Kansas City - The final stop and summary

We met Barry and his wife Shannon at Grinders for lunch!

We left JR's place and cut through the country on our way up to KC.  It was about a 3 hour drive, and took us through some pretty countryside.  We rolled into KC mid afternoon and immediately went to Boulevard Brewing to try and catch a tour.  They were pretty busy, so we just ended up grabbing a few flights and attempting to play a game with the two grumpy assed teens! (I guess too much fun and a lack of sleep had been had at JR and Patricia's!).  We finally checked into our Air BnB around 4.  But not before Bish took us into the Hood so we could shop at an Aldi's!  What an interesting place that was!

At the Hallmark Visitor's Center

And the Grammy goes to....Danica!

Based on the two grumpy teens, we decided to just have a quiet night at the place, and cook dinner in.  The next morning we got rolling mid morning, and went to the nearby Hallmark Visitor's Center for a tour.  It was neat to learn about how the Hall family had started the business in the KC area, and about how much it had grown worldwide.  And I did not realize that they owned Crayola Crayons!!!!  What a cash cow!

The City of Fountains.

Clifford!

Although it's been a great trip in many respects, the portion of the trip I was most looking forward to occurred for lunch on Monday in KC.  We had lunch with a buddy of mine from high school and his wife, Barry & Shannon.  Much like my buddy Troy who we saw in Kentucky for bourbon tasting, I have known Barry since we were maybe 5 or so.  We have never been close friends, but we have always been friends, and he came back into our high school Golf & Gamble get togethers about 10 years ago, and he has been a breath of fresh air!  Barry is the most caring, honest, and not shy to be physical with his male friends person out of our group from MHS.  It has been great to reconnect with Barry during our G & G trips the last few years.  Sadly, I saw Barry and his wife about a month earlier this year as myself and other friends from MHS attended their 19 year old daughter's funeral in Wichita, KS after she was killed in a car accident.  So it was great to see Barry again and give him a big ole hug!  I know they are/have been hurting, and will continue to do so probably for the rest of their lives.  He/they are good people, and did not deserve to have that hand dealt to them in life.  We got to spend about 2 hours eating lunch with them and just catching up, and telling them stories about our travels.  We met them at a DDD place called Grinders.  Our waiter told us that Guy had been there recently to do a second show, and that the camera crew spent the whole day at the place filming multiple takes of everything.  Again, seeing Barry was probably the best part of the trip for me based on the recent occurrence.

Dress up at the KC Federal Reserve Bank

We go watch the Royals during Spring Training instead.

Monday afternoon Bish and the girls visited the World War I Memorial in KC.  I joined them for it, but a bit later in the afternoon, as I ran up to visit the Farmhouse International Fraternity office near the airport in KC.  I was in Farmhouse Fraternity during my time at Purdue, and a few years back got  involved with the fraternity as an advisor for a start up chapter at ASU.  It has been enjoyable for me to reconnect with FH.  I have met a lot of nice young men who are great examples of what a Farmhouse Man is supposed to be.  I have been amazed at how many good, young people I have met and interacted with through FH 30 years after I was a part of FH.  It is nice to know that their morals, values, and actions are still very similar to those I was taught while at Purdue.  So I ran by the office and got to say hi to many of the International office employees I have gotten to know - Christian, Braden, Sam, Allison, and Thomas, and also got to meet a few new people that I will be interacting with soon enough - Shane and Landon.  They were all in a planning meeting, so I didn't stick around long, but it was nice to see everyone and see where it all happens at HQ.

Tater tots slathered in chili and cheese at Grinders!

It was the "Wurst" food we had in KC @ Austrian restaurant.

Monday night was a KC BBQ night as we had to have some while in town.  We opted for Jack Stacks based on various recommendations, and it did not disappoint!  We had some burnt ends (what they are known for), along with a variety of smoked meats and then I got the smoked prime rib as I had had it once before in STL and thought it was amazing.  We were not impressed with the cheesy corn (think mac & cheese with corn in place of the macaroni noodles).  But overall, this was a great representation of KC BBQ!

I needed this hat at Spendthrift Farms.

Daddy D. Howard Doane for my FH friends!

