Carthage, MO - George Washington Carver

After reading about this man and his beliefs, I wish I had the opportunity to have met him.

George Washington Carver was born into slavery but rose above the obstacles to become a scientist, an educator, and a philosopher.

At the GW Carver National Monument we read through many of his touching quotes.  We were very impressed with the National Monument itself - the science classroom and lots of interactive displays.  We didn't arrive in time to walk the trails outside, though.

Here was one of the quotes that I liked:

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.

As a professor at Tuskagee Institute, he had asked his students to live by (or strive for) his 8 cardinal virtues:

1-Be clean both inside and outside.

2-Who neither looks up to the rich or down on the poor.

3-Who loses, if needs be, without squealing.

4-Who wins without bragging.

5-Who is always considerate of women, children and old people.

6-Who is too brave to lie.

7-Who is too generous to cheat.

8-Who takes his share of the world and lets other people have theirs.

Sounds like virtues we should all strive to live by, eh?

Carthage, MO - Jack Ruby or Ruby Jack?

I kept mixing up the name of this 16-mile trail that runs from Carthage to Joplin, MO.  It is the Ruby Jack Trail.  We attempted a bike ride on it.  The website warned it is a rough ride, and indeed it is.

Large gravel (uncomfortable to ride on) led to a portion of the trail with lots of plants growing over the path.  It was natural on both sides of the trail, which was nice but offered no views.  We only rode about 7 miles total.

What was fun, though, was to count all the old railroad spikes strewn about and to try to find other pieces of the old rail line.

It would be a nice trail if/when they clean it up a little and crush some of the bigger gravel....which sounds like they are working on.

Carthage, MO - Off to the Courthouse

The Jasper County Courthouse is a stunning Romanesque building that was built in 1895.  We took a break one afternoon and drove the few miles into town to see it before they closed at 5pm.  Once inside, Andy couldn't resist himself when he saw the 107 year old cage elevator....he pushed the call button!

And, what do you think happened next?  The elevator came...with a live human operator on board.  Yeah, we were embarrassed to admit that we just wanted a joy ride on an open cage elevator.  Ooops!

The one thing we really liked about the city of Carthage was that most of the homes (older, but well-kept) had front porches.  We laughed that it was a 'real' front-porch community, where in Florida we have to plan & develop these communities (Celebration, FL).

Van Buren, MO - On the River

Our initial plan was to only stay in Van Buren one night.  But after seeing that our RV park was right on the Current River (and it looked perfect for kayaking or tubing), we ended up staying for three nights.

Here's the pavilion which was our special place for happy hours and for working (WIFI was unreliable at our camp site) - not a bad office, though!

We were practically within the Ozark National Scenic Waterways NPS boundaries.  Down the street was Big Spring - the largest single source spring in the world.  I'm not used to seeing springs that create rapids.

The water was a beautiful, crystal-clear blue green.  But a bit chillier than our springs in Florida.  It was 55 degrees.

We were able to squeeze in a multi-sport adventure one day.   We had thunderstorms one day, and threats of them the second day, but a window in the weather allowed us time to play.

Our multi-sport adventure was so we could self-shuttle for a one-way kayak down the Current River.  We drove our car to the boat launch in Big Spring Park.  Then rode our mountain bikes the 4-miles back to camp.  We used our mountain bikes because the road surface isn't the smoothest.  The area is within the Mark Twain National Forest.  This ride has ranked 'tops' as the hardest 4-mile bike ride of our lives.  Killer hills.  Worse than we expected - even after driving the road twice.

After arriving back at camp on our bikes, we dragged our kayaks to the river's edge and dropped in.  I can't really say this was a "paddle", though.  It was more of a "float".  There was a good current on the Current and we reached the boat launch a little over an hour later (about 4-miles on the river, too, I'm guessing).  We saw one power boat our entire voyage.  Perfect!

Funny.  In our rush to get out and play we forgot about some of the basics of safety.  No maps, no idea what the boat launch looked like from the river, no real knowledge of distance or expected time on the river, and so on.  So when an hour passed and we weren't sure if we missed the launch or not, we started to discuss survival tips if we had to sleep on the shore - thunderstorms, chilly nights, huge horse flies, etc.  But we're here to laugh about it, so no worries now!

When we were driving out of the park after our kayak-float, we stopped to admire the mist that was settling on the stream near Big Spring...

Normally you could see straight through the water and see the grasses below the surface.

