MISSOURI ROADS TO INDEPENDENCE

The Missouri roads in the Ozarks are hilly, crooked, and narrow. I don't think anything has changed since the roads were built, probably in the 1930's. The underlying mountains are solid limestone rock and rather than cut and fill to make a road, they simply finished the surface and followed the hills and valleys.

The newer roads however, are a thing of beauty. They are carved through the limestone and bridges are built over the streams and valleys.

We followed the back roads from Arkansas to Branson, Missouri. Branson was not our favorite city. We had a fairly nice campsite in a city park on the river. The campground hosts were from Eugene, Oregon, so it was fun sharing thoughts about the northwest. We attended one show which we really enjoyed. The Haygoods, 7 brothers and one sister, who sang, danced, and played several instruments each. They've been performing together as a group for 18 years.

From Branson, we headed north to Independence, Missouri, just outside of Kansas City. This is the home of our 31 President, Harry Truman. We knew we had to pass close to Kansas City so we researched to find something we might be interested in seeing there. The Presidential Library and Museum attracted us.

As we approached the Kansas City area, we noticed a sign to Truman's farm home. We left the freeway to see what it was. This is the farm where Truman lived and worked with his parents for 11 years before he entered WWI as an artillery officer. The farm is now a National Historic site and is maintained by the Department of Interior. There was a beautiful paved driveway and parking lot and no signs telling us that we couldn't park there overnight. The site is not manned by park personnel it's just open to the public. So after touring the grounds and noticing that no one seemed to be coming or going, we decided to camp there for the night. So, now we can say that we slept where President Truman slept.

The next morning we continued on to Independence. This church steeple caught our eye as we entered the city. We've never seen anything like it before.

Truman's library and museum are very interesting. There is a mock-up of the oval office which is furnished with the furniture he had while in office. We both came away with a new perspective on a President who made some very unpopular, but correct decisions during a critical time of our history. He was a simple and direct man who believed he should do what was right regardless whether it was popular or not. He was barely reelected for a second term and by the time he left office his popularity had dropped to 30% approval.

When he left office, he returned to Independence and lived a normal life. He had no secret service and would walk to his office and take car trips around the country. On one trip he drove from Independence to Washington D.C., stopping in Philadelphia to make a speech.

The home in Independence was originally owned by his wife, Bess's, parents. It was 15 miles from the farm that Harry's family owned. Until he was able to buy a car, he would take the train every weekend to court Bess.