We got all packed up for our flight on Tuesday morning, and made it out of the place in time to get to the KC Federal Reserve in time for a tour.  We had wanted to hit the reserve (for a visit, not to rob it!) as that was one item to do that was appealing to all of us as we'd never been to one before.  The only one west of KC is in SF.  It was an interesting tour.  We learned about how they serve as a "bank for banks" so that none of the local banks end up having too much cash on hand at any given point in time.  They also check all cash coming in, and pull out bills that are not good enough to be in circulation any longer.  We watched a few people in a room that were just taking stacks and stacks of 20s and running them through a machine that checked and recounted the bills.  And you could see a shredded bill go up through a tube every few seconds.  They said that they shred around $5 million dollars/day at this site alone!!!!

Spiral of Crayola crayons at Crown Plaza.

I'm not sure which one looks happier, the Lego or Boo?

After the Fed, we were just killing time waiting to head to the airport.  We opted for some more KC BBQ for lunch at a place called Gates BBQ.  It was one of the 3 that were recommended to us.  They are known for their ribs.  It was OK, but not great.  The ribs were not as good as the ribs at jack Stacks in our opinion.  And Danica was disappointed as she was expecting to get yelled at by the people behind the counter but it never really happened.  We did all enjoy the strawberry pop they had in the machine though!

WW1 Memorial

Darby promoting CBD!

We landed into PHX around 5:30 pm, and got home by 7ish.  It was nice to get back home, and sleep in our own beds.  I especially enjoyed seeing Maori again, and she was very excited to see us!  We all agreed, this trip was fun, but we were all ready to get home after only 12 days.  The trips the last 2 summers were considerably longer, but none of us were as ready to get home as much the previous 2 summers.

Back home again in AZ at Jackie's!

My thoughts on the cities/areas we visited:

Lexington, KY - A beautiful part of the country that I really had not spent any time in previously!  Lots of rolling green hills, horse farms, trees, etc.  The city itself was nothing special, but the UK campus seemed nice.  We really enjoyed our horse farm tour.

Frankfort, KY - Frankfort was much like Lexington area - green rolling hills.  For it being the capital city of KY, it was actually quite disappointing.  A sad representation for the state capital.  Our B & B was nice, and the bourbon distillery tours were fun, but most of them were way off the beaten path, and out in the middle of nowhere!

Louisville, KY - Louisville had some potential.  There seemed to be a lot of decent neighborhoods within the city, and there seemed to be a fair amount of things to do in the area.  I did not realize it was the 16th largest city in the US.  Much bigger than I had realized.  I think we all would have enjoyed a bit more time to explore Louisville.  Again, lots of greenery/trees.

St. Louis, MO - I have been to STL numerous times previously for work, so have a recent memory of the area.  It again is very green and lush like the other cities we visited, but in fairness, all of them have had a ton of rain so far this spring!  St. Louis probably had less potential for us, vs. Louisville, but overall, it seems to have a decent amount of things to do offered.  A buddy commented on my STL post that it was a boring city.  I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but it was much more exciting than KC or some of the other places we visited.

Branson, MO - I had been to this tourist haven once previously as I was passing through.  But it was the off season.  While there is a lot to do in the area, the traffic is horrible based on how the roads/stoplights are laid out.  Again, it reminds me of a mix b/w Vegas and Orlando, with the worst of both of these two areas.  It is very poorly laid out and the planning of how to accommodate growth wasn't done well.

Halfway, MO - We loved halfway!  Although, a majority of the reason for this was due to JR & Patricia!  It is absolutely out in the middle of nowhere!  The nearest town (aka grocery store) is 25 minutes away.  The nearest big city (and I don't know if I would call it a big city) is Springfield, MO.  I'd probably be bored to tears if I were to live here, but it was great to visit.

Kansas city, MO - Probably the most boring big city I've been to.  It has a lot to offer it seems, but not much of it was appealing to us.  It is a weirdly laid out city also.  Depending on where you are, and where you need to go, you would sometimes have to go way out of the way to get there.  There is a wide RR track running through the middle of most of the city, and therefore were minimal crossing points for the RR.  When I ran up to FH, it was a very elongated route to get there as I-70 was under construction, so the GPS took me in what seemed to be a circuitous route.

