Omaha, Nebraska

Day 11 was a FREE DAY!!!! That would mean a day off for most, but Marcia and I set out early to discover possible attractions in the area that could be added to the itinerary for future tours. We started at Lauritzen Botanical Gardens. It’s fairly new so there was a lot of growing needed, but we still saw some beautiful flowers.

My favorite part of the gardens was the architectural area where we found some pretty gardens and a model train. The model train area had buildings and bridges made of twigs, birdseed type materials. It was pretty amazing.

Next we decided to visit the zoo, but since it was a holiday weekend, it was so crowded, we decided to explore the city of Omaha. On Mondays, most museums are closed, so we decided to check out the old market. We toured an art museum which houses many Thomas Mangelsen prints. He’s a photographer famous for scenery and wildlife. I thought for sure he must photoshop his pictures since the colors are so vibrant, but we were informed that he did not. He studied the area for weeks, sometimes longer, to get the effect he wanted from a picture. If you ever want to see his work, it can be found at http://www.mangelsen.com/.

Close to the market was Lewis & Clark Landing where there was a beautiful park alongside the Missouri River.

We must have taken a hundred pictures of the swans, ducks and ducklings.

Before retiring for the day, we viewed the Holy Family Shrine, situated on a 23 acre site overlooking the Platte River Valley.
Inside the visitor Center, a suspended sculpture represents the shroud of Christ as it fell to the tomb after the resurrection.

From the sculpture, water appears. Symbolic of the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the source is perceived to be invisible. As the pool fills with water, the outpouring leads us back to the Church.

Inside the chapel, water continues to cut through the floor, but splits to each side of the aisle and into a pool beneath the alter, symbolically joining our spirituality with the Eucharist. The chapel has a wooden frame & roof & glass all around. I wonder how anyone can concentrate on mass with such a gorgeous view.

Omaha, Nebraska

Day 10, we toured Council Bluffs, Iowa. First stop was Squirrel Cage Jail, which served as the county jail from 1885 until 1969.

There were fewer than 18 revolving “squirrel cage” “human rotary” or “lazy Susan” jails built and the one in Council Bluffs was the only 3 story jail.












When we arrived at the Western Historic Trails Center, we viewed a Lewis and Clark short film, viewed the museum, and walked the l/2 mile down to the Missouri River.

After lunch, our costumed tour guide took us to see some Lewis & Clark sites, including a monument. On the way, he pointed out Iowa’s Loess Hills, hills made almost entirely of windblown soils which were formed at the end of the ice age. The winds picked up soils that had been ground as fine as flour and formed dunes along the Missouri River. The local people call the soil “sugar clay” because the exposed loess will erode like sugar when saturated. The Loess Hills landform is 60 feet in height, about 640,000 acres of land in western Iowa. Although deposits of loess are found across the world, nowhere else but China are those deposits higher than they are in Iowa.

Our last stop of the day was Boys Town.
What a fabulous tour. I always loved the movie Boys Town with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. Spencer Tracy won an Emmy for that movie and donated it to Boys Town where it is on display. To actually see the campus and museum and hear the story of how Father Flannagan founded a place in 1917 for troubled boys to grow and become a productive member of society was moving for all. Some of the men admitted to a tear at the end of the short film about some of the boys that have been helped. Father Flannagan always felt that there were no bad boys, they just needed guidance and an opportunity. The campus was not built by the Catholic Church. Father Flannagan wanted a place for all children, white, black, Catholic, non-Catholics. The children, once there, do have to practice a religion, it doesn’t matter what religion. There are homes on campus where trained couples live with 8 of the troubled children. They range from ages 8-18. They have either all boys, or all girls. There are also dormitories. The children have planned activities most of the time, but also enjoy free time. A large majority of the children eventually go on to college.
















We also visited the Immaculate Conception Parish Dowd Memorial Chapel, which is on campus.
Because Boys Town is its own town, and they do not want to take away from the local churches, they will not marry or bury outsiders. Permission is granted for alumni and employees.

Father Flannagan died from a heart attack at about age 57, very young. He traveled the world wide promoting peace and help for children. Today, Boys Town is on its third Director and receives government funding for many of the children. The photo below was taken just a few days before Father Flannagan died.

St. Joseph, MO

Day 8, Pony Express Museum was our first stop. The famous mail delivery service started right there April 3, 1860. The three founders set out to earn a $1 million government mail contract. In order to accomplish that, they had to prove that the central route was the faster and more reliable route from the East Coast to California. The Government at that time was routing the mail around South America, which took 2 years, eventually thru the Panama Canal (before the Canal) and that wasn’t reliable either. 400-500 horses had to be purchased before the first ride. The relay stations were stationed every 10-15 miles apart. Riders had about 2 minutes to get a drink, go to the bathroom, and change the mochila (the apparatus they used to hold the mail) over to a fresh horse. The riders changed about every 75-100 miles. They had a plaque listing the riders with the name of Billy Hamilton listed. The Pony Express ceased operations with the completion of the transcontinental telegraph on October 26, 1961. The Pony made its last run on November 20, 1861. Strange, that it only ran 1 ½ years, but in that time, it completed over 300 runs each way over 600,000 miles and carried more than 33,000 pieces of mail. Every year, the National Pony Express Association rides the trail in a 10 day, round-the-clock, non-stop event. More than 500 riders follow a 1,943 mile route that is close as possible to the original trail.

