June 27th: Kansas City Blues (Day 5)

Day 5 - 212 Miles

We are sitting in the van in the town square of Geneva, Nebraska so I am just going to post yesterday's blog and add pictures later.

Kansas City was a blast! Caton took us on an in depth tour of the brewery,

including a trip to the top of the rooftop tanks with a fantastic view of the city. We sampled his wares from the source (there is something inherently cool about tapping into a 2 story tall keg). We also went to the Rosedale Memorial Monument honoring KC veterans, and to the country’s only WW I museum.




We didn’t make it in time to go into the WW I museum but the site, building, and the view of the city from atop the museum were spectacular. There is a tower in the center flanked by two sphinxes, one facing west (the future) the other facing east (the past). Both are covering their faces with their wings supposedly out of shame for the wars of the past and future, although I suspect that they ran of money to pay the sculptor and since wings are easier to do than faces...
After a quick power-nap we hit the town Thursday night for dinner at The Flying Saucer and then drinks at a really cool old bar called The Country Club. The Country Club has the best jukebox this side of La-La’s in Austin. It’s full of oldies like Hank Sr., Frank Sinatra and Patsy Cline as well as new stuff like Tom Waits and The Reverend Horton Heat. The décor was frozen in time somewhere around 1950 (possibly earlier). Think dark wood, giant mirrors, martinis and Cuban cigars and you’ll get the picture.
Caton was at least the 5th person to express concern about us about going to Alaska unarmed, and the first to actually do something about it. Out of the kindness of his heart, and his fear for our safety, he sent us on our way with one of his rifles. It’s a real “Rifleman” affair, a 30-30, lever action straight out of the old west! The only thing missing is a compass in the stock for dealing with Black Bart and his gang.
The museums, the brewery tour, the downtown nightlife and the gracious hospitality of our hosts, made it hard to hit the road on Friday so we stalled by running around with Caton all day. We did manage escape velocity at 4 pm and hit the road for McPherson, KS to camp out at Cheri’s sister’s new house before heading north to Mount Rushmore. The drive out here was uneventful (cows, cows, hay, goats, horses, more cows) but relaxing. We passed the 1000 mile mark in a town called Strong City but I would be hard pressed to describe what strengths it possessed. Tomorrow morning we head towards Nebraska and all points north.

Pictures for Day 5