Green Acres Missouri - aka JR & Patricia's place in BFE!

Riding the redneck limo to happy hour!

Aftr we left Branson and Springfield, we were headed to the middle of nowhere.  Literally, Halfway, MO!  An old friend of mine from Indiana who I knew back in the early 90s, JR, had moved from Phoenix with his significant other Patricia, back to the Lake of the Ozarks area (closest location  anyone might know) about 5 years ago.  JR is/was a turfie from Iowa State, and was friends with Zac, Grant, and Graddy from his days at ISU, as well as working at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, WI.  He somehow ended up in Indy at the same time I lived there, so I got to know him at that time.  Fast forward 20 years, and I somehow learned that he was living in Arizona after we had moved there in 2006.  We reconnected, and would occasioanlly see him, and eventually met a lady he was dating named Patricia.  They performed/sang occasionally at bars or events, so we went to see them perform a few times before they moved.

Danica's selfie on the limo

Once they moved, they had always said to "stop by if ever in the area."  I was confident I would do so if I ever was, but also never figured I'd make it back to BFE, MO ever again.  Well, it just so happened that our travels this summer would be taking us nearby Halway/Boliver/Urbana, MO!  So we reached out and arranged a stopover for a night with them.  We honestly had no idea what it was going to be like.  I think Bish was a little concerned we'd have no AC, and we'd have to use outdoor plumbing at JRs.  They had a bunch of dogs (good) and cats (bad as Danica is allergic), but we said what the heck and fit it into our schedule.  We had an absolute blast visiting JR & Patricia!  They were very welcoming, and were great hosts!  They gave us a tour aroung the place - the house, the out building/shop/JRs digs, the dogs of course, and everything else.  JR took ey for a golf cart tour - front pond, lagoon (aka leach pit for sewer), and the back woods.  It was a great place and had a lot to keep them busy.

JR the driver

They had a neighbor who was selling his house, and moving to Mexico.  So there was a happy hour scheduled down the road at another neighbor's house so that everyone could meet the new neighbors who were buying his house.  JR had a plan in place to take us all down to happy hour on his redneck limo.  His Kubota tractor with trailer in tow, and chairs and a cooler on the wagon!  It was perfect for the setting, and the girls and Bish really enjoyed the experience!  We got to meet the neighbors and have a few beers.  The guy moving to Mexico was a former California hippie from the 70s and had moved back to MO as part of the "take back the land" movement in the 70s.  So it was no surprise when hit lit up his doobage during the gathering!

Randy the dog joining us on the limo ride.

After happy hour, we rode back to Green Acres to settle in for the evening/dinner.  They made a nice dinner for all of us, and we sat around and caught up.  We even fit in a game of Guesstures, which was hilarioous!  It was drizzling the next moring, so we had a nice, quiet morning with JR making breakfast and enjoying the sound of rain outside while we ate.

Randy was my buddy.

The horse farm tour had probably been the best part of our trip thus far, but I think our time with JR and Patricia might now be at the top of our list for this vacation!!  It was great to see them and spend time with them, and they showed us a good ole Missouri redneck time!  :-)

The girls were happy to get some dog time in too.

We headed off towards Kansas City and the last leg of our vacation the next morning.

A rarew picture, Bish allowing the Spicey the cat to sleep on her in bed!

Branson - the bad traffic capital of MO!

Go carting in Branson

After St. Louis, Branson, MO was next on our list.  I had stopped in here years ago on my way through and got to see M-m-m-m-mel Tillis perform (reminded me of dad watchign Hee Haw growing up!), so thought this would be a fun stop along our Midwestern route.  If you have enver been here, imagine Orlando, FL mixed with Las Vegas, NV - tacky tourist extreme with all kinds of signs and advertising everywhere for food/shows/entertainment.  Couple this concept with too damned many people and poorly laid out roads, and there are commonly lines of cars at stop lights that are 40-50 long just to get through.  It's a very pretty area with rolling hills, but too many old people driving too slowly!  :-)

I hate to admit it, but she did a pretty good job of driving!

