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MISSOURI
We left Texas and headed for the beautiful state of Missouri. We had planned a small family reunion with Jim's sister, Katie, and his two brothers, Gary and Jerry. Katie and her husband, Jack, came from Tennessee one weekend while we were there. Our plans took us to Sikeston, MO, which is closer to several of the cousins who live in Caruthersville. Gary, Jerry and their families came from Cape Girardeau and Jim's Uncle Paul traveled from St. Louis. We stayed in a hotel in Sikeston for the weekend, along with Katie, Jack and Uncle Paul.
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| Cindy, Doris Jean and Gary |
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| Diane and Liz |
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| Greg, Sam and Will |
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| Katie and Gladys |
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| Pansy and Jerry |
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| Scott and Sarah |
A good time was had by all! On Saturday, we all gathered for dinner at the Sikeston Elks Club for dinner (Gary and Jerry are members). The food there rivaled some of the best restaurants I've been to. My food was delicious and I heard others complimenting their dishes. Visiting with everyone was fun. Some of Gary and Jerry's kids and grandkids joined us for dinner, so we had a fairly large, rowdy group.
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| Valerie |
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| Jack |
While we stayed in Cape Girardeau, we had occasion to visit several State Parks. Missouri is the only state we have been in (so far) that doesn't charge to visit the State Parks. Nice! We hiked in Trail of Tears SP several times. This park is right on the Mississippi River, across the water from Illinois. Sometimes we would bring a picnic and watch the barges ply the river.
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| Bob Emerson Memorial Bridge to Illinois |
One day, we crossed the Bob Emerson Memorial Bridge into Illinois and hiked the Little Grand Canyon trail. Unfortunately, we had to be back in Cape Girardeau to meet people for dinner, so we didn't get to go all the way to the bottom of the canyon. The trail was beautiful.
Soon after arriving in the Cape Girardeau area we were out for a drive and stumbled upon the Bollinger Mill Historic Site and the Burfordville Covered Bridge
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| The Mill |
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| Mill and Bridge history |
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| Burfordville Covered Bridge |
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| Candle making |
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| Another view of the Mill |
We passed an entertaining hour or two exploring the site. The mill was originally a wooden structure, built in 1800. It burned in 1825, was rebuilt with a stone foundation, burned during the Civil War, and rebuilt in 1867, which is the structure still standing today.
The Burfordville Covered Bridge is the oldest surviving covered bridge in Missouri, built in 1858. It spans the Whitewater River and was used extensively by the farmers in the area to bring their grain to the mill. While we were there we got to witness a candle-making demonstration. It looked like hard work!
On May 18th, the Cape Girardeau Air Festival came to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Now, anyone that knows Jim and I knows that we will go out of our way to attend air shows. This one did not fail to entertain.
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| Missiles on a fold-up wing |
We were treated to some wonderful vintage planes performing, as well as the Canadian Snowbirds, Canada's version of our own Blue Angels and Thunderbirds.
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| Canadian Snowbirds |
In addition, we got to see the Army's Golden Knight Parachute Team perform. That was really special. I had never seen a precision parachute exhibition before. These guys have skills!
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| Golden Knights |
And let's not forget the rocket-powered school bus! Not to be missed.
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| The bus |
We stayed at a nice little RV Park, The Landing Point. Spending a month in one place really works for us. We get to explore the area thoroughly and in this case, we got to spend a lot of time with family. Jim's brother, Gary, and his wife, Doris Jean, introduced us to our favorite restaurant, "Broussard's Cajun Cuisine" on Main Street. We liked it so much, we spent our 37th anniversary having dinner there on May 7th.
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| Looking down Main Street |
Brother Jerry led us to "The Library", a bar on Spanish Street where we went on Friday nights for happy hour hors d'ouerves instead of dinner. Both places are near the waterfront, among other restaurants and little specialty shops. We loved walking around, exploring the history of this section of the Mississippi River. Cape Girardeau started as a trading post in 1733, named after a French soldier, Jean Baptiste de Girardot, stationed in nearby Illinois.
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| Old St. Vincent's Catholic Church Built in 1863 |
"The town of Cape Girardeau was incorporated in 1808, prior to Missouri statehood, and was reincorporated as a city in 1843. The advent of the steamboat in 1835 led it to become the biggest port on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Memphis." (Wikipedia)
We left the Cape and headed west to Van Buren, MO for a week where we were nearer to the Ozark Mountains. The highlight of the time spent in this area has to be Big Spring, part of the National Scenic Waterways. It is one of the largest springs in the United States, with 286 gallons of water running through it daily, carrying 70 tons of limestone silt. What a sight! The color of the water is affected by all that limestone - beautiful color.
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| Big Spring |
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| Death-defying feats of fearless boys |
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| Shut-Ins |
One other place we were told to see is Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. "The term "shut-in" refers to a place where the river's breadth is limited by hard rock that is resistant to erosion. In these shut-ins the river cascades in many rivulets over and around igneous rocks worn smooth over many eons." (Wikipedia) Though we didn't stop to play in the water, we walked the path down the East Fork of the Black River so we could see what everyone was talking about. It is a really unique State Park.
We left Missouri and went to Smith Center, Kansas, home of our 5th wheel's manufacturer, Peterson Industries. Ever since we have owned our Excel, we have had issues with the slide outs. After having them serviced several times and still having problems, we made arrangements to go to the source.
We dropped off the trailer and stayed in a motel for 2 nights. While Peterson was fixing the trailer, we went exploring in the area. Turns out, Smith Center is very near the exact geographical center of the contiguous United States, so we had to go check that out.
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| The "Middle" |
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| Wedding Chapel in the center of the U.S. |
There is even a wedding chapel on the site....that would be an unusual place to get married!
We also did a loop drive to see the surrounding countryside, stopping at a dam along the way...found another solo shoe....weird.
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| Left behind.....again |
NEBRASKA
We left Smith Center the next day and went north, landing in North Platte, Nebraska for 8 nights. First time ever in Nebraska. We stayed in a little park near Interstate 80. While we were there, we mostly relaxed. Had a few rainy days...as a matter of fact, we stayed the 8th night due to rainy weather.
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| Bailey Railyard |
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| The Facts |
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| Railyard entrance |
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| Liz and friend |
We did manage to work in a visit to the world's largest rail yard, Bailey Railyard, owned and operated by Union Pacific. Quite impressive!
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| I worked on equipment like this...uh oh....Antiques |
We also visited the Lincoln County Memorial Museum, which houses a collection of buildings, including barns, a school, a church, several homes and the main building, which has all sorts of memorabilia.
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| Red Cross Uniform circa WW I |
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| The "Smithy" |
North Platte's claim to fame was its Canteen. The North Platte Canteen was a volunteer effort in epic proportions. It brought people from 125 different communities together to serve troops during World War II. The volunteers met every troop train that came through during the war, providing gifts during the holidays, food, coffee, blankets, supplies...whatever the soldiers needed. From 1941-1946, the canteen served 6 million troops, none of whom were ever charged and no train was ever missed.
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| Along one of our drives |
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| An odd junkyard along the road |
On our way to Buffalo, Wyoming when we left North Platte. Planning to stay there awhile.
