Joplin tornado damage

On May 22 of this year, a monster tornado tore through Joplin, MO, killing at least 116. It ripped the roof off a hospital and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. We drive through Joplin when we visit our kids in Arkansas and since we were on our way there, we decided to survey the damage.


Our daughter used to work in Joplin at the other hospital. She knew some of those who were injured or killed.






Out of the rubble...
The Howard family used to live in our town and were part of our church family. We were so sad to see them move to Joplin a few years ago. Kyle took a job as a fire fighter in Joplin and was at work the day of the tornado. Jill and the boys hid in a closet and although their house was destroyed, they made it out alive.

Extreme Makeover decided to come to Joplin and do a makeover of 7 houses in 7 days and the Howards were one of the families to receive a new home! And they were the first family to see the reveal!
I would have loved to have rung the doorbell, but there were lots of cars going up and down the road, checking out the new homes. Jill may not have answered the door with all the traffic snooping around! And we knew if we stopped we would be late for dinner in Arkansas. Next time!

Out of the chaos, the new. God does that too, doesn't He? Takes the mess we have and as we give him our lives, He does a work on us. I am so happy for Kyle, Jill and the boys!

Kansas Adventure, November, Part 2

After our little visit with Officer Ferguson, we got settled back in our car and continued on Highway 160.

It was lunch time as we headed into Independence. This place looked like an interesting place to stop for lunch. The Bella Vita restaurant in the Booth Hotel.

"The Hotel Booth opened in January of 1912, back when Independence was one of the wealthiest cities in the nation. Sinclair Oil was started here, and until the Great Depression, we had the highest number of millionaires per capita in the United States. Former guests include Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, William Taft, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Gene Autry stayed here when he played the Memorial Hall in the 1940s. It was the first steel-framed concrete building west of the Mississippi, revolutionary at the time. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1983 for its cultural and architectural significance." Many of the rooms have been converted into luxury apartments.
Unfortunately, the restaurant is not open for lunch during the week, only on weekends.
Look at these awesome revolving doors!
We asked around for a spot to eat and were told that this place was a great place that the locals love. The full parking lot confirmed it. We thought it would probably be the place to go. We like to try to local places instead of the chain restaurants.
They had an all-you-can-eat buffet. Fried chicken, baked chicken, mashed potatoes (the real thing) and gravy, cornbread, salad, chocolate cake and southern style tea. We were stuffed with one time through. But it was one price, whether you eat a lot or a little.

There was an interesting historical marker 1 mile out of Independence. It was about the Osage Indians who were "the tallest race of men in North America, either red or white skins; there being few indeed of the men at their full growth, who are less than six feet in stature, and very many of them six and a half, and others seven feet."

During the Civil War, militias from both the Union and Confederate sides were stealing the Osages’ cattle, harassing their villages, and blaming the Indians for raids actually committed by Americans. Osage leader Charles Mongrain cautioned everyone to leave his people alone: “I most earnestly warn all intruders, trespassers, and others not citizens of the Osage nation to leave the nation immediately.”

"In May 1863, a few miles east of here, an Osage hunting party confronted about 20 strangers riding through their territory. A shot was fired, and one of the Osage went down. His comrades chased the trespassers about 15 miles and finally overtook them near Drum Creek, killing all but two (who escaped). The strangers turned out to have been Confederate officers, marching west with orders to recruit volunteers and encourage rebellion in New Mexico & Colorado. The Osage had foiled the plot."

A silo that hasn't been used in a while.
The road to our next site.
Big Brutus! It is BIG!!

Big Brutus was the world's second largest electric mining shovel when it was in operation in from 1962 to 1974. Now it is a tourist attraction. Big Brutus is 160 feet tall and weights 11 million pounds. These giant electric shovels, and the earlier "draglines" that they replaced, were an important part of the Kansas strip mining industry. Big Brutus was put out of business when the economics of the coal mining changed in the 1970s.

Look at Al in the photo above! He looks teeny!

It was just massive inside the machine!


Lortab sits in the driver's seat.
The oil drums that the workers used to keep all the machinery oiled.

Kansas journey finished. On to Missouri, Arkansas and Alabama.

Kansas Adventure, November, Part 1

For our November trip, we went to Southeast Kansas. And we decided to combine it with a visit to our son in Fayetteville and daughter in Birmingham. We took along Lortab, the hospital pharmacy mascot. The story goes that some nurses once called the pharmacists "weasels". The pharmacists got a weasel and named him Lortab. You can "friend" Lortab on Facebook. He has 200 friends! People take him on many of their vacations. He has been on lots of trips - Alaska and all over the US including the White House, down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Italy, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico...
So, Lortab was on our trip on roads less traveled. First stop - Beaumont, KS.

Pilots taxi their planes right up to this restaurant.
Leaving Beaumont on gravel road, you will come upon the windmills. You can see these from Highway 400. Over 140 of them! And there were more over in another section.

The old and the new

We kept traveling on gravel backroads. Our newly washed car was not so pretty looking.
Some pretty interesting road names, such as Rattlesnake road. There are hunting lodges all over in this area such as the one below or Buck Brush Adventures, or Running Rooster Hunting Lodge. I'm not a hunter, but I hear that they come from New York State and all over to hunt around here.
We drove south of Beaumont to Latham and on to Cambridge before connecting with 160.



We came across some interesting towns. Almost ghost towns. The porch below was intriguing. I think it would be fun to make a photo book of all the various porches in America; those who decorate their porches with sofas, washing machines, (donkeys) etc
This town looked almost dead. The population was not listed in the Road Atlas, but it boasted 3 churches!



As you pass through Moline, you will see a sign for the oldest swinging bridge in Kansas. We drove the short distance to see it. It was built in 1904.

Because of the drought we have had this year, the waterfalls were dry.

The southeast area of Kansas was once heavily mined; coal, lead and zinc. Since the mining era, thousands of acres of mined area has been turned over to the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks.
If you decide to travel in this area, be careful traveling on Highway 160. The speed varies from 55 to 65 and often you don't realize it. Ooops.

Luckily for us, Officer Ferguson was gracious!!