![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_1107s.jpg?resize=584%2C458\")
Welcome!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_1108s.jpg?resize=584%2C354\")
Thomas Hart Benton mural<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_1110s.jpg?resize=584%2C667\")
Harry liked his tropical shirts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_1117_stitch_s.jpg?resize=584%2C230\")
Truman’s Oval Office<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_1128s.jpg?resize=584%2C388\")
1941 Chrysler Royal Club Coupe<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_1134s.jpg?resize=584%2C411\")
Bess and Harry<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_1137s.jpg?resize=584%2C349\")
Eternal flame self-portrait<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a> <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe Cable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
After enjoying the museum and the garden, I went back to the car and dug through my “bag of tricks”, a heavy-duty quart-sized ziplock bag full of cords and adapters. I sadly neglected to bring another phone cable, but I was pleasantly surprised that the cable for the GoPro Max fits. Plugged it in and it started to charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the GoPro cable is much too short for me to have the phone charging when it\u2019s mounted on my dash. That\u2019s just not going to work. I need a longer cable. I went to a Verizon store where I knew for sure I could get something that would work but also knew I\u2019d spend two or three times what I\u2019d pay at a Best Buy or equivalent. I am now the proud owner of a new 6\u2019 cable that cost $25. The whole cable thing stressed me out more than it should have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By now it was lunchtime, so I stopped and grabbed a sandwich for the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Drive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve gone on about the options Google gives us for navigation. For these cross-country trips, I always check the boxes for \u201cNo Tolls\u201d and \u201cNo Highways\u201d. \u201cNo Tolls\u201d is pretty straightforward and unambiguous. \u201cNo Highways\u201d, on the other hand, isn\u2019t so simple. In Colorado and points west, it is my experience that \u201cNo Highways\u201d is functionally equivalent to \u201cNo Interstates\u201d, which is actually what I\u2019m after. Google\u2019s idea of \u201cNo Highways\u201d isn\u2019t very clear to me. It could mean that it avoids any multi-lane road with limited access, but I think it\u2019s rather more restrictive than that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In any event, knowing I\u2019d be directed on roads often smaller than strictly necessary, I kept the \u201cNo Highways\u201d option on and set out. I also knew that the drive time difference between highways and no highways would be significantly greater than it was yesterday. But I didn\u2019t have far to go, so I wasn\u2019t in any particular hurry. I\u2019m much happier getting away from the big trucks and the traffic, getting off the beaten path, and getting (I think) a much better view of the countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using \u201cNo Highways\u201d in Kansas still allowed me to use national highways (primarily US 36). On these roads, you pass through all the little towns between where you start and where you end. In Missouri and Arkansas, though, using \u201cNo Highways\u201d tends to take you around all the little towns. Which also means you don\u2019t drive past any gas stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had a little \u201cfun\u201d trying to find a gas station. I pulled over and searched for gas stations, but none were on my route. The nearest, Google said, involved backtracking 17 miles. The best would be the one not far off my route 32 miles away. I was a bit surprised that there are no gas stations for 50 miles. Truly, these are the back roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 10 miles later I spotted a Casey\u2019s General Store a bit down a crossroad. Does Google not recognize Casey’s as being gas stations? I admit they\u2019re not my first choice, as they don\u2019t sell premium, but I figure low octane is better than no octane, so I filled up anyway. I\u2019ll burn all the low-octane fuel off before lunch tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Geography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The first few miles of road after leaving Atchison follow the Missouri River. Signs along the road identify it as part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. On my Oregon trip a decade ago (!), I followed a significant portion of their travels. Today, it was just a few miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once I got a short distance east of the river, my route was made up of an alphabet soup of backroads: Highway A, Highway H, Highway W, and so on. All of these letter routes were nice pavement (albeit so narrow they don\u2019t have shoulders), 55 mph speed limits, and almost zero traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much of my route was on the western edge of a plateau. I\u2019d traverse a few miles of flat agricultural land on an arrow-straight road, then drop off the plateau into a valley or ravine. In these ravines, the road becomes a Lotus road<\/em>: twisting and turning, rising and falling. At times the ups and downs were like bunny hops on a roller coaster. I was tempted to add a little speed in these places, but there were far too many blind crests. There were a number of signs warning me to share the road with the horse-and-buggy set. I\u2019d have hated to crest a hill with a steep descent only to find a buggy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These bottom lands held other potential issues as well. Not actual issues now, but they probably were when I passed through Missouri a few years ago. These letter routes feature almost no cut and fill. That is, they\u2019re pretty much at grade level. Grade level in the bottoms means \u201cpotentially flooded\u201d. More than a dozen times I saw signs warning that the road may be impassable. These are permanent signs, not temporary ones that I\u2019ve often seen when some side roads are actually flooded. In addition to the warning signs well in advance of the potential danger, they had a number of amber-colored signs that would show how deep the water is in the case that it\u2019s actually flooded. All these signs could indicate depths of as much as 5 feet. I wonder how often the signs are totally submerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This up-and-down, on the plateau and in the bottoms, continued until nearly the Arkansas border, where the plateau seemed to end. Coincidentally, that\u2019s when even these back roads started to see traffic. I was nearing Bentonville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not a farmer, and I\u2019m unable to identify most of the crops I drive past, particularly this early in the season. Like any second grader, I can spot corn and wheat but anything else is a mystery to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fair amount of land was devoted to livestock rather than crops. In Kansas, the cattle were all in the typical industrial feedlots, cattle shoulder to shoulder at the trough and manure piled ten or more feet high. Here in this part of Missouri, there are a lot of cattle, but they\u2019re all grass-fed. Not nearly as many cattle per acre, but probably making for better beef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know much about chicken farming. I\u2019ve seen some documentaries about it, and how the three or four giant chicken companies have transformed the industry. I think I saw a few of these modern chicken farms. Each had between four and ten long, low buildings with ventilation fans on each end, and all the driveways and buildings festooned with \u201cNo Trespassing\u201d signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the roadside billboards in Kansas were selling Jesus and advocating against abortion. In Missouri, it’s Trump instead of Jesus and unborn babies. In this part of Missouri, you can\u2019t go more than a few rural miles without seeing Trump flags. It seems no Trump supporter in these parts is satisfied with a single flag. It\u2019s four or five or six at a time: \u201cTrump 2020\u201d, \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d, \u201cLet\u2019s Go Brandon\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everywhere I stopped, people were friendly and curious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"