A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 13 – July 27:
After Breakfast this morning, as I was heading for the interstate, this unusual scene of an airplane caught my eye, and I had to stop to see what it was all about. This CRAZY scene was at the Pizza Shack Restaurant there in Lamoni, and I just had to have a photo of it. I’m not sure what this scene is supposed to reflect, as the Pizza Shack wasn’t open yet, and I couldn’t ask about it, but I would guess it has something to do with survivors of a plane crash. What a Hoot!
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Now I continued south about an hour on I-35, crossed the border into Missouri, to visit the Crossroads Quilting Museum in Cameron, MO. However, I had plans to visit friends in Lincoln, MO this evening, so, I only stopped in Cameron for a bathroom break, passed up the Quilting Museum, and continued another 40 minutes south on I-35 to visit the Jesse James Birthplace & Museum located in Kearney, MO. This museum is located on the 40-acre James farm where Jesse and his family lived in their original 1845 log cabin. The museum chronicles the history of the James family with original family artifacts, miniature dioramas, and a 20-minute film depicting the life and times of outlaws Frank and Jesse James.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
A short walk, up the hill from the museum, I toured the original 1845 restored James home where decades of visitors have been allowed to walk thru the rooms of the house, guided by members of the James family, beginning as early as 1882, when Zerelda James (Jesse’s Mother) first opened her house to visitors for 50 cents per person. Just a few yards from the James house is the original grave site of Jesse James (1847-1882).
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It took me a while to get back to I-35, and then another 15-minute drive to where I had planned to visit the Historic Liberty Jail Museum located in Liberty, MO. I was surprised to find a large modern building at the address Greta (My Garmin) took me to. Inside, I was informed that a church organization had bought the property and built a church on top of the Liberty Jail. That was hard for me to understand, but it seems to be another case of one generation building on top of another. I didn’t take the tour, as I would have had to wait for a group to arrive.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
From Liberty, it was only a short 15-minute drive to visit the Arabia Steamboat Museum located on Grand Boulevard, adjacent to the Missouri River, in Kansas City, MO. This large museum is filled with one of the largest collections of Civil War era artifacts recovered from the remains of the steamboat Aribia that sank in 1856 on its way to Kansas City with over 200 tons of cargo on board (the Arabia was one of 400 steamboats to sink on the 2500-mile-long segment of the Missouri River between the 1820s and the 1870s). The museum was overflowing with visitors today, and because of my time crunch, I decided to see this great attraction on another road trip.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Before leaving downtown Kansas City, I stopped at the WWI Memorial for a photo. This is another museum I will have to visit on another road trip, as it was very busy with visitors today. I passed up the Clendening Medicine Museum and the Boot Hill Museum (that I had visited on other road trips) so I could visit the TWA Museum and the Airline History Museum, both located adjacent to the Charles B. Willard Downtown Airport.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
I had tried to visit these two museums on a previous road trip, but they were both closed on the day I arrived. So, I was really looking forward to visiting them on this trip. Today there happened to be a lot of road construction all around the Charles B. Willard Downtown Airport and neither Greta (My Garmin) nor I could ever access the TWA Museum. So, I gave up and we tried to find the Airline History Museum there in the same general area. After a confused back and forth around the airport construction, I finally arrived at the Airline History Museum, only to find it permanently closed. Bummer!
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
Old Things R New 