Iowa Welcome You."  I thought that was nice.

Soon after crossing the border, I stopped at the Iowa Welcome Center, which I was assured online was open.  It was open, but I was surprised at how strictly they enforced the mask-wearing rule.  While a welcome center worker was helping me, a man came in to join his wife who was already looking at brochures - and the man wasn't wearing a mask.  The worker who was helping me told him in no uncertain terms that he'd have to leave and put a mask on before coming back in.  He left and didn't come back.  Don't know what his problem was - his wife was wearing a mask.  

The worker was very helpful trying to figure out what I might want to see in Iowa.  I hadn't realized until she mentioned it that the "bridges of Madison County" are here in Iowa.  I did know that "Field of Dreams" is here.  I'm not sure how interested I am in either of those, but it's nice to know.  I came away with an armload of brochures to sort through.

I drove north on I-35 to Des Moines, then turned east on I-80 about 35 miles to Newton, home of tonight's campground.  

I was really sorry to miss the stops I'd planned for today's drive - the county courthouse in Mt. Ayr, the Freedom Rock in the neighboring town of Diagonal, the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset.  But I'd started so late it just wasn't possible.  What's more, my driving became more erratic as time went on, and I actually had drivers honk at me twice because I was having so much trouble staying in my lane.  I realize now I had no business being on the road because I kept falling asleep.  It was just luck, I guess, that kept disaster from happening.  I've driven when I was sleepy before, but it's never been like this.

We were also lucky that the campground wasn't nearly as full as I'd've expected for a Saturday night, so I was able to walk the dogs without any disasters there either.  Tonight was an early night.

My month in Missouri

My take on Missouri

where I went this month

Missouri's land

The land is one of the things that surprised me most about Missouri.  I'm not sure now what I expected, but it's not what I saw.  I hadn't realized the Ozarks extended so far north into Missouri, so I was surprised at the genuine mountains I ran into.  It looked like the neighboring states - western Kentucky and northeastern Arkansas.  But once I realized they were there, I was surprised that they weren't an actual mountain range.  More like pockets of hills/mountains here and there.

I was also surprised that much of western Missouri looks a great deal like the neighboring states' - Kansas and Oklahoma - farmland "where the wind comes sweeping down the plain."  

But the majority of the land in Missouri was rural farming country, with hills everywhere.

Missouri also surprised me by being almost entirely rural.  It's got 2 large cities - St. Louis and Kansas City - and several medium-sized ones - Springfield & Columbia - and some smaller ones - Joplin and Jefferson City.  But more than 2/3 of the population live in rural areas: Missouri ranks #21 among the states for size, but only #30 for population density.

It's a beautiful state, with mountains and caves, major rivers and forests, farmland and recreational areas.  It has geological oddities like the Elephant Rocks, and it sits on a major geologic fault line - the New Madrid Fault, that tracks along the Mississippi River, which is Missouri's eastern border.

Missouri's people

Like other states in this part of the country, Missourians weren't as friendly as I'd expected them to be.  You could say Missouri sits between 2 areas - the Midwest and the South.  I expected it to be a Southern state, and to have folks be as friendly as most Southerners are.  Instead, I found it to be a Midwestern state, where folks were friendly once they got started, but I had to work at getting them started.  Most people just didn't want to talk to me - even to say hi, let alone comment on the weather.

When I could get them to talk, everyone told me they liked where they were living, usually either because they liked their neighbors or because they liked how quiet and/or beautiful the area was.  I found one guy who told me he liked where he was living because they had 4 seasons of weather.  There was that one odd comment I got from the guy who'd moved to St. Louis (where he found folks to be smug) from Kansas City (where they weren't), but he still said he was glad he'd moved.  I didn't find anybody who said they'd rather be living somewhere else.

I found 2 dark sides to Missouri, though.  One was the number of social problems they seemed to have, based on the state's billboards advertising help for drug use by kids, drug addiction treatment, suicide prevention.  But I was really impressed that the state was stepping up to help.

