7-29-24 Lee's Summit, KS Part I

Call it dumb luck, call it serendipity, call it the hand of God.  Any way you look at it, it worked out perfectly.  First of all, we suffered brain fade and accidentally stayed an extra night in our last park, which in theory threw the whole remainder of the (pre-paid) trip off by a day.  On the plus side, we didn’t break camp in a downpour, but beyond that, the slide malfunction would have meant that the slide was partially deployed (and unsealed) in the deluge.  In addition, the next day was sunny for our drive to Blue Springs Campground in Lee’s Summit, where we waited over the weekend for parts.  Instead of checking out on Saturday, we were delayed till Tuesday (assuming the parts actually came in).  The down time allowed for a laundry day, the last one of this trek.    The repair was completed on Monday as we hoped.  The bad slide motor electrical wires and the whole unit was found to be dripping with water, thus shorting it out.  How this happened will forever remain a mystery but George, our repair guy, says he has seen it all, including that.  This whole comedy of errors shorted us by a day on the front end and added two days on the back end to allow for sight-seeing in Kansas City after all!  And as of tomorrow, the entire trip will be back on schedule!  (We even got a senior discount on our extra 2 nights in Lee’s Summit!)  (Frankly, I don’t consider it, “lucky,” to have time to do laundry…)  Uh oh.  When I double-checked the itinerary, I found that I had made our reservation at our next stop for June instead of July!  So we didn’t have a place to stay next!  Shit!  But we contacted Jennifer in Hutchinson, KS and she said we were not charged for those days because we didn’t actually show up!  However, she does have a slot for us for a one-nighter on Tuesday, so we’ll be off like a prom dress!

Noobee and the Jeepster in site 59,
Blue Springs Campground

I guess if you have to be delayed
by a few days, this is the
place to be!

 

Where did the word, “Kansas,” come from?  The Kansa Indian tribe, the Kansas, lived nearby.  Thus, Kansas City.  It is nicknamed, “The City of Fountains.”  There are 200 fountains in KC, second only in number in Rome, Italy.  Our guide, Trolley Tom, drove by many of them on our Sunday tour.  The Henry Wollman Block (as in H. & R. Block) fountain is in front of Union Station where we were to board our trolley. 

 

When Rob made our tour reservation, it was suggested that we plan time to walk inside Union Station.  It is massive and a monumental achievement designed by architect Jarvis Hunt.  Construction began on August 27, 1910 and it took 4 years to complete.  The floor plan is 850,000 sq. ft., the ceilings are 95 ft. high in the Grand Hall, the clock face is 6 ft. in diameter and each chandelier weighs in at 3,500 lb. 

Passenger Hall then

Passenger Hall now -
Along the sides, you see the
doorways to the stairways down
to the tracks.

To the side is another massive hall where folks sat waiting to board their trains on 16 tracks down below.  In size, this station is second only to Grand Central Station in NY.  In the center of the Grand Hall is the ticketing booth.  As you can imagine, it is huge and now, it is the location of Harvey House Restaurant. Created by Fred Harvey in the mid-1800s, Harvey  thought train food was disgusting, inedible and the service sucked.  He made a deal with the Santa Fe Railroad to operate eateries along their lines.  The food was exceptional and he hired and trained good-looking single women, “of good character,” to serve meals.  They became known as, “Harvey Girls.”  Harvey kicked ass and it was a class act.

Escalator and stairway down 
to the lower level

3,500 lb. chandelier

Walt Disney is an icon 
in Kansas City

Union Station and the 
Block Fountain

Grand Hall and the 
Ticket Office - Now, Harvey's
House Restaurant

 

Harvey Girl's uniform
(A Harvey Girl had to agree
not to marry for 6 months
after being hired.)

Lindy in Union Station 

Steamboat Arabia was built in 1851 and transported passengers and cargo up and down the unruly Missouri River.  In 1856, the sidewheeler and a fallen underwater tree had a run-in and the tree won.  All of the 150 passengers and crew survived but the steamboat and all of its cargo were swallowed up quickly by the Missouri and covered with silt and muck.  No one ever saw the boat again until 132 years later when it was found 45 feet underground ½ mile from the Missouri River after it changed course.  It was uncovered and restored and every item in it was found to be perfectly preserved including clothing, china, food (including canned fruit and pickles) and wine.  (I’d be happy to try the wine.  The food, not so much.)  Parts of the ship were also recovered including the machinery and the paddlewheel and all can be seen at the Steamboat Arabia Museum.

