Lawrence, Kansas

Good morning, my friends. Well, we made it. We’ve filled in our entire map of the lower 48 states. Please someone cue any of John Philip Sousa’s marches. Any one of them would be appropriate. I’m leaning toward Stars and Stripes Forever.

Well, the kitties were pretty excited at the prospect of visiting Kansas...or, Catsas if you want the Catonese translation. They caught up on current events with Mike just before we started getting ready to leave.

Heading on down the road, it was an overcast gray day. We didn’t even see any barns that I could photograph. We passed through some interesting small towns, though. 

Kearney, Missouri, was the birthplace of Jesse James, and there is an annual festival in the third weekend of September to recognize the outlaw.

After passing through Kearney, we were nearing Kansas City, Missouri. Now, I always thought Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, were two different cities in separate locations within their respective states. For the first time in my 70 years of life, I’ve realized the city of Kansas City straddles the state line shared by the two states. Weird. 

There’s a lot of history about this. My take-away from trying to figure it out is that there were two “settlements” on opposite sides of the river. The Missouri River stops flowing in a southerly direction here, and begins to head east toward St. Louis. Being at that location along the river's path helped the city on the Missouri side to prosper. When the city on the Kansas side was struggling, a decision was made to join the settlements together for the benefit of both. And maybe I’ve got that all wrong, but whatever. It was something like that.

As we approached the state line, we could see the bridge over the river looming in the distance.

Here we go again, crossing the Missouri River for the umpteenth time, and probably for the last time this trip.

Up and over.

And lookie there! It’s our 49th state!

Kansas City is the home of many people you've probably heard of: Edward Asner, Burt Bacharach, Walt Disney, Walter Cronkite, Joan Crawford, science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, Ernest Hemingway, Ginger Rogers, our 33rd President, Harry S. Truman, and many others. One thing I dearly wanted to see as we passed through Kansas City was the Kansas City Public Library. When all was said and done, I ended up cutting it from the trip. I didn't want to make it an overnight stop, and I didn't want us to tow our big fifth wheel through city traffic. Sigh. Oh well. If we'd seen it, it would have looked something like this:

(Image credit: "Library (17010263631)" by Dean Hochman 

from Overland Park, Kansas, U.S. is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

I found that image in the public domain. Cool, huh? I would love to have seen it, but the picture will have to do. Here's what Wikipedia tells us about the library:

Built in 2004, The Community Bookshelf (also known as the Library District Parking Garage) is a striking feature of Kansas City's downtown. It runs along the south wall of the Central Library's parking garage on 10th Street between Wyandotte Street and Baltimore Avenue. The concept of turning the parking garage into a bookshelf was part of an effort on behalf of the community to bring needed character to the structure.

The book spines, which measure approximately 25 feet by 9 feet, are made of signboard mylar that is laid over concrete panels and an aluminum substructure. The shelf showcases 22 titles reflecting a wide variety of reading interests as suggested by Kansas City readers and then selected by The Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees.

Do you want to know which 22 titles were selected? Find the list right here. Several of my favorites made the cut.

Moving on down the road, we passed through the city of Lenexa, Kansas. 

Twelve years before the town of Lenexa was platted, James Butler Hickok staked a claim on 160 acres at what is now the corner of 83rd and Clare Road. Filed in 1857, the claim was not far from the Kansas River, and was 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Westport, Missouri, and the start of the Santa Fe Trail. The trail meandered through this area on its way to Santa Fe, New Mexico. On March 22, 1858, Hickok was elected one of the first four constables of nearby Monticello Township. Later, Hickok became a scout for the Free-State Army, a sharpshooter, and eventually, one of the most famous folk heroes of the American West. You would know him as Wild Bill Hickok.

On down the road a ways, we passed through Eudora, Kansas. Eudora happens to be the birthplace of actor Hugh Beaumont. You might remember him as Ward Cleaver, the father on Leave it to Beaver.

In 1854 the Kansas–Nebraska Act was passed, creating the Kansas Territory and opening the region to settlement. As a result of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, settlers started to encroach upon indigenous tribal lands. In 1856, three members of a German Immigrant Settlement Company from Chicago sent out a location committee to choose a town site in the new Kansas Territory. Favoring the Eudora area, they drew up contracts with Shawnee Chief Paschal Fish, the original inhabitant of the town site. The new town was named Eudora in honor of Chief Fish's daughter. A statue of the chief and his daughter stands in the town square.

And it wasn't much farther before we reached our final destination.

This state parks are always so roomy compared to private RV parks. This is the view from our back window. We are at the end of a row and so the space beside us is open and grassy as well.

And, of course, the first thing I did was to clean off our map...

and whoa. Hang onto your hats! Kansas goes up on the big board!!! Ding, ding, ding!!! And that completes the lower 48 states. Yahoo!!!

We're coming for you next, Alaska. I'd say we saved the best for last, but we actually saved you for the end of the pandemic. We tried to go a couple of years ago, but we were discouraged with the difficulties crossing the Canadian border when the whole world was under quarantine. And I don't know about you, but I hope I can live out the rest of my days without ever experiencing another global pandemic.

Smitty couldn't wait to get out and sample that Catsas grass.

Mmm, mmm, mmm. But nothing can beat Kentucky's bluegrass. When we get back home, he plans to write an article for Bon Cat Purrtite magazine discussing his favorite grass-eating destinations.

Sadie kept watch from the safety of her catio. She has a panoramic view of the area with nothing to obstruct her watchful eyes.

We had a few life things to take care of after we were set up. We needed to pick up a couple of prescriptions, and then we did some grocery shopping. We'll have to do a little more today to pick up the things we forgot on the first try. While we were out, I said to Mike, "I could go for a pizza if there's a Papa Murphy's around." Well, he was all about that, and so we inquired of the Google, "Find a Papa Murphy's near me." Well. We could scarcely believe it when one popped up just about 15 minutes away. So we ordered a pizza for pick-up, and enjoyed our first pizza in months. 

After dinner, we went out for a walk around the park. Along the way, we saw some pretty flower gardens with these very fragrant peonies.

There were some bedraggled iris as well. I suspect the recent rains haven't done them any good.

We were looking for a way to get down to the lake. There's a very large lake here. We're in Clinton State Park, but adjacent to the state park boundary is Clinton Lake, a COE park. On the far side of our walking loop, we discovered this stairway that would lead us down to the water's edge. It was too late in the day to go any farther, but we'll try to get over there again today. The sky will be overcast again, but there's no rain in the forecast. We can also drive around to the other side to see the park. If the weather isn't cooperative, we'll do just that.

So that's all the news I have for you today. We're here just one more night (tonight), and then we'll move along to Wilson State Park in Sylvan Grove, Kansas. For now, it's time to get on with my day.