Didn't much of anything today but sit outside in the shady campsite here at the Hickory Campground, by Lake Clinton.
I did check oil on the four-wheeled vehicles, pootled around a bit with both the Sammy and Yagi but really, nothing much done, not much to see. Did finish an e-book and started another, and also listening to another audio book by Bill Bryson: The Lost Continent, about his travels in the USA and how you can never go home again.
Here's my view from my lounge chair by the VRRV, it would be my view most of the day:
You can really tell which direction the prevailing winds are around here eh?
I move tomorrow, further west but will still be in Kansas when I stop for the night and perhaps the next day. Depending on the campground, I might elect to press on home on Thursday, we'll see.
I left site #90 at the Ray Behrens Recreation Area campground at almost 11AM; that's the latest I've ever left a campsite. This was intentional as check-in time at the next campsite wasn't till 6PM. I needn't have worried about that as you'll see.
It was county roads for quite a bit but finally got to the interstates headed towards Kansas City. Google Maps had me take the I-435 beltway south of Kansas City, and I can only imagine what a mess traffic must be inside the beltway. For it was quite hectic on the beltway, and this is a road that has 8-10 lanes!
I was glad to finally turn onto Kansas Highway 10 and away from the big city traffic!
No issues encountered though, even got a short rain storm to welcome me to the Clinton Lake area which is southwest of Lawrence, KS. I'm staying for two nights at the Hickory Campground in East Bloomington. It's another Army COE site so there's electrical power for the A.C. There's a lake nearby of course with the dam put in by the COE and boat ramps and a swim beach.
Hickory Campground is nearly empty! The spot I had reserved turned out to be right next to the camp host's site so I went looking for something more isolated.
As you can see in the above pics, I found a pull-through, with power, and no one any where near me! I asked the camp host at the fee station and she said "Sure!" when I asked to switch sites. What a deal.
Once I got set up, and ate dinner, I cruised on Yagi through the whole area checking out the facilities. Took a dip in the swim beach:
The guy in the boat, I could see, was going to startle the flock of white-headed gulls for sure. So I set up my camera to video it:
As I pootled along later, I spotted this set of rings, obviously some kind of an art display:
I couldn't figure out what the heck it was for or what its message was. I finally spotted a plaque, under the nearby trees, which provided the answer:
Apparently the Underground Railroad, used by escaped slaves to flee the southern states prior to/during the American Civil War, was quite active in this area.
Returning to camp, I spotted some weird "things" clinging to the bark of the tree that the VRRV was parked next to:
Yuck. They're the remaining "shell" left behind by molting Cicada bugs I believe. Quite large as you can see. You can hear them, loudly making their loud noise in the trees around here. They're so loud, you can hear them over the noise of the engine as you pass by each tree.
I'll be happy if the above is all I end up encountering, don't really want to see the live ones....not only are they quite big but also quite nasty looking. They're supposedly not harmful to humans or animals but I'd just as well not have contact at all.
This morning, I drove to Paris. Paris, MO that is. Named by one of the founders whose hometown was Paris, KY. Paris seems to be a popular name in the Midwest, I remind you Martha and I had lunch in Paris, TN a few weeks ago.
Anyways, my reason to go was to see if I could match any of the historical pictures I found of buildings in Paris, MO to what still stands today. The pickings, were slim I'm afraid.
The easy one was the courthouse, as Paris is apparently the county seat for Monroe County:
img src: courthousehistory.com
I had several historical pics of Main Street but the only one I matched was this one:
img src: monroe.mogenweb.org
So, what made Paris (besides its name) a tourist destination for me? Well, its claim to fame or what "put it on the map" so to speak was a Norman Rockwell painting:
img src: stltoday.com
Rockwell's painting depicts a visit by the artist (he's the one on the far right coming in the door) to see the editor in his office. Apparently, the older gentleman at the typewriter was Jack Blanton a well known editor of the Monroe County Appeal newspaper.
img src: stltoday.com
11.5 million, that's a nice chunk of change!
I couldn't find any evidence of the Monroe County Appeal's offices, though google maps stated it was 230 Main Street in Paris, MO. This, near as I can figure it, is that address:
The newspaper is apparently now part of the Monroe-Ralls newspaper. (It's a rather slow website to load)
Failing to find anything else in the small town worth exploring, I headed west about six miles to the Union Covered Bridge Historical Site. It's one of only four remaining covered bridges in Missouri:
I know what you're thinking, that looks like quite the doable river crossing. In fact, as I was taking the above picture, a four door sedan cruised slowly across, no issues.
So I went back to the Sammy, drove across and then set up the camera in video mode to record the Sammy crossing over.
First though, a couple of motorcycle riders decided, shortly after I'd set up the camera unbeknownst to them, to do the crossing as well:
Then, it was the Sammy's turn to be on camera:
Drove back to camp, stopping at the local restaurant for some home made fudge! Finally, the cravings can be addressed. I got the chocolate/peanut butter version, half a pound. Yummy and so far, no upset stomach from the one piece I had with lunch.
My last Missouri sunset for a while:
As I type this, the campground has become much less crowded since the weekenders have gone home. I'd say its back to about 30% of capacity.
I awoke with an upset stomach at 5:25 AM, probably the chocolate chewies I bought at the gas station last night. That was a mistake, must have been made with milk. I've become quite lactose intolerant in my old age you see.
I'd been craving some of Martha's delicious fudge for a couple of days now, and I thought what I bought might do in the meantime. Nope.
Since I was up, and even before coffee, I headed out with the Sammy in search of a good sunrise picture taking spot. You could see some promising color to the east you see.
I drove over to the Cedar Ridge Loop and found campsite 138 empty with a promising gap in the trees bordering the lake to the east. I scrambled down the slightly steep vegetation/treed area and found a cut down tree trunk that was perfect for me to stand on; then supporting the camera on another cross branch as I was shooting under 1/30th of a second shots.
I got several good shots, but I liked this one best:
Not bad eh?
I returned to my campsite, cooked breakfast and coffee and prepared to head back out to the Clarence Cannon Dam for morning light pictures of the dam.
As expected, the sun's light was lighting up the dam nicely:
The above angle was obtained from an observation platform
That's it for productive use of my time today though. Correctly anticipating high weekender activity I stayed close to the VRRV. Mostly read or listened to books, listened as power boats careened up and down the nearby inlets in a seemingly frantic search for "fun" and just relaxed the day away.
I might have even fallen asleep for a bit after lunch, laying on the beach chair Martha had bought for this trip. I like it.
One more full day, tomorrow, here at camp. I should have planned better and headed out on Sunday since it was easy to reserve follow-on sites through recreation.gov. Oh well. Not sure what I'll do, I've seen all I wish to see in the area.