 

We only did a tiny, tiny part of this national park.  If we explored more, we could've found other springs, waterfalls, caves, hiking trails, and so on.  Worth a re-visit...

Van Buren, MO - Lightning Storms

During one of the several storms that passed through on our visit here, I decided to take my camera up to the pavilion to try and get some pictures. 

I'll have to try again to get some better ones some day, but it was a great show to watch.

Skinny Scary Bridges

We crossed the Ohio River into Missouri at US-60/62 on an old bridge.  But then we made the mistake of turning left and having to use the Cairo Mississippi Bridge to cross the Mississippi ....this was one of those moments when Andy spurts out - "For the love of God!"

 

Sharing this bridge with semi-tractor trailers was as unnerving as the two bridges we crossed at Land Between the Lakes.  So much so that Andy had to do some research to learn more about these bridges.  He found a great website called Bridge Hunters that gave us some cold hard facts.

All three recent scary bridges have a deck width of 20'.  Is that the width inside the steel girders?  We don't think so.  Keep in mind, our RV is 8.5' wide.  Our mirrors extended beyond the white and yellow lines.

The Barkley Lake bridge - built in 1932; current score of 41 out of 100; is 3,104' long.  "Functionally obsolete"

The Kentucky Lake bridge - built in 1932; current score of 32 out of 100; is 3,495' long.  "Structurally deficient"

The Cairo Mississippi bridge - built in 1929; current score of 46 out of 100; is 5,175' long.  "Functionally obsolete"

We need our states to spend their money on areas by importance - not just the "shovel-ready" projects.  They're re-paving roads that are in decent shape when bridges are obsolete and deficient.  Crazy.

Independence, MO to Strasburg, CO

We almost decided to stay in Independence an extra night to do some tours and check out Kansas City (the "City of Fountains"), but our campsite was already reserved. So instead of moving to another campsite for one night, we just went with the flow and moved on as planned. But prior to leaving we did visit President Harry S. Truman's Home and had an early lunch at the historical Clinton's Soda Fountain. Harry's first job as a young boy was working the counter at Clinton's.

Since leaving Independence, MO we have driven about 600 miles in two days. We're currently in Strasburg, CO which is about 35 miles east of Denver. Current elevation is 5,381 - over one mile high. But we haven't seen any mountains yet. Eastern CO looks pretty much like Kansas, except for the long steady climb to get to this elevation.

We got an email from some of our fellow Mammoth Cave spelunkers. Two of them got their pictures posted on a different website. Check it out at: http://www.cave.actionfit.com/. There are some really good ones that show how tight some of our holes and tunnels were. Well, enjoy!

St Louis, MO

First stop on the tour yesterday was The Arch. 630 feet tall. Triangular shaped stainless steel skin with concrete supports inside. The Visitor Center is all underground in between the legs of the Arch, so it doesn't take away from the simplicity of its look. To get to the top, you hop in a tiny 5-seater pod (think of space-ship or amusement ride) and it cranks to the top in about 5 minutes. This is not for anyone who is claustrophobic. The view from the top is spectacular looking over St Louis and the Mississippi River. But the windows to peer out were tiny.


Then we walked over to the old Courthouse which looked like a Capitol building with the dome.

From there we went to Anheuser-Busch Brewery for a tour and two free beers each. (Yippee...got a quick buzz before lunch!) The factory and museum take up about 70 city blocks and looks more like a college campus than a factory. The red brick buildings provide a nice backdrop to their gardens that line the walkways. If you look, you'll see the Eagle logo on buildings or on top of pillars or fences and everywhere. We got to see a couple of the identical-looking Clydesdales. I'm sure there aren't many stables that have chandeliers hanging in them, either.

On the way home we stopped at the Soulard Farmers Market. We love these places - fresh, locally-grown fruits and veggies. Andy says he likes the environment, when the vendors hawk their wares, yelling out prices, etc. But I specifically remember him running for cover when the fish mongers in Pikes Place (Seattle) started throwing fish pieces into the crowd. But our fridge is now over-flowing needless to say.

This morning we crossed Missouri and stopped in Independence, MO, the birthplace of Pres Harry Truman. Originally our plan was to spend one night and focus on washing and cleaning the RV (it still amazes me how much dust collects inside and out). But we may try to squeeze in some touristy stuff since it looks like both Independence and Kansas City have things worth seeing. Either way, from here we are shooting across Kansas on I-70 to Estes Park, CO (Rocky Mtn Natl Park) by Thursday. We can't wait!