Hamilton, Missouri

Good morning, my friends. It rained a good part of the day for our drive to Hamilton. We backtracked a bit, passing by the Capitol rotunda in Jefferson City for the second time.

I've lost count how many times we crossed over the Missouri River this trip, but here we go again.

Up and over...

We didn't drive far enough north to pay Ozarkland a visit for more fudge, but it's probably just as well. Instead, we saw lots of barns.

We passed through Macon, Missouri.

It happens to be the birth place of Butch Patrick. Who remembers Butch Patrick? He played Eddie Munster on The Munsters. (Please tell me you're old enough to remember The Munsters.)

Historically, Macon citizenry had a very bad habit of lynching people without the benefit of a trial by jury.

Moving on, we drove past the exit for Callao, Missouri.

Wikipedia tells us that Callao was laid out in 1858, a year before the railroad was extended to that point. The town most likely took its name from the port city of Callao, Peru. Townsfolk did not know what to call the new town. They hung a map of the world on the wall, blindfolded a man like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, aimed him at the map and his finger landed on Callao, Peru. A post office called Callao has been in operation since 1859.

On down the road, we passed through Brookfield, which happens to be the birthplace of Dorothy C. Stratton,  the first woman to be commissioned an officer in U.S. Coast Guard.

We weren't finished with the barns, though. There were more.

As we neared our final destination, we drove through the town of Chillicothe, Missouri. Chillicothe fancies itself the "home of sliced bread."

On July 7, 1928, the Chillicothe Baking Company began selling pre-sliced bread "at quality grocers in the area," marking the first time sliced bread was available commercially in the world. They used the Rohwedder Bread Slicer, a machine created by Iowa inventor, Otto Frederick Rohwedder. There's even a mural across from the county courthouse depicting the community as being the home of sliced bread. The district around the courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.

(Image credit: "File:Chili-livingston.jpg" by Americasroof is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.)

And there were still more barns.

Eventually...be still, my beating heart. We're almost there!!

Yay! Here we are!

There was so much to see, just driving into town. I was snapping pictures right and left.

I've wanted to see the place for many years, but I honestly never thought I'd get here. I'm excited to go shopping this morning. The weather is a little iffy, so Mike is going to drop me in town, and then pick me up when I'm ready. The RV park is close enough I could walk, but then that would cut into my shopping time! Nobody wants that. So, nothing opens for a few more hours, but I will be there...so ready. I'll be like that Mervyn's ad where the woman is outside the door chanting "open, open, open." Yeah...no impulse control whatsoever. That's me. You'll be right there with me, right? We can be obnoxious together. I'll stop here, but you know I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all about it.