In the museum was a life size replica of what the covered wagons looked like that traveled over the mountains.

Then onto the Patee House, the headquarters of the Pony Express in 1860, and the finest hotel west of the Mississippi, and Jesse James Museum, the house where James was shot & killed. If you ever get to St. Joseph, Missouri, the Patee House is well worth visiting. We could have spent the whole day there & everyone would have been happy. It was loaded with the history of communications in the United States. In fact, they had a replica of the switchboard the Teamsters Union used when I was first hired in 1972! Bill and I got our photo taken with a life size poster of the tallest man, measuring 8 ft. 11.
And I found a 1950 “remote control” which we are not sure if it was for the TV or the radio.

Jesse James’ house was just next door where you could still see where the bullet lodged into the wall just under the picture that he was trying to straighten when he was shot from behind. In his museum was a replica of Walter Cronkite’s father’s dental office. Walter visited in 2006.

We had lunch at Bandanas Restaurant, a barbecue specialty place. The food was wonderful and plenty to go around. While dining, a visit from Miss Lizzie and Calamity Jane exploded into action.

Mixed with history and humor as these 2 outrageous ladies got the whole group into the act with gun play, robe tricks and old-fashioned fun for all. They were the best part of the whole trip! And I left my video camera on the bus……. I laughed so hard my stomach ached.

On our way to the Wyeth-Tottle Museum, we stopped at the Russell Stover Candy Factory Outlet. No one came out of there empty handed. We arrived at the Wyeth Tottle Museum just after the great-granddaughter of Tottle. It is a gothic styled mansion from the 1880’s, displaying local history, Lewis & Clark, and the Civil War. Many of the rooms have been restored to original elegance for a look at life in the Victorian age.

We were so sad to drop off our guide “Miss Lizzie.”

Day 9 we are off to Gretna, Nebraska.

Kansas City, MO

Day 6, We began our Kansas City tour at the Harley-Davidson Plant. Unfortunately we were not allowed to tour the assembly line because they were in the middle of the new line of cycles and no one was allowed to see it, so they spent more time with us in the rest of the plant. It was amazing to see how the metal is cut by a laser. Once the parts are cut to spec, they don’t even have to sand the edges to make them smooth!Our driving tour consisted of the south part of town: Ward Parkway, Plaza, Art Galleries, Westport, and UMKC. Check out this single family house!

We then toured the Hallmark Card Center. Hallmark Cards grew from the originator living at the Y, selling their goods to what they are today. The area they bought for the factory is huge, but the Catholic Church did not want to sell to them, so Hallmark built all around them. It’s like a campus.

We had lunch at the local market and then a great tour of the Steamboat Arabia Museum. This steamboat was 171 foot long ship holding 200 tons of brand new merchandise (European dishware, jewelry, guns, tools, food products, and clothing items were included among her cargo). In 1856, She made good time up the Missouri River, making it to Kansas City in one week, but once she left the Kansas port, she hit a “snag” (a tree branch floating down the Missouri) and sunk.

She sank in minutes, barely saving the people aboard. 132 years later in 1988, a father, 2 sons & a friend found the ship.

The river had changed its course over time and after years of researching, they located the farm that the ship was buried under. It was buried 45 under the ground, a ½ mile from the river’s edge. 10 feet of it was the water aquifer. It was quite an operation for them to dig the huge hole and pump out the water while working to save the treasurers.

The museum has on display all the treasures that they uncovered and are still working on cleaning of the mud & preserving to its original state.

On our way out of the museum, we noticed the sidewalk had sections dedicated by individuals, companies, or organizations. Bill & I just had to take our picture with the section dedicated by Teamsters Joint Council 56 of Kansas City.

We ended our day at the Nascar Speedway. We were able to sit in the Presidential box, go up on the rooftop where the spotters sit during the race. Each car is allowed one spotter. We all got to get our picture taken on “Victory Lane” which was the highlight for some (Bill included). Notice Bill “hamming” it up.

Day 7, We toured the town of Independence, Missouri, where we also visited the Truman Presidential Library.

