GOIN' TO KANSAS CITY

Well actually we didn't go to Kansas City, but couldn't think of a good title for Independence.

When we left our intrepid travellers they had just bought lunch to eat on the road and so they once again headed west. But before they go, a couple of questions about this morning. What does JNEM stand for (no, it is not Jewish Norwegian Emigrees to Missouri)? and How high is the Arch? Play fair and don't go back to yesterday to find out.

So off we go - it is only 11:00am so we have plenty of time to cross the Show Me state - approximately 242 miles in just under 4 hours. We have enough time to take the tour of the house where Harry Truman lived both before he was president and after (the house actually belonged to his wife's family, as Harry grew up on a farm outside of town). As you can see, the house is no mansion. We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside, but it reminded us of what our homes looked like in the fifties and sixties. The home was really for the family - visiting dignitaries never got past the front room. Truman was an avid and fast walker (supposedly 120 steps a minute). He always walked the same route, which is now marked.

A couple of other interesting facts about Mr. Truman: He was the last president to not graduate from college (based on some of his successors, maybe a college education isn't all its cracked up to be). He was the first ex-president to receive a pension - when he returned to Independence he was almost broke and congress in their infinite wisdom deemed it undignified for an ex-president to have to out and get a real job.

Independence is a nice little town, with an historic district (is there a town anywhere in this country that doesn't have an historic district?). The soda fountain where Truman worked as a teenager is still there. Mike had a Cherry Phosphate - for you young people in the audience, flavored phosphates were fore runners of today's sodas.

Dinner was supposed to be at Jess and Jims - a wonderful steakhouse south of Kansas City (Mike had eaten there several times in the distant past). However we were a bit tired and didn't feel like driving another 15-20 miles, so we had cocktails in the room and then went to The Hereford House (originally located in Kansas City, KS, but now with several locations in the KC metro area). Mike had eaten at the original location as well. We had an excellent and expensive meal, but no local brews (remember, we're in Budweiser country). See you tomorrow.