The other dark side was the continuing strong attachment I saw to the Confederacy, which presumably extends to racial inequities.  It was in Ferguson, MO, in 2014 that unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a cop.  Remember that?  And that certainly wasn't the only such incident in this state.  

I saw several Confederate flags and what seemed to me a general celebration of Civil War history but, to be fair, only Virginia and Tennessee had more battles on their soil than Missouri did.  It's likely that no state was more schizophrenic over the war than MO: it was a slave state that sent 110,000 to fight for the Union and 40,000 for the CSA; it had a star on both those flags; it had dual state governments throughout the war.  And as far as I can tell, Missourians have still not come to grips with this duality.  Instead, the impression I got is that they think (as many congressional representatives do now about the attempted insurrection) that they can just put it all behind them by wishing it so.

An interesting people in an interesting land.

Driving in Missouri

Missouri's current license plate

They use a different color sticker for each year, so it's easy for cops to see whose registration is out of date. 

 As far as I know, Missouri is the only state to have a sticker - or anything else this shape - in the middle of their plates, making these easy to pick out from other plates at a distance.

Missouri drivers have apparently never had someone pull over from the lane of travel to let them pass.  I say that because most Missourians refused to pass me unless I came almost to a complete stop on the side of the road - even when there was plenty of visibility and passing was legal.

And in the full month I drove in this state, not one driver signaled thanks to me for pulling over.  Not even the truckers, who I assume drive all over and know what a thank-you looks like.  Very odd.

Many of the roads were fairly lousy, though I've still found none worse than Ohio's.  But lots of Missouri's could seriously use some resurfacing (not to mention the county roads I found that weren't surfaced at all).  But I was impressed with the state's warning signs, and they were fairly good at telling me where I was most of the time.

What I didn't see that I wanted to see

Although the state's vastly more open now than it was a year ago, there are still many places closed, so I missed a lot.  Plus, I made a real effort to get to most parts of the state, which meant I had almost no time left over to visit the major cities.  I barely saw anything in Kansas City at all, and though I took a quick driving tour of St. Louis, I didn't actually go into anything

As a result of these factors, I missed a lot I wanted to see.  Aside from the things I mentioned in my daily posts, here are some of the other places a longer trip to Missouri could have yielded:

   * American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, both in Kansas City.  The Federal Reserve Bank in KC offers tours of its Money Museum.  

   * Also in KC is the Nelson Art Gallery, known for its outstanding collection of Asian art.  It also has the largest collection open to the public of Thomas Hart Benton works, and the largest collection in the US of Henry Moore bronzes.  From its webpage, it looks like it'd take a week to see everything the museum has to offer.

   * The northwestern town of Gallatin has what's called a "squirrel cage jail," one of only 3 rotating jails in the US.

   * Near St. Louis is Grant's Farm, home of the Busch Clydesdales.

   * Also in St. Louis, the Cathedral of St. Louis (I took a photo of the exterior) has the world's largest mosaic collection.

   * Other museums in St. Louis include: the American Kennel Club's Museum of the Dog; the Museum of Black Inventors; the National Video Game and Coin-Op Museum; the state history museum (currently open only at 25% capacity using timed admission tickets).

   * Missouri has a number of caves that have tours, one of the best of which is the Meramec Caverns, operated by the state and currently closed for the virus.

   * The Missouri town of St. Mary has a bridge across the Mississippi River to the Illinois town of Kaskaskia - a town that's inaccessible from Illinois.  It can be reached only via this bridge from Missouri which, at times, is flooded, limiting access only by boat.

   * The official state history museum is inside the capitol in Jefferson City.  Guided tours of the capitol itself allow visitors to go places the ordinary public isn't allowed, including the House Lounge where an enormous mural by Thomas Hart Benton (MO native) shows MO's history.

I could have easily spent 3 months here with all the things Missouri has to offer that I'd like to see.  Aside from sheer lack of time, one of my biggest problems was finding campsites near the big cities.  I hadn't anticipated how difficult it'd be to find nearby places to stay so wasn't prepared.  Now that I know, I know I'd need a lot of lead time to locate and reserve places to stay.  The smaller towns were much less problematic.

