End of the trail

Moose has moved on to another owner, location unknown.  For a fresh perspective go to Mercedesplus.blogspot.com

Home

After 30 days on the road, we made it back home.  Looks like the work piled up while we were gone. The grass is long (over 4.6" of rain in the rain gauge), the weeds are tall, and all the flower beds need composed and cleaned up.  Other than that, but at least one lighting storm killed our router, internet modem, and ups; things were as we left them.  The Moose is 4500 miles older and the Squirrel about 3,000 miles (plus the 4500 pulled behind the Moose). A good trip overall.

Mark Twain Boyhood Home

This morning we left the Missouri River and trudged eastward on SR 36. It is now 200 miles of four lane across Missouri. We passed through country side closely resembling Ohio in landscape and town names. J.C. Penney, Pershing, and Walt Disney were all from this area. This afternoon we stopped on the west bank of the Mississippi at Hannibal, Missouri (Tomorrow we start back across Illinois). The Twain Museum and Hannibal is interesting although we prefer scenery to pictures and word to read. The museum also has 15 Norman Rockwell originals depicting Mark Twain scenes and a special Thomas Benton gallery is currently displayed.

Glore Museum

We are overnighting in St. Joseph, Missouri. Several years ago I learned of the Glore Museum in this town. Actually it was better known as State Lunatic Asylum 2. This is a VERY different museum and it's displays, along with Indian, and civil war displays made a museum worth visiting. Note that much of what they have is thought provoking and insensitive and visits the dark side of humanity. I would suggest a little web surfing if interested. Stomach contents from a patient are shown below.

Nebraskan RV

Git-r-done

Scotts Bluff NM & Chimney Rock NHS

Our final part of the day took us to Scotts Bluff NM and then on to a camp site within one mile of Chimney Rock HS. These cliffs are on the Oregon Trail, running along the North Platte River. The pony express also ran thru here for 18 months. Our campground tonight is completely empty. We are the only rig and the there are no lights (something we are use to at home). We have decided not to trade the Moose for a Murphy wagon so the evening should be comfortable.

Global Change

Twenty years ago when out west my memory recalls clear sky and 100 mile visibility. This trip it seems very hazy in the distance and I believe 30 miles is the limit. Per the web, CO2 emissions are the lowest they have been in years and you never see smoke billowing into the sky. The coal fired electric plant at Thunder Basin (Gillette,Wy) looked like zero emissions. My theory is that China, SE Asia, and India is dumping massive amounts of pollution into the atmosphere and that until that stops our problem will continue and accelerate.