Steamboat Arabia

To be continued -

7-26-24 Keokuk, IA

Rob planned the trip out from home, I planned the trip back to home.  How did Keokuk, Iowa make the roster?  Let me explain how it works:  I have a USA map (Yes, a paper one.) laid out in front of me.  Kansas City was a bucket list item for me.  I don’t know what the haps are in KC, therefore, I need to find out.  So I put my L finger on KC and my right finger on Utica.  Then, I ballparked a midway point and Keokuk, IA won this one.

 

There is a paddlewheel steamboat permanently dry-docked in town.  It was originally the S.S. Thorpe until George M. Verity bought it.  The function of the Verity was to push barges up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.  George made good use of it to move the coal necessary to manufacture his product, Armco steel.  The Verity is now a museum and visitors can explore all over the vessel, including the engine room, boiler room, living quarters, mess and the bridge.  The boat was capable of moving 10,000 tons of cargo, 20,000,000 pounds, on the barges it pushed up and down the river.  A flood in 2008 did serious damage to the Verity and it was brought out of the water and put on land.

Verity's paddlewheel and one
of the 3 rudders

Among the crew, there were 2 or 3 women
who did laundry and cooked the meals.
This is the kitchen area and the table
where the big shots ate.

Stinky guys,
like the ones who worked in
the engine room, were 
relegated to eating in this
separate area where the women
didn't have to smell them.

Captain Rob

One of the huge pistons that
drive the paddlewheel

In the boiler room

George M. Verity

Flood of 2008 that damaged the Verity

Diver's shoe weighted with
about 25 lb. of lead.  Would you
jump in the water wearing these?
Me, neither!

Crew's quarters

The engineer in the engine room 
could communicate with the
Captain by shouting into this
horn or putting an ear to it to listen.

 

The 38’ drop in the Mississippi River at Keokuk and the shallowness of the water made it impossible to navigate.  Back in about 1907, bids went out to anyone who might want a dam project.  Three hundred bids went out.  There was not much interest in this massive project.  There is a saying, “When Hell freezes over.”  Back then, it was, “When someone dams the Mississippi River.”  Of the bids that went out, there was only one proposal submitted:  by Hugh Lincoln Cooper.  He was a self-educated civil engineer and a genius who considered no challenge too great.  He had just finished building a hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls and was hungry for a new challenge.  Cooper designed and oversaw the dam project and it was completed in 2 ½ years.  It originally called for 30 generators but the flow of water could effectively drive 15.  Still, this was a substantial number and was considered the largest power plant in the world at that time.  To this day, the achievement of Hugh L. Cooper generates enough electricity to power 75,000 homes.  The associated Lock # 19 accomplished 1,769 lockages last year assisting in the transportation of over 15 million tons of goods.  It could easily be considered one of the engineering wonders of the world.

View of the dam from upstream

One of the original turbines

This trophy was presented to
Hugh Cooper by the citizens of
Keokuk as a thank you for creating
the lock, dam and power plant.
He left it in Keokuk when he departed
saying that it rightfully belonged here.

Cooper's thank you document

A white pelican teenager 
hanging out below the dam

Power plant and lock # 19

Cooper's drafting table in the museum

 

The only national cemetery in Iowa is in Keokuk.  It originated during the Civil War when 600 Union soldiers and 27 unknown soldiers died in the military hospital here.  Eight confederate soldiers were also buried here when they died in prison.  It is now the resting place of more than 6,000 servicemen and women and their spouses.  The oldest gravestones have no birth or death dates and we presume that these were those who died during the Civil War.

"Unknown"

Sentry guards our brave heroes

 

The second largest water tower in the nation is located here in Keokuk.  It holds 4 million gallons, that is 32 million pounds, of water.  Don’t ask me what the largest one is.  Google doesn’t know.  It was fun to see this monstrous structure.  I walked 134 steps around the base and by my calculations, that puts the base area of this big-ass water tower at roughly 5-6,000 square feet.  Just in case you’re wondering.

If you look closely, 
you can see Rob
at the base of the tower.

Looking up.... holy buckets!

 

This is all I know about Keokuk, IA.  We read our itinerary wrong and stayed one night more than originally planned.  Probably just as well because packing up on the day we were supposed to depart would have been accomplished in a deluge.  Three inches of rain fell in one hour and there were flash flood alarms screaming on our phones. 

More holy buckets and buckets!

We survived it but left a day late due to brain fade.  Unfortunately, we are also experiencing a slide malfunction.  We drove 320 miles today, including a one-hour-long detour, with the slide not fully retracted.  Naturally, these things happen on the weekend.  Our itinerary is modified now while our repairman waits for parts.  Shit happens to these beasts and we deal with it but we’re grumpy.  Now that we’re parked, a martini is helping to put some latitude in our attitudes!