It was very interesting to find that he was just an ordinary farmer, who was never really accepted by his mother-in-law because he was not from a wealthy family, nor did Beth’s (his wife) friends accept him. He joined the service to fight the war overseas and was elected by his peers (that’s how they did it back then) to led the men into battle. He came home a hero, became a judge in his small town, eventually was elected to the Senate and ultimately the President of the United States. While President, the White House was renovated and he acquired the “buffalo” fireplace mantel. It is said that Jackie Kennedy asked for the return of the mantle when she redecorated the White House, but Trueman refused. The mantle is no longer on display (or at least it wasn’t while we were there), but we were told that it is in storage. When he died, he asked to be buried in the gardens of the library so that he didn’t have to walk far to his office. His wife was also eventually laid to rest beside him.

“Clinton Soda Fountain” is where Truman worked as a young boy. It is still operating today, so of course we had to visit it.

We also saw the home that the Truman’s lived (Bess was born there) as well as Truman’s aunt’s house, which was just across the street, where he visited during his youth.

We then toured the National Frontier Trails Center, where they had many artifacts on display. I could not pass up taking a picture of a rocking chair that someone who had gone out to California to discover gold, but failed to find any, returned ON FOOT back home. He found this rocker enroute and decided to carry it home for his wife.

A short walking distance was the swales , or wagon ruts, which are a lasting witness to the enormous flood of trail activity that flowed in and out of town.

As we were walking thru the town, we saw this really strange stainless steel like structure in the sky. Later we found that we were going to visit that structure. It was the Community of Christ Temple. It is actually the church that the mormons broke away from. We were very lucky during our tour that the organist was there to practice so we were able to witness how beautiful the organ sounded like with its thousands of pipes. I could not help taking a picture of the inside view of that strange sculptured roof.

We ended our day touring the Hunt Midwest Subtropolis, which is basically storage, warehouses, offices inside a hill or a mountain. Because it is a controlled temperature area under the ground, it stays the same temperature all the time, people rent space to store whatever. I would hate to work in there with all the cars & delivery trucks coming and going. I don’t know how they ventilate it, and I would never like to work there!

Lewis & Clark - St. Louis, MO

Day 4, again, we hopped into our luxury tour bus and joined the same tour guide, Dea, who was wonderful. The name of her company is “Are We There Yet.” She enlightened us on not only the history of the area, but the architecture, industry, cultures, and what life was like years ago as opposed to today. We learned that St. Louis has the oldest market in the country. It came into operation in the 1700s and is still operating today! The reason for that is that the woman who owned it, left the market to the city when she died, with the stipulation that it must remain a market. If it ceases to operate as a market, every living heir to her must be found and given their share. So, needless to say, the city is making sure that it operates as a market.

Dea took us on an unscheduled tour of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. (This is what is so great about having a knowledgeable tour guide) The inside of the cathedral is similar to the main level of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The Bishop resides here, so all of the schools come to the Basilica for confirmations rather than the Bishop traveling to their respective parish. Most schools also have their graduations here too.

We then did a driving tour of Forest Park and Tower Grove Park. What beautiful homes and much cheaper than in Washington, D.C. area. Forest Park was the home of the 1904 World’s Fair and contains the Art, History, and Science Museums, Zoo, Jewel Box greenhouse, and the Muny Theater. Our tour was supposed to be of the Botanical Garden, which has the largest traditional Japanese garden in North America, but some of our guests preferred to go to the zoo. SO, because our company is “flexible” we were able to accommodate the choice of either the gardens or the zoo. We went to the zoo so I’ll have to tell you about the gardens on our next L&C trip. The zoo is rated on of the best in North America, right up there with the San Diego Zoo. It was fabulous. Bobby, Marcia, Bill & I enjoyed running around the park capturing the animals in photos, ourselves included.

We had the most filling meal I’ve ever had at the Hometown Buffet, which is like Country Kitchen. The location we visited was one of the best. Since we ate a late lunch, I decided to make it my lunch/dinner, tried a little of almost everything and topped it off with 2 (yes I said 2) desserts. Bill was a little better than me, he had only 1 plate of food, but topped it off with 2 desserts.

Our last stop was the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. We first toured the Budweiser Clydesdale stables, then the lager cellar, packaging plant,
finishing in the hospitality room for a full glass of our choice of beer, not just a little paper cup either. We were told you could have 2 glasses, but I don’t think they were counting. Bill likes the darker beer, while I prefer the ale.

Once we got back home and had our trip meeting for the next day of travel, we were pleasantly surprised by a visit from our Florida friends Sue and Dan Hertz. They wanted us to join them for dinner (just a quick hamburger). I was still stuffed from lunch! So, off to Culvers for what they call butter burgers. They are also known for their frozen custard. I have a hard time turning down frozen custard, but since I had 2 desserts for lunch, which included ice cream on top of each, and since I had to sit there while everyone ate, I ordered the smallest hamburger on the menu. Now I can say I ate a butter burger, and it was very good.

We left St. Charles and headed for Platte City, MO, by way of country roads. Our trip will be 308 miles. It’s taking us forever to do because it’s very twisty, turny, hilly, but very scenic. All I kept thinking was I’d rather be doing in our RV as opposed to on the river, pulling my boat upstream like Lewis and Clark!