May 29 May 31

Sunday May 29, 2016

For the last couple of days we have been traveling through mostly farmland.  I had forgotten how peaceful this setting can be:  miles and miles of newly planted crops, so green and stretching towards the sun.  This is one of the reasons we try to take the “back roads” when we venture out to new places.  Yesterday is an example.  Who knew a tiny town of only 56 residents could be so charming?

This morning we drove on to Sibley, Missouri, where Ft. Osage is located.  It is a place Clark noted in his journal that would make a good site for a fort.  In 1808 he returned to this spot and helped supervised the construction of this fort.  It soon became a flourishing trading post, used by the early settlers, as well as the Osage Indians who were befriended by those living in the fort. 

We watched a short film, then walked through the replica of Ft. Osage.  Clark’s journal had a very detailed drawing of the original fort, so it was easy to make an accurate reproduction.  There were also detailed plans available of similar forts built during the same time frame, which are still preserved by the War Department.  When I saw how small the soldier’s barracks were, it was hard to imagine that as many as 81 men were housed there.  I was surprised that there was a separate cabin for the man who served as the interpreter.  He helped translate French, Osage and English, so I guess he was a very important member of the fort community.

Next we drove to Independence, Missouri and the home of President Harry S. Truman.  There was a short film about Truman’s life.  It was interesting to discover a parallel with the history of Ulysses S. Grant.  After Truman met Bess Wallace, courted and married her, the couple lived in her parent’s house.  It remained their home for 50 years.  It is a huge 2 story white frame residence on a quite street just 5 blocks from the visitor’s center.  Roger spent a couple of hours transmitting from this location, as this is another National Historic Site.

After leaving Independence, we located the small city park in Kansas City that has a huge, beautiful sculptured memorial with Lewis, Clark, York, Sacagawea holding baby Jean Baptiste and Seaman, Lewis’s dog.  The park overlooks the Missouri River.  If it had been winter, we could have seen the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers.  But the tall trees were in full foliage and blocked our view of that part of the river.

We found a Catholic church and attended 5:50 p.m. Mass.  Then we went to a barbeque restaurant recommenced to Roger by one of the people who has been supplying him with parts for the hexbeam antenna.  Kansas City is well known for its barbeque, so we had high hopes for a good meal.  Yet I was a little nervous when I noticed that Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque isn’t in the best part of town.  It is surrounded by a fence and has a security guard out front, at the gate.  But there was a line out the door of people waiting to get inside.  It took us 30 minutes to be served, but the food was good and there was plenty left over for us to have another meal, later.

After eating we drove to Raytown, about 19 miles south of Kansas City to a park where three different National Historic Trails converge:  the Santa Fe, California and Oregon Trails.   It is called Cave Springs and is owned by an association of local residents.  When we arrived, the attendant was just getting ready to close the gate.  Roger explained that he wanted to activate the park for the 100th anniversary of the National Parks.  Fortunately, the man was a member of the board of the park and was aware of the ham radio operator’s participation. We were so surprised he agreed to let us stay the night.  He pulled the gates together so they looked like they were locked and we had the whole place to ourselves.  It was just after midnight when Roger finished transmitting.

Monday May 30, 2016

Memorial Day

There was a cemetery across from Cave Spring.  It was beautifully decorated with large American flags on both sides of the driveway, about every 15 to 20 feet.  There must have been a hundred of them.  What a wonderful sight of patriotism!

We left the park and crossed the Missouri River into Kansas.  Roger gets additional credit for each state he transmits from.  We found a lovely little park in the city of Leavenworth, sitting right on the west bank of the river. The park even had a campground at one end.  We got out and took a walk around the park and found a couple of interpretive signs.  One explained that the state got its name from the Indians who lived in this area.  They called themselves the Kanza.  When you add the “s” for more than one, it becomes Kanzas.

After Roger transmitted for a while, we moved on to the City of Council Bluff, Iowa to the Mormon Trail, another National Park site.  The Visitor’s Center was closed on Monday and Tuesday, but we found a large open gravel area adjacent to the property.  So we parked there for the night and Roger radioed.  I read some of the Lewis and Clark material about this site and learned that this was the area where the First Native American Council with Lewis and Clark, the Missouri’s and Otoe’s occurred.  So Clark named it Council Bluff. 

Tuesday May 31, 2016

Roger transmitted again this morning, which made it almost noon when we left.  As we drove north I discovered an interesting feature on the farmland.  In places where a small creek crosses the fields, earthen dykes have been built on both sides.  I assume they serve the purpose of preventing flooding of crops during heavy rains.  It reminded me of the much larger concrete dykes all up and down the Mississippi River.

Our first stop was in Onowa, Iowa.  The state park has a replica of Lewis and Clark’s keelboat, floating next to a dock right on the Missouri River.  Inside the visitor’s center there are several displays on wildlife encountered by Lewis and Clark in this area.  It was here that they first encountered the badger and the bull snake, which makes a noise like a cow.  One really interesting exhibit had a long thick rope attached to an electrical device that measured a persons pulling power compared to the average current flow of the river.  It gives a true to life experience of the strength required to pull the keelboat.  A drawing next to the display showed 5 men pulling smaller rope extensions attached to the main line.  That’s sure a lot of strength required for navigation upstream!

Next we went into Sioux City, Iowa to the Southern Hills Mall.  It was supposed to have a collection of 36 murals designed and unveiled in 2003 for the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  After walking through the mall and asking 5 different people, no one knew anything about them.  Finally, I called the Local Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and was told that they had been taken down and put into storage.  It was such a disappointment.  I hope I remember to notify someone to remove this from the Lewis and Clark website.

We continued on our trip to just north of Vermillion, South Dakota, to the Spirit Mound.  Lewis and Clark took several men and climbed this conical hill on August 25, 1804.  The local Indian tribes believed the hill was occupied by spirits, because there was a “large assemblage of birds about this mound”(quote from Clark’s journal).  The men estimated the hill to be about 70 feet above the surrounding prairie.  Roger and I did not try to hike the trail to the top, but took pictures instead.  Ok, I admit I’m a wimp when it comes to exercise on a hot afternoon.

We decided to find a campsite for the night and located a Corps of Engineer campground with all the sites facing the river.  It was just south of Yankton, South Dakota, back across to the Nebraska side of the Missouri River. We registered for two nights, because we need a break from so much driving.  Roger also wants me to have some time to bird watch, as I have not yet located a new bird on this trip.