Attitude adjustment in Noobee

7-22-24 Utica and LaSalle, IL

 The big money and commerce guys in our new country just had to find a water route so they could transport goods and people.  The farther the better, hopefully across the continent but not just yet.  Well, there was a problem at the south end of Lake Michigan.  They wanted to connect Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River.  The Illinois River was close but not close enough.  So they used slave labor (Irish immigrants) to dig a canal with picks and shovels to create the I & M Canal.  That is the Illinois and Michigan Canal and it connected Lake Michigan to the Illinois River and thus the Mississippi all the way to New Orleans. 

The I & M Canal connected
the south end of Lake
Michigan to the
Illinois River and thus,
basically, Europe to
New Orleans!

Goods and people were transported on boats pulled through the canal by mules who walked along the shoreline, pulling the boats with ropes.  That’s where we come in.  The Volunteer canal boat, pulled by Mo the Mule, transported us up and down the I & M Canal as the guides explained the history of the 1800s events.  Ryan walked along side of Mo.  Ryan is called a muleteer, a guy who drives mule teams.  The slang for that is, “mule skinner,” and don’t ask me why because I don’t know.

Ryan the mule tender and
Mo pull our canal boat.
(I know it doesn't look much
like a river.  Algae and scum.)

Canal boat Volunteer (replica)

Captain Nicholas

Ryan the. "mule skinner," and Mo
pull our boat.

Mule skinner Ryan

Mo and his babysitter and the
fellow at the tiller of our boat

Locks from the 1800s used 
by the packet boats

 

Aren’t we supposed to be heading west toward home?  What in the world are we doing in Utica, Illinois?  That’s a good question and I have the answer!  I have no idea where I learned of this but it has been on my bucket list for years:  The Middle East Conflicts War Memorial in Marseilles, IL.  In past years, we visited the war memorials in WA D.C.;  Korea, WWI, WWII, Viet Nam and gave thanks and paid our respects to the brave there but we had not done the same for those who gave all in the Middle East.  There was no monument for them.  I finally found this one.  Some of the dates of death go back to 1967.  There are 21 year old patriots’ names etched on the wall who died in the 1980s in the conflict in Beirut.  Many were victims of IEDs.  There are nearly 8,000 names on the panels.  The backdrop of the monument is the white waters of the Illinois River, a peaceful place of rest where you can sit on a park bench to take a moment.  By the way, this memorial was established in 2004 by a large group of motorcyclists as a finger to the war protestors in Chicago.  They organized what was named The Freedom Run Organization to fund the project.  On their first ride, they expected 3-400 cyclists to show up.  Surprise… 15,000!  The memorial was built 100% by volunteers and private donations.  Originally, there were 5 panels and today there are 15.  It is a beautiful, moving and stately monument.

A quiet moment for Rob

Middle East Conflicts War Memorial
in Marseilles, IL

For those of you who may
have an interest, you can
hover over this code with you
phone and a website will
help you find a name etched
on one of the panels.

 

We are parked at Starved Rock Family Campground.  Everywhere we see this:  Starved Rock grocery, Starved Rock hospital, Starved Rock car repair, Starved Rock Lodge, Starved Rock Hotel. So we paid a visit to the Visitor Center at… you guessed it… Starved Rock State Park.  Frontier legend has it that an Illinois warrior murdered Chief Pontiac of the Odawa tribe.  The Odawa retaliated, attacked the Illinois, chased them and forced them into retreat. 

Starved Rock from the other
side of the Illinois River.
Covered by a lot of trees and
shrubs a century later... 

The Illinois warriors found safety atop the monstrous rock, however, they were captive there until finally, they died of starvation.  There is no evidence that provides truth to this story, nevertheless, Starved Rock retains its name to this day.  The Starved Rock State Park and the surrounding area are a huge recreational attraction for Illinois residents.  There are dozens of hiking and biking trails, hotels, a big lodge with a wonderful restaurant (that serves walleye and fine wine), a variety of shops and great opportunities to watch water birds and eagles on their own island sanctuary.  Starved Rock is truly an unknown diamond in the rough for us. 

That's a BIG fireplace in the lodge!

The beautiful Starved Rock Lodge

 

Today is another day on the back roads through tiny towns like Princeville, Monica, Laura and Biggsville.  Some of the little country roads are in horrid shape;  irregular pavement, potholes and cracks galore.  Looks like the road crew guys didn’t go to Paving College, or maybe they called in sick on smoothing day.  Other roads were perfectly beautiful and, as Rob would say it, were paved by Road Scholars.  We’re settled in and it’s time to go have a look at the rest of the park.

And if you ever find 
yourself in LaSalle, IL,
you might want to stop
into the HAZE Smokehouse
for a quick bloody mary!