My conclusion

I liked Missouri in general.  It's a beautiful state with a lot to offer just about anyone.  

The state parks system is a good one, though not really geared for those of us who are technology-challenged.  

My only real problem was that the people were on the clannish side and just didn't want to talk to me.  Not sure why - I tried to be friendly, I was wearing a mask, I was asking what they liked about where they lived.  But most folks didn't much want to strike up a conversation.  

So I guess the summary is that Missouri may have 4 seasons, and it may have 2 political parties (though I'm not sure about that), and it certainly has a lot of natural beauty and interesting places, but anyone who thinks of moving here should probably plan on it taking a long time for the neighbors to warm up.  Definitely not a Southern state, regardless of the apparent affection for the Confederacy I saw around.

Missouri - Days 29 & 30 - in Pershing State Park

Pershing State Park, Laclede

Thursday, 29 and Friday, 30 April 2021

I had a busy couple of days here in the campground.

Thursday's weather wasn't so great after all the rain Wednesday night, and we had actual inches of water right outside the cabin door - neither dog even wanted to go for a walk when they realized they'd have to plunge into that pond just to get out.  And none of us had slept very well Wednesday night because of the thunder and all.  Thunder doesn't bother me, but I still finally got up at 1:30 AM after lying awake for an hour or so.

I did several loads of laundry so I'd be cleaned up before starting my month in Iowa; took a shower; changed the sheets on my bed.

I cleaned all the RV's windows - no small matter.

I wrote 6 blog posts, to try to catch up before the month was over.

I spent at least an hour retaping the torn screen on my cabin door.  I'd wanted to for months, but it'd always been too cold or too windy.  Finally, on Friday we had beautiful weather.  No wind to speak of, just an occasional breeze, pleasant temperature, sunny sky.  So I took this chance to mend that screen.  It's getting close to bug weather, after all.

I conquered my fear of not doing this right and finally put up this map on the outside of the RV.

I still ended up putting it on a little crooked, but it's on.  I'd had it for at least a month, waiting till I'd worked up my nerve.  The directions say to work slowly and carefully because once it's on, it's permanent.  I've gotten conflicting stories on that from various campers I've asked - most say it stays on despite the weather, but a few others say they have to keep sticking it down.  We'll see.

Of course I also took the dogs for many walks.  One of the nice things that happened was that, after all that rain Wednesday night, we heard a deafening chorus of frogs on Thursday and Friday mornings.  Seriously, they were incredibly loud, and incredibly varied in their songs.  I can't even imagine how many species there were in the area to produce all those different songs.  It was great.

And then when daylight came we got a loud chorus of birds - all different kinds of birds - singing as if there were some kind of competition with the frogs to see who could be louder.  Such a nice aftermath from all the thunder and rain.

In the campground I saw a flicker and a Red-headed Woodpecker - both of which are great birds.

Friday afternoon, the campground was starting to fill up, so I took the dogs down the road a ways to give them some exercise without running into other dogs.  We found a picnic area, and the start of a hiking trail, and some geological information about the area.

One of the reasons the park was named for Gen. Pershing is that, when he was young, he used to visit this area.  Stands to reason since his home was only a couple of miles from here, and this would be a good place for a boy to play.  Today, the park is the only large wetland area the state owns.  They say it's "one of the few remaining northern Missouri wetland landscapes."

see detail below

see detail below

It was while we were walking back from this picnic area that I realized I wasn't feeling well.  I had almost no energy and was having even more trouble than Gracie in walking up the slight hill back to the campground.

I finally took my temperature at 7:00 PM and found it was 102.7°.  Not an appropriate end to my month in Missouri, let alone an auspicious beginning to my month in Iowa.

