Oct 6-9...Independence, MO and Louisburg, KS

October 6 - 8, 2013

On the road again, heading for Independence, MO. Our destination here is the Mid-Continent Genealogy Library where we both want to do some research. We are staying at the Campus RV Park. Independence is surrounded by history, Presidential Libraries and old Victorian Homes and the RV Park is conveniently located for most of it. We are only here for a few days though and our purpose is the library. This is a very nice library for our purposes. They have extensive collections from every state as well as ships passenger lists and periodicals.

October 9, 2013

A short drive today down to Louisburg, KS for the Suite Owners Rally (DRV-the mfg of our rig). We arrived around 3:00pm and had time to sit and relax for a little bit before the welcoming dinner in the little club house in the park. Looks like we have about 15 rigs at this rally and the members seem to be real friendly, so I think we will have a good time. This is our first DRV rally.

We are camped at Rutlader Outpost, Middle Creek Theatre & RV Park. This is a nice park, way off the highway and very quiet. They have a large fire ring and they provide the wood. They have a music performance on Saturday night and we are all going to that.

Marceline, MO...Walt Disney's Hometown

October 4, 2013

On our trips back and forth to Brookfield we had noticed that there is an advertisement for “Walt Disney’s Hometown.” So, today we decided to go check it out. The museum is in Marceline, MO, located in the refurbished train depot.

Walt Disney spent his childhood and youth on the farm in Marceline and took his memories of Marceline with him when he started designing Disneyland. Disneyland’s Main Street is in large part how Walt remembered Main Street in Marceline.

In the museum we found lots of Walt’s childhood pictures and memories, as well as the creation of everyone’s favorite, Mickey Mouse.

Upstairs, there is a complete model of Disneyland, wow, talk about childhood memories. Disneyland was completed in 1955 and from the time I was about 9, that was our family vacation destination. My Mom would save her tips all year, then we would all hop in the car and head for Disneyland! I still love going there to this day! Everyone gets to be a kid again at Disneyland!!

Sept 29-Oct 3 Digging into Nita's Past...Linn County, MO

September 29, 2013

Today we headed a little north and east to Bevier, MO, in Macon County. We are staying at Shoemaker RV which is a dealership and RV Park. It is the closest full hookup park to Linn County, which is where we actually want to be. We are here so that I can do some research on my Baker line. A lot of the Baker’s migrated into Linn County from Kentucky.

September 30, 2013

We drove into Brookfield today, which is about 30 miles west of the RV Park on Highway 36. Our destination is the Historical Society to see if they have any information. When we walked into the building, it was like a “Wow” moment. One of the ladies ask  if she could help, I told her what I was looking for and her eyes got big and she told me she had a lot of research at home on the Baker family. She offered to go home and get it which was very sweet, so we waited while she went. The historical society has turned over all genealogical materials that they had to the library, they didn’t have the space.

My ‘Angel’ Elise, returned with 3 thick folders, one on the Bakers, one on the Mc Collums and one on the related families. I was stunned! These ladies are all volunteers and only work a morning or afternoon shift, and I walked in on the one day that Elise was working! There was so much information in these folders, there was no way I could absorb any of it while we were sitting in the museum. So, I got brave and ask her if she would consider letting us take them home and let Phil scan them into the computer. She hesitated for a bit, then said yes, we could take them. That was very brave of her, there was a lot of hours of research in those folders.

So, we left with her research with a promise to bring them back the next day. Phil spent about 3 hours scanning them into the computer.

October 1, 2013

We took the books back to Elise today, she invited us to her home, where she had more to show us! She had a whole room dedicated to her research materials. It was amazing!! She had a couple of shelves of books on the Bakers, so I told her that if there wasn’t anyone in her family that wanted those books, to please consider giving them to me, I would love to have them. She said she would check into it with her kids.

We had a wonderful couple of hours with her. Phil even fixed a drawer for her.

After our visit with Elise, we went over to the library to see what they had. We were a little disappointed with the library, they really didn’t have much.

 

 

October 2-3, 2013

Spent a couple of days absorbing the information that Elise had given me, mostly it made me really question what I have, so I’m gonna have to dig a little deeper.

Also did some wash and just relaxed.

September 18-28, 2013 in Sedalia, Missouri

September 18 – 23, 2013

We are in Sedalia, MO for the SMART National Muster. We are staying at the Sedalia Fairgrounds, which has something like 400 full hook up sites with 30/50amp, then another 200 with just 30amp. Because we wanted to park close to our Diamond Chapter Friends, we are in a 30amp spot. It is still pretty warm, so will see how this works as far as the a/c is concerned.

There are lots of RV related vendors here and Phil has become a fan of a Mor-Ride system that has no axels, each wheel is individually supported by welding and has it’s own suspension system. Suppose to be an easier ride. He wants to put them on the rig and the dulies on the truck. Cha-Ching!!!!!!

September 23 – 28, 2013

We pulled out of the fairgrounds and into the parking lot across the street to wait out turn to park for the Missouri State Samboree, which is to be held in the same place as the SMART Muster was. So today was pretty much a wash out as we waited our turn. But we did get a 50amp site this time, so that was an improvement!

Tom and Sandy and Phil and I took one day and drove around Sedalia. Most of Kansas and Missouri are still very active with trains, although now they are mostly freight trains and not passenger. So, we went to see the old train depot, and then took a ride to the old downtown area and walked around the courthouse area for a little bit. We were glad to see that most of the space in the old downtown area is occupied and not all boarded up like we see in a lot of small towns.

Another circle completed

September 17, 2013

Tonight we are in Paxico, Kansas. Today we completed the circle we started at the beginning of the trip, when we left Abilene, KS and headed north into Nebraska. The numbers on the map indicate places we have camped, the arrows, the direction we were heading.

This has been an absolutely wonderful trip, we have seen some spectacular sights, and we still have another month or so to go before heading home!