We have spent nearly the whole month of November in Missouri. We explored my ancestors in Seneca. We visited with our Alpine Coach Owners Association in Branson and took in two of the really big shows there. We traveled the length and breadth of the Missouri Ozarks staying at Corps of Engineers parks at Pomme de Terra lake and Lake of the Ozarks. We then toured the Missouri capital building in Jefferson City and rode a ten mile segment of the Katy trail. It follows the railbed of the MKT, the Missouri, Kentucky and Texas Railroad. For a swan song we traveled to the eastern edge of Missouri to St. Louis and we attended a performance of the Paul Taylor Dancers and watched Neil’s sister Julie perform. Paul Taylor and his Dance Company were performing the “world premier” of a new dance, “Beloved Renegade.” We had a wonderful day with Jerry and Janene, Julie and Niel’s parents. We visited the Transportation Museum and then attended the dance performance.
Tag Archives: bicycling
Ancestral Tree
We have made a four day stop in Neosho, Missouri, the county seat for Newton County, MO, the county where my mother was born in 1913. We went to the court house and immediately found the marriage license for her parents, William Madison Cook and Della Williams for July 12, 1910. What a rush to see the actual recording document that was hand entered in 1910.
Top of the Dome
We have been enjoying some fantastic weather in Topeka Kansas. We have ridden our bicycle over fifty miles in three days exploring Topeka. We are camped at beautiful Shawnee Lake. It boasts a complete loop bicycle/hiking trail just over seven miles long. There are other bicycle trails in town also and we have ridden most of them. We did get onto one trail that is not yet complete. It is a rail to trail conversion and we walked Path across a trestle that is still an open lattice of railroad ties. We also came across a homeless camp, so we returned to the streets for the rest of our ride to the Kansas Capitol Building.
Hunkered Down:
We got as far as western Kansas and ran headlong into their first winter storm of the season. When we pulled into Colby, Kansas on Tuesday the weather was fair and warm. We had a nice bicycle ride around town to see the sights. We heard about a high wind advisory and intentionally chose a park over a Wal-Mart parking lot. About 9 p.m. the first gusts shook the coach like a rat terrier shaking a rag doll. We quickly retracted the two sliders and hunkered down for the blow.
Living High:
As in living at high altitude. Friday night we were in Leadville Colorado, 10,200 feet above sea level. That is close to two miles high. We walked the town from second street to ninth street and just a short flight of steps leaves you puffin and blowing. It is an interesting town because many of the buildings in the historic downtown were built in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The city was a boom town with 15,185 inhabitants in the 1880 census. So many of those 19th century buildings are preserved and functioning as businesses to this day. Leadville’s mines produced 136 million of dollars in silver over a ten year period. After silver it relied on tin, lead and other minerals.