Missouri - Day 28 - driving through central Missouri

Pershing State Park, Laclede

Wednesday, 28 April 2021

today's route

On the road

Knowing that today's route would take a full day of driving, we got on the road just before 7:00.  I first drove the few miles from the campground into Camdenton.  Though I'd seen the courthouse there a couple of days ago, this time I managed to get a photographable view of it.

Camden County Courthouse
in Camdenton

The courthouse, built 1931, sits at the intersection of 2 state highways, and unusually the building faces the point of this triangular piece of land.  That meant I couldn't get a clear view of the front from either road, but today I was sitting at the front of the line at a traffic light and real quick grabbed this photo.

After I mentioned the other day that I hadn't seen any passing lanes in Missouri, today I came across 4 of them.  Very welcome on these narrow, winding, hilly state roads.

I passed a road called Up and Down Drive.

I came to the Pomme de Terre State Park, which is on the Pomme de Terre Lake, which was created from the Pomme de Terre River.  The State thinks the name came from French explorers in the region who saw the local Native American tribes digging up a root that looked similar to potatoes - hence the name "pomme de terre," French for potato.  Various websites say this area is underused because it's relatively unknown, but that it has great muskie fishing.

I drove through a long series of serious hills, past green fields, farmhouses, cows and horses.

In one field I saw a pickup driving through the cows in the field and I saw 2 cows make a maneuver I wouldn't have thought a cow could do.  Remember the scene in Pretty Woman when Richard Gere takes Julia Roberts shopping and tells her to get rid of her gum, so she spits it out into the gutter, narrowly missing 2 women walking along the sidewalk?  That maneuver the women had to make to avoid the gum - that's what I saw these cows do.  I swear.

Hermitage

We came to the town of Hermitage, pop. 467, which was - yes - named for Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage.  And it's the county seat of Hickory County which was - yes - named for "Old Hickory" himself.

Hickory County Courthouse
in Hermitage

This courthouse, built in 1896, didn't have the kind of impressive front door I usually associate with county courthouses.  I drove around all 4 sides of this one, just to be sure this really is the front.  But 1896 was a long time ago, this is a small county, and oddly this county went for many years without any courthouse at all, when fires destroyed the previous ones.  So I guess these folks prefer to put their money someplace that will do some good, besides just being for show.

Back on the road

Today I saw lots of flowering dogwood.  

And in the 250 or so miles I drove today, I saw 14 Trump signs/flags.  Well, Missouri is, after all, the show-me state.

I was driving on a 2-lane road through farming country when I saw 5 Amish children cutting through a fence to get to the road, just as a semi without a trailer was coming by.  The girls waved and the boys jerked their arms down, and the nice semi driver obliged by blaring his horn for them.  My thought: life happens all around us, but we don't always get to see it.  And sometimes seeing it is the unexpected gift that this trip has given me.

I saw a billboard funded by the state that said, "Despite what you've heard, naloxone does work on fentanyl.  Carry naloxone."  The State says opioid deaths are steadily increasing in Missouri, and in 2018 1 in each 56 deaths was due to opioid overdose.  I'm impressed that they're trying to do something constructive about it.

Warsaw

Coming into downtown Warsaw (pop. 2,127 in 2010), I passed Chuck's Bail Bonds - "Don't Get Stuck, Call Chuck."  Which would have helped me locate the county courthouse if I'd needed the help.

Benton County Courthouse
in Warsaw

This building was built in pieces: in 1886, 1 firm put in the foundation, walls and roof; then in 1887, the county hired a separate firm to finish it.  Can't say I've heard of a building being pulled together quite like that.

Warsaw has an establishment called the Cow Pattie Restaurant.  Not the most appetizing name I've ever heard.  But the downtown area seems fairly prosperous and pleasant-looking for a small old town.

Back on the road

Heading west from Warsaw on MO Hwy. 7, I crossed 2 arms of Harry S Truman Lake, with bridges I hadn't expected.  The first was the longer of the 2 - Osage Arm - and the bridge is known locally as the Mile Long Bridge, because it's 5,128' long.  The other - Grand River Arm - is somewhat shorter, though I can't find a length online.  Not only had I not expected these bridges, but they were both 2 lanes only (1 for each side) and I couldn't follow my usual practice of taking an inside lane to avoid my fear of bridges.  I had to drive across both long bridges, without warning and without protection.  But I did it.

