Destination:  Miami, Oklahoma 

After our usual Sunday morning FaceTime session with Glenn (and Aiden), Carl and I headed to our first stop of the day, the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, MO.  He was born a slave on the farm of Moses and Susan Carver.  His mother, sister and he were kidnapped but George was found in Arkansas and brought back to the Carvers.  His health was frail and he did not do usual boy chores but Susan Carver taught him to knit and crochet. (photo).  He spent a lot of time exploring outside and caring for plants.  He went on to college and seriously contributed to the science of agriculture.  An interesting person with extremely high values.

Cars on the Route, Galena, Kansas

This is my first time in Kansas!  If you are familiar with the Pixar movie “Cars”, these photos don’t need an introduction.  In Galena, there are many elements of Route 66, to run into and we did just that.  

    We made a stop at Nelson’s Old Riverton Store in Riverton, KS.  Bought a shirt.    It feels as old as it is and they know how to make artistic use of a crack in their floor.

    This corner of Kansas received only 13 miles of the Mother Road but was totally bypassed by the new highway I-44 in the 1950’s.  While I have always thought of Kansas as one big farm, this corner was actually a huge mining area for lead bearing ore and zinc.  Hard working miners made bountiful yields which we are reminded of with “The Kneeling Miner”.

        In the far distance on the right is a monument called “The Praying Hands”.  It was created by the same artist.  He had returned from serving in Vietnam and felt that peace was needed here at home so he created a reminder that can be seen from the road.  Here is a close up shot of that.

Leaving Kansas and entering Oklahoma, we stopped by the Tri-State Marker so I could stand in three states at once.  This is where Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma all come together at one point.