Touring the National WWI and Arabia Steamboat Museums

Today Martha and I drove the CR-V into Kansas City, Missouri to check out two museums

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The first museum was the National World War One Museum.  It really was very well done and laid out, and the almost 3 hours we spent there were quite educational and enjoyable. The best part was that it wasn't very crowded either.

Some of the things that caught my eye among the many well curated exhibits:

Today's moto content:

After the main exhibit level, we went to the top level and climbed a few steps after exiting an elevator to the top of the tower you saw in the first few pictures.  You can get quite a view of the city: 

Then it was time for lunch at the nearby barbecue joint called Jack Stack.

The barbecue was pretty good!

Next it was a very short drive to reposition that car closer to the City Market. The museum that showcases the recovered steamboat Arabia is located there. The Arabia, or the Great White, as it was known was one of many hundreds of steamboats that plied the Missouri River in the early to mid 1800s.

It sank in 15 ft of water after it struck a sunken log.  It then quickly sank into the river's quicksand bottom overnight leaving only the smoke stacks showing above water in the morning.  Even the stacks would eventually disappear into the river. Fortunately all the passengers were taken off and saved with the exception of one poor mule who was found tied up at the stern of the boat. 

The Arabia was forgotten and as the river twisted and turned over the years, the wreck ended up almost a mile from the river over 25 feet under a  farmer's cornfield. 

More information about the Arabia and museum here: Link 

Sadly, the museum will be closing its doors come November of this year as the city will not be renewing their lease for the property.

One of the Arabia's paddle wheels, it spins slowly to demonstrate the mechanism involved to get it moving and rotating.

Samples of the varied pre-civil war cargo carried by the Arabia.

Part of the tree trunk that ripped up the steamboat's bottom and sunk her.

Scale model of the steamboat:

The steamboat's boilers:

I found this map interesting, it was used to illustrate the migration routes in the early to mid 1800s. Of interest to me was how it did not show the future states of Colorado, Wyoming, etc.  notice the spelling for Kansas.

The actual stern of the steamboat. You can see the tiller mechanism headed towards the rear of the boat: 

Here is the rear or stern of the boat and you can see the rudder which was attached to the tiller mechanism.

Cool Artwork

A pretty good day of museum learning, and only one close call in terms of traffic.  

Although sunny, temperatures never reached the mid-60s and so it was cool when the breeze would pick up.