Halfway between the 2 bridges is the Truman State Park.  Also lots of RV "resorts" and motels and storage places.  Also the unincorporated towns of Racket and Coal, and the village of Tightwad, pop. 64 in 2010.  I looked up the origin of that name and came across a great deal more, including the Tightwad Bank that has depositors from all 50 states (so they can use the checks with the bank's name on them).  Here's the article that explains the town.   https://missourilife.com/tightwad-for-a-day

MO 7, by the way, was a seriously rough road.  We hit some bumps that jolted us much more than usual.

That metal piece hanging at an angle is an over-the-door rack that's always
 hooked over the other closet door.  One of the bumps we went over was so
serious it somehow made this rack come unhooked from the door and land,
as you see, half on and half off the other door.  With that kind of dislocation,
I'm astounded we didn't have some actual damage to the RV.  Or to us.

Clinton

The town of Clinton, pop. 9,008, seems like a city but with an old-fashioned downtown and courthouse square.  I saw 4 people standing on the sidewalk, praying, across from the courthouse.  Just regular people, they looked like - not a political statement or anything.

Henry County Courthouse
in Clinton

This building, which was finished in 1893, originally included a tower 127' tall, as shown in the mural (at left) that I found on a local building.  The tower was created by a steel framework covered with copper and stucco - not exactly permanent building fabrication.  Unsurprisingly, it began leaking almost as soon as the building was completed, and despite repairs over the years, it kept on leaking until - over the heated protests of local historic preservationists - the county voted to tear it down.  The result is shown in my photo (above).

When I was trying to leave Clinton, I got sent on a strange detour that took me several miles on narrow residential streets, then suddenly on a 2nd detour when a bridge on the 1st detour was closed - and then no signs saying the detour was ending or which way to go to resume my original route.  This detour depended entirely on local knowledge.  I came to a T intersection that said I had come to a street I wanted, but I had to guess which way to turn.  Luckily I guessed right, but it was disorienting.  

Back on the road

For the 2nd time today I saw a turtle in my lane, and for the 2nd time I barely missed it.  Both times I wanted to stop and get it out of the roadway, and both times it was impossible because of the traffic.

I passed through Calhoun, pop. 469, that bills itself as Jug Town USA, which turns out to be because of local pottery products.  In the mid-1800s there were as many as 6 pottery businesses operating at once, and their products were shipped all over the country.  There's still at least one such business - Jugtown Pottery, established 1917 - that's gearing back up for business now that the pandemic is coming under control.  I understand the point of the name, but it calls to my mind moonshine jugs, not today's nice pottery products, so It's almost as if they're devaluing their product.  But that's just me.

I started heading due north on US 65, passing large cropfields.  Some still had last year's hay bales sitting on them, others had been recently plowed.

We got to Sedalia, pop. 21,387, where I'd been a couple of weeks ago, and where I was seriously counting on finding a place to stop and have lunch and take a break.  But Google's routing took me completely around it - we were just barely skirting the edge with fast food places and tire shops and gas stations, but no parks or churches or neighborhoods where we could stop and rest.  We were out of town and back in the country before I'd even realized we weren't going to be going through town.  So I kept driving but I was feeling tired and hungry and guilty for not taking better care of my critters who were all feeling like I was.

I've noticed that many places in MO aren't open all year.  Many have signs or online notices saying they open on March 15th or April 1st each year.  I wouldn't have thought the weather would be that bad in this state, but maybe it's a problem for all these rural areas - getting supplies and keeping the roads plowed and convincing tourists to come despite the weather.

Marshall

When we got to Marshall, pop. 13,065, my first priority was for us to take a break, which we did.  Then we looked for the county courthouse.

