American Gothic 🏷️26.05A
The easiest, most instantly useful improvement nearly any hotel can make is to add a simple elevator sign to hallways. There’s no reason to make every guest scan both ways trying to descern if there’s an extra gap somewhere between the doors or remember which way they approached their rooms from.
We paid homage to Aldo Leopold today, visiting his gravesite and birthplace/boyhood homes. 🏷️26.05A
Dave has gone missing.
We were a bit disappointed at the rock art we found at Thousand Hills State Park in Missouri, which were rather minor petroglyphs fully enclosed in a structure. I guess we’re just too spoiled by the Southwest… 🏷️26.05A
Stopped by the birthplace of labor legend John L Lewis, though missed touring the museum, which was already closed for the day. 🏷️26.05A
Independence,Missouri is home to three National Historic Trails. We followed a chunk of the Santa Fe Trail today. 🏷️26.05A
The most important stop of the day was the Harry S Truman National Historic Site, the primary target of the entire trip. It’s been an orphaned National Park unit for Jen for years, so it was good to finally get it done. We also stopped at his nearby boyhood home. 🏷️26.05A
Made a quick stop at Fort Osage, one of the first U.S. outposts in the Louisiana Purchase territory. 🏷️26.05A
We e-signed the paperwork for our new Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid tonight! Can’t wait to pick it up in a few days.
Taking aim at the courts 🏷️26.05A
This building served as the home office of the famed Pony Express. 🏷️26.05A
We visited the Gen John J Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site. The home is closed for renovations, the schoolhouse had closed for the day too, but we did get to tour the museum, which was better than expected. 🏷️26.05A
The best thing… 🏷️26.05A
Iowa is still learning what a food truck is. 🏷️26.05A
We stopped by the site of the Icarian Colony, the longest running non-religious utopian project in America. 🏷️26.05A
Marked off another on Jen’s MLB Ballpark quest.
“Boob guys” exiting en masse 🏷️26.05A
Coffee and tea 🏷️26.05A
Stopped at another Freedom Rock. It’s actually part of a much larger project, one for each of Iowa’s 99 counties. Sounds like a fun quest if you live in Iowa. 🏷️26.05A
