This post covers the last week of July and the first week of August in Missouri.
July
Our first adventure of this post was supposed to be our visit to Independence, Missouri with the Culvers. But the adventure actually started on the highway on the way to Independence. I was driving everyone in my truck with Scott in the front passenger seat and the girls in the back seat. As I drove down highway 29, a big rig kicked up a large piece of metal that looked like a loading ramp. In an instant, everything went into super slow motion. I saw the metal heading toward Scott, so I moved to the left as far as I could. It took me off the road with my left tires ending up in the dirt and mud of the center divider. This cause me to wobble and almost lose control of the truck. At the same time, the metal slammed into the front of the truck and then headed on down the highway to ruin someone else’s day as well. Overall, I considered us very lucky. We were all uninjured, and the damage was only to the front bumper, right front headlight, and a little bit of the right front fender. I’ll take that over anyone getting hurt. We pulled over, I used some tie wraps I had to tie everything together so the truck was safe to drive and we were off.
Our first stop was for lunch at Dixon’s Famous Chili.
The chili was different and interesting. It was basically chili seasoned ground beef. A whole plate of it. In the above picture, cheese and pickles were added to the plate of seasoned ground beef that was on top of a hamburger bun. This was a decent meal, but not like any chili I have ever had before. That being said, or written, I would eat there again. There is a link to Dixon’s at the end of this post. The next stop was to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.
This was a fascinating library, as I am sure most of them are.
We learned so much about President Truman. I had no idea the number of huge events that took place during his presidency. But first, just some of the general information (pictures) from the library. He was a soldier during World War I. He ended up as the Captain of an artillery battery in France and did not lose a man. Most of his men were from Kansas City.
Prior to shipping out to France, he became a mason and was very proud of that.
Upon his return from the war, he married his true love Bess and became a senator.
For political reasons, Truman was chosen as the vice presidential candidate during the Presidential Election of 1944. He was vice president for 82 days before President Roosevelt passed away, making him the president. He had met with the president only three times before becoming the president.
He was sworn in on a masonic bible.
And was not told about the Manhattan Project until he had been president for 12 days. Ultimately, he chose to use atomic bombs to end World War II. This choice alone would have been enough for one president. But he had several more tough decisions to make.
His next choice was whether or not to recognize Israel as a country. He chose to recognize them.
During his 1948 bid for re-election, he was projected to lose to Thomas Dewey. He won in spite of what the media projected.
During his second term, the McCarthy Hearings took place, looking for communism in America. Plus a little conflict eventually known as the Korean War.
President Truman was truly an ordinary man who had an extraordinary experience.
This is a must visit if you are anywhere near Independence, Missouri. There is a link at the end of this post. After an amazing visit at Truman’s Presidential Library, we headed off to celebrate wine and cheese day at the Belvoir Winery and Inn. And guess what. The place was alleged to be haunted. And it was very creepy. The wine was average, but the interior and bar were pretty neat.
This building was an orphanage run by the Oddfellows Group. Here is some creepy child wall art and a cuckoo clock.
Here are a few more pictures of the interior and exterior.
There were three abandoned buildings on the property that were very spooky.
And this was the creepiest thing of all. In the 1880s, one of the Oddfellows, George, died and left his body to science. But his bones had to be returned to the Oddfellows to be used it in ceremonies. Somehow it ended up at the orphanage and is still in the building.
I doubt I could ever spend the night there, but I will return for some more wine tasting. If you want to visit the Belvoir Winery and Inn, there is a link at the end of this post.
Our next trip was to visit Scott’s Parents, Nancy and Denby, for dinner. Nancy made a delicious meatloaf dinner and the “fellas” made some homemade vanilla ice cream.
That looks like the first four months of a beef cake calendar.
A few days later, we went with the Culvers to a local winery named Jowler Creek Vineyard and Winery. There was a guy outside playing live music who was pretty good.
And it was hilarious to watch the winery dog make his rounds where he got people to pet him and feed him treats.
We had a very nice evening and recommend Jowler Creek as a stop. One bit of caution. Most of their wines use local grapes so they have a pretty strong grape jelly flavor. If you like grape jelly or really sweet wines, you will like it. Otherwise, try their Cabernet Sauvignon. It is made from California grapes and is pretty good. There is a link to the winery at the end of this post.
August
Up until now, it had been hot and relatively humid. August kicked it up a notch. At 10 am on the 1st, it was 83 degrees with 79% humidity. And it wasn’t raining. The weatherman nailed it when he said you do not experience the weather in the Midwest, you wear it.
There is a positive side to all of the humidity. Your skin stays very soft and does not dry out. I have not had to use any hand cream since we arrived here. Supposedly, the humidity can make your hair very frizzy and hard to manage. I have no idea if that is true or not.
Enough about the weather, it’s time for some information about our visit to the Carroll House, a mansion that is now a historical museum in Leavenworth, Kansas. It was built in the early 1860’s, was added on to several times, and ultimately was a lavish mansion. In 1964, it was donated to the Leavenworth Historical Society. Here is the outside and the front.
The front door handle had a dog face in it.
Once inside, we learned we would have an escorted tour, and no pictures were allowed. With the exception of this one of all of us on the stairs.
The tour was interesting and we learned about life as a wealthy person in the Midwest. And this was the first old house/building we had been in that was NOT haunted. There is a link to the Carroll House at the end of this post.
Later on in the week, we all went to Jamesport for lunch at Gingerich Dutch Pantry for some delicious food. I had the fried chicken and it was pretty darn good. We also did some shopping at the local stores.
Cindy found a puppy she really liked. It did NOT come home with us.
Later, we had dinner at a restaurant in the town of Bethany. It was called Toot Toot.
The restaurant is a buffet where almost everything was fried. The food wasn’t bad, but I would not necessarily seek it out. The name is alleged to have come from a Cajun term, meaning your best of something. So your best girl would be your toot toot girl, and best car your toot toot car and so on. In reality, after eating all of that fried food, it took on a whole new, almost literal meaning, if you know what I mean.
That concludes our activities for the last week in July and first week in August. The next post will cover the rest of August until we leave for our trip to Louisville, Kentucky with the Webers. Peace out, until then!!
LINKS
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library