P. S. (Pris Snippets) 5/28/09
We each have our jobs on this trip. John is in charge of planning and I’m in charge of navigating. John has used 3 books to outline our L & C journey: Lewis & Clark Road Trips by Kira Gale, Traveling the Lewis & Clark Trail by Julie Fanselow and the National Geographic Guide to the Lewis & Clark Trail. We have also gained information from 2 DVDs: Ken Burns Lewis & Clark, The Journey of the Corps of Discovery and the National Geographic DVD about L & C. Information is also available at the state’s welcome centers and the individual museums.
John lays out a proposed stop near a L & C site that is about 200 miles down the road. We use the book RV Camping in State Parks by D. J. Davin. We usually call ahead to the park to make sure that they have open spaces. Even though school is out, we haven’t had a problem getting a camping spot. We do, however, get to a CG before the weekend and early in the afternoon. The state CGs in Missouri and Iowa have been very nice- sites fairly large, grassy areas, electricity, showers and large hardwood trees.
We used St Charles, Mo as our base for exploring the L & C sites in that area and beyond.
We then used the Honda Fit (alias the silver toaster, as named by Pete A.) to explore.
Each city along the L & C route seems to have a museum and bronze sculpture of the C of D. They are very proud of their association with the C of D. The museums not only have L & C artifacts but information concerning the Indians and history of the local area. The museums are well done and usually free.
We did stay in a private RV park in St Charles, so as to be closer to St. Louis and also enjoy the cute town of St Charles. The main street in St Charles consisted of early historic buildings with many shops and fine restaurants. People were dressed in period costumes and conversed as if they were in the 1830’s. John traded me to one of them for 2 acres of land.
We left the St. Louis area and followed the Missouri River west to the Kansas City area. I 70 roughly follows the river. We could see why the C of D had such a difficult time going up the river. The current is fairly fast (going in the opposite direction), there are lots of snags and sandbars and it’s very muddy. Our trip was much faster.
Our base in Mo was Weston Bend S. P. A small park located north of Kansas City. We enjoyed camping in the trees and having lots of different birds, squirrels, and even fireflies at night. As on previous trips, we used the local library for its internet connection. We are seeing most libraries have WiFi and internet availability (as opposed to our first trip).
We have learned a few things on this trip that are a little different. When we check into a CG, we ask the host if they have tornado sirens and where do we report if they go off. We also bought a hazard alert weather radio. It automatically selects the local NOAA channel and will sound an alert if there is a tornado warning. (We learned our lesson in Oklahoma.)
The communities that we have been in all have sirens and it has been interesting to see the different types of storm shelters (basements, out buildings, shelters dug into the ground etc).
The areas of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa that we have driven through have been mainly rolling hills with hardwood forests alternating with flat plains. We are currently in Iowa and they have miles and miles of corn fields.
John lays out a proposed stop near a L & C site that is about 200 miles down the road. We use the book RV Camping in State Parks by D. J. Davin. We usually call ahead to the park to make sure that they have open spaces. Even though school is out, we haven’t had a problem getting a camping spot. We do, however, get to a CG before the weekend and early in the afternoon. The state CGs in Missouri and Iowa have been very nice- sites fairly large, grassy areas, electricity, showers and large hardwood trees.
We used St Charles, Mo as our base for exploring the L & C sites in that area and beyond.
We then used the Honda Fit (alias the silver toaster, as named by Pete A.) to explore.
Each city along the L & C route seems to have a museum and bronze sculpture of the C of D. They are very proud of their association with the C of D. The museums not only have L & C artifacts but information concerning the Indians and history of the local area. The museums are well done and usually free.
We did stay in a private RV park in St Charles, so as to be closer to St. Louis and also enjoy the cute town of St Charles. The main street in St Charles consisted of early historic buildings with many shops and fine restaurants. People were dressed in period costumes and conversed as if they were in the 1830’s. John traded me to one of them for 2 acres of land.
We left the St. Louis area and followed the Missouri River west to the Kansas City area. I 70 roughly follows the river. We could see why the C of D had such a difficult time going up the river. The current is fairly fast (going in the opposite direction), there are lots of snags and sandbars and it’s very muddy. Our trip was much faster.
Our base in Mo was Weston Bend S. P. A small park located north of Kansas City. We enjoyed camping in the trees and having lots of different birds, squirrels, and even fireflies at night. As on previous trips, we used the local library for its internet connection. We are seeing most libraries have WiFi and internet availability (as opposed to our first trip).
We have learned a few things on this trip that are a little different. When we check into a CG, we ask the host if they have tornado sirens and where do we report if they go off. We also bought a hazard alert weather radio. It automatically selects the local NOAA channel and will sound an alert if there is a tornado warning. (We learned our lesson in Oklahoma.)
The communities that we have been in all have sirens and it has been interesting to see the different types of storm shelters (basements, out buildings, shelters dug into the ground etc).
The areas of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa that we have driven through have been mainly rolling hills with hardwood forests alternating with flat plains. We are currently in Iowa and they have miles and miles of corn fields.
posted by Pris @ 8:57 AM
1 Comments:
At May 30, 2009 2:29 PM,
Vietnam War History said…
Bingo! I just added your blog updates to my blog on the Lewis and Clark trail.
I saw that you were looking for guides to the trail. If you're interested please contact me, and I can send you a URL to a web site (my own) that exists for that very purpose.
Doug
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