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Our Electronic Gypsy Journal Gypsy Journal - 12/1/05 - 12/31/06

Lees Summit, Missouri Aug 23, 2006

8/23 - 8/27

Another two days and 222 miles brought us to Lees Summit, Missouri. The first night we stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Emporia, Kansas. The Lakeview Lake Campground in Lees Summit is about 15 miles from Kansas City, Missouri. While we were in this area we:

>visited the Arabia Steamboat Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. In 1856 the Arabia sank in the Missouri River about 10 miles from Kansas City with over 200 tons of supplies and goods headed for the frontier. In 1988 two families decided to try to find and recover the ship. They found the ship 40 feet deep in muck under a farmer's cornfield. The family is still in the process of cleaning up and preserving tons of remaining artifacts. But the artifacts they already have in their museum is amazing. You really get a picture of what frontier life was like by looking at all the goods that were sunk on this boat. Items included china, furniture, perfume, shoes, boots, liquor, hats, hardware, tools - anything that pioneers might need. It was a fantastic museum.

>checked out the City Market in Kansas City. They had a lot of cheep produce but most of it was old. During the weekend the market is suppose to be much better. We did have an excellent 4 star meal by the market at Winslow's Famous KC-Style Barbeque (20 E 5th, Kansas City, Missouri, 816-471-7427). Both their rib tips and the pork BBQ sandwich were excellent.

>toured the Hallmark Visitor Center. Hallmark has a huge building complex in Kansas City which includes their national headquarters, a visitor center, a kid's center along with a number of other buildings. We learned a little about the history of the company, how they train their artists and how they produce their cards.

>visited the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library (Independence, MO). We spent a day learning about his presidency, seeing a reproduction of the Truman Oval Office and reviewing the life of the Truman family.

>took a guided tour of the Truman family house (Independence, MO). Truman lived in this house after he marriage Bess and prior to his stint in Washington as a senator, vice-president and president. When he left office he move back to this house and both him and Bess lived there until their deaths. Actually the house was his wife's family house initially and, except for her Washington years, Bess lived in the house her whole life. The home is a very modest, two story Victorian house only a couple blocks from downtown Independence. Since the house was given to the Park Service when Bess died, all the original furnishings remain intact. It was a very interesting tour.

>walked around the town of Independence where we saw the Clinton Soda Fountain where Harry Truman got is first job, saw an old car show and checked out the local farmer's market.

>went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO. Ken's favorite pieces were the sculptures on the museum lawn - huge badminton shuttlecocks. Joan enjoyed the French and American art displays.