Saline County Courthouse
in Marshall

Isn't this something?  It was built in 1882 and, per Wikipedia, is a "two-story, cruciform plan, red brick building and measures 100' by 110'.  It features a 4-stage, square clock tower with a pyramidal slate roof atop the intersecting wings."  That's so you can fully appreciate what my photo can't show very well.

Marshall has another claim to fame that's on one of the corners of the courthouse square: the former home of Jim, The Wonder Dog.  Really.

this is Jim

this is about Jim

You can see that Jim's statue is in a nice little garden, and all around the garden are signs explaining why Jim was a wonder dog.  I wouldn't dream of depriving you of them, so here they are.

1.  Jim the hunter

2.  Early signs

3.  Other performances

4.  Unexplainable feats

5.  Well known

Pearl's stories

7.  The final chapter

Back on the road

Continuing north, I noticed that I've seen lots of fields that had corn in them last year, but so far haven't seen any that look like they've been replanted.  Do farmers just let the cornfields sit fallow for a year?  I thought they planted some other crop that would revitalize the soil.  And maybe they have, but the fields don't look like it.

Near Brunswick, pop. 858, "Missouri's Pecan Orchard on the Missouri River," I saw an odd sight.  Three dogs, all different sizes and breeds, trotting across a plowed field, looking as if they knew where they were going, but I couldn't see that they were going anywhere except the road I was on.  It reminded me of those stories I've heard about animals making cross-country trips on their own, with movies like The Incredible Journey, which I haven't seen but apparently should.  I'm sure they all belonged on the farm they were crossing, but it's not a scene I've ever seen before.  Farm animals have always before been in the farm yard, or with the family, or in a pickup - like that.

At Keytesville, pop. 471, I found one of the more unprepossessing county courthouses I've seen yet.

Chariton County Courthouse
in Keytesville

This was built in 1975 and was not without controversy.  Some local residents thought a modern design unsuitable and submitted alternative plans.  But the county was already committed to the designer of this building and this is what they got.  Well, it's likely not got a wealthy tax base here.

I turned onto MO Hwy 5, and apparently ran smack into Amish country.  I passed 7 signs in only 22 miles warning me of horse-and-buggy outfits being possible and reminding me to "Share the Road."

Marceline

And then I was back in Marceline, pop. 2,233, Walt Disney's hometown.  I remember that when we came through here before, I'd decided to put off touring the Disney museum for another visit.  Well, I knew tonight's campground wasn't far down the road from here and decided this was the time for the tour.

Except when I got there, the nice man at the door told me a ticket for seniors was $9, and I didn't want to pay that much.  I'd've paid $5, or maybe even $6 at a stretch, but for some reason $9 was just too much.  Disney's family only lived here for 4 or 5 years, and although he seemed to cherish those years himself, I just didn't believe the museum would have enough to intrigue me $9 worth.  Products from the Disney studios were a major feature of my childhood and I'm very grateful for the memories.  But I guess my interest in Walt Disney the person is limited.

I did buy a t-shirt, though.  And the dogs and I walked around the same town square we'd walked around 2 weeks ago when it was under a load of snow.  Easier to walk this time.

And then we drove the 20 miles down the road to tonight's state park.

Back to Pershing State Park

The camp hosts listened to me explain about how I had a reservation for tonight but not the next 2 nights and how the folks at the main parks office had told me to just come and hope for the best, and then they spent some time figuring out how to make that happen.  And they did.  So I had the campsite I wanted for 2 nights, and the one next to that for the 3rd night.

And I got my waste tanks emptied and the dogs walked and got us all set up just in time for the heavens to open up into some very heavy rain.  And thunder.  I'd left Gracie's Thundershirt on her all morning but took it off in Marshall - the day was getting warm and I hoped we were past danger of thunder.  So when it started back up again, I put her shirt back on her and turned up the AC to drown out some of the noise.  Poor thing.  Both Dexter and Lily get nervous with thunder, but Gracie is obviously terrified.  It was a tough night for all of them.