St. Joseph, Mo.

June 10, We drove from Proctor’s farm to St. Joseph MO. We took a service road toward Exit 175, where Maggies Café is, it is one with the wonderful Pork Tenderloin sandwiches. We weren’t able to get a picture of the café but did manage to get some of the parking lot. Some times it’s difficult to get pictures on the fly. We crossed the Missouri River and once again saw that the river was quite high. The rain that this part of the country has had is readily apparent as you see flooded farm land and swollen rivers.

As we approached Kansas City we saw an amusement park near the highway. Looked like the roller coasters would be a lot of fun. Although, as I have grown older and had things like a three vertebrae in my cervical spine fused I’m finding that the thrill of a high “G” ride gives more pain than pleasure. 

In St. Joseph, we called the Beacon RV Park home. It is on the Beltway and only a few miles from the attractions we wanted to see. There were a few rigs that were there for several days but the majority of spaces seemed to be empty during the day but would fill up in the late afternoon and early evening as the Rver’s got off the road for the night. http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/BeconRVParkR

St. Joseph has several tourist attractions. We went to see the house where Jesse James was killed by one of his friends.

As the story goes the Ford brother’s were living in the house with Jesse James. They were planning another bank robbery and during the conversation Jesse noticed that a needle point picture that was hanging on the wall was crooked. As he stood on the chair to straighten it Bob Ford shot him in the back of his head. Jesse is quoted as saying “The only man that could possible get the drop on me would be a fellow Missourian in whom I placed my trust,….and even then my back would have to be turned.

Wikipedia has a good account of his life, worth reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James

Next door is the Patee House Museum. Amoung other things it was the headquarters for the Pony Express. The building has a long history dating from 1858 to 1963, when it became a museum. It is absolutely packed with historical information and memorabilia. It was easy to spend the better part of the day there.

We stopped at a couple of parks where we could see the river. Couldn’t see too many tree tunks or the banks, the water was up to the branches and leaves in most spots. There was a lot of debris, including tree trucks being washed down the river. I guess they are not a danger to the barges but small or wooden boats could have problem. There is a resort, “Mission Inn” located on Lake Harris in Florida, they used to have a two deck wooden excursion boat to take guests on. Each year they would have to take it to Jacksonville for the Coast Guard inspection. One year they hit a submerged log and sank it.

     

The St. Joseph Riverwalk, located near the Remington Nature Center, was really nice. Along the walkway we came upon several geese that were in the river and then gathered on a bank.

We were thinking of ours friends Don & Ann when we stopped at “Terrible’s Casino”. The “Terrible” part of the name described what our luck was. Yup, we donated (a small amount) to their “keep the light on “ fund.

Access St. Joseph pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/StJosephRS#

I lumped the pictures from Jesse James House and the Patee Museum into one album totaling 354 pictures. Yeah, I know, I take too many pictures. I try to control myself but I see something and this uncontrollable urge known as the Compulsion to Snap takes over. You can access them at http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/JesseJamesPateeHouseRS#

We left St Joseph on the 14th heading up I-29, turning on to Rt. 2 and starting our drive across Nebraska.