We came into Branson on Thursday afternoon, and just stayed at a hotel.  We were within walking distance of the Titanic Museum, where the front fasade looks like the ship, complete with a fake iceberg and water squirting out as if there were a hole in the ship!  Bish and I walked down to the local "visitor center" to get some brochures to figure out what we wanted to do while in town, and learned that the "visitor centerz" was actually a time share sales office that had brochures for all of the activities.  We passed on the time share sales pitch, but still grabbed a bunch of brochures.

Miniature golf after dinner

We opted for a relatively quiet night since we stopped and got our fudge packed at Uranus!  :-)  We walked down the street to an all you can eat seafood buffet called Marvelous Marvin's.  Afterwards we played some miniature golf next door and sweat like pigs as it was abotu 88 and humid!  Darby was the only one who lost a ball in the water during our round!

Sadly, Bish's putting skills are better than the girls.

Friday morning the girls decided on a go cart track as the entertainment of the morning.  There are a million go cart tracks, so we picked one close by and got 2 hour passes They opted for go carts early before it got too hot and humid, which was a great idea!  The track wasn't very crowded yet, so we got in a lot of rides as we typically were able to exit and go right back in immediately afterwards.  I think we got in about 8 races in our 2 hour period.  I'm not sure how or where, but the girls both have some aggressive driving habits.  I'm guessing they both picked this up from their mother's agressive driving/road rage?  I think everyone but me got spun at least once on the track, and I was able to stall my cart one time and caught big air going down the ramp when it stalled!

I have no idea where she is aiming as that's not the direction of the hole!

After go carts, we headed over to do a local escape room as it was supposdly ranked in the top 5 escape rooms in the country.  The person that picked it, Danica, screamed like a little girl once we got inside due to the darkness and the creepy voice!  Let's just say, it was a pretty hard excape room, but still alot of fun.  We were not even close to escaping in our one hour time allotment.  But the girls that let us out told us it was there hardest room.  It was a lot of fun though!  We went to see the Men In Black movie that night.  It was OK, nothing great.  Then had a relatively early night.  but not before I got a BPT at a restaurant across the street from our hotel!  :-)

Darby with a polar bear in WofW!

We left Branson the next morning, headed for Halfway, MO (aka BFE) to see old freinds JR & Paricia.  But along the way, we first had to stop by Bass Pro Shops (BPS) largest/original store in Springfield, MO.  And right next door was a place they created called World of Wildlife that we decided to stop and see.  It was kind of like a giant display of the stuffed animals you see in a BPS or Cabellas.  Plus they had an aquarium in there too.  It was also a collection/location for a number of national associations or hall of fames such as Bass Fishing HOF, some sort of antler/hunting associaiton, etc.  Needless to say, if you ever find yourself in Springfield, MO (I hope not for yoru sake), then this place should be at teh top of your list to visit (partially because there isn't much else to do there!).

Boo inside a pop up in a fish tank.

The STL

Frozen custard outside of Ted Drewes!

After leaving Louisville and our stops along the way at Corydon for a BPT, and Santa Claus to see Jay Cutler, we were on our way to St. Louis!  Southern Illinois was pretty flat, boring, and had a lot of winter wheat!

I beleive this was taken near the Boathouse in Forest Park

Our Air Bnb in St. Louis was kind of cool as it was an old high rise apartment building but the unit had been recently revamped, so was pretty nice inside.  It was near a bunch of hospitals in the Central West End are of St. Louis, so there were places to go within walking distance.

The Blues had just won the Stanley Cup, so all of the fountains were blue!

After arriving, we caught up on some laundry, and Bish and the girls got in a workout in the gym downstairs (while I took a nap).  We walked down the street a ways and found a public house to have dinner and a few beers.

Selfie in the to of Arch.

On Wednesday we went into downtown and did the St. Louis Arch!  Part of the process was to watch a movie on the design and construction of the Arch.  I didn't realize how young the Arch actually was.  It was finished in late October, 1965.  On our MHS 86 senior trip, we went to St. Louis and did the Arch.  I didn't realize it was only 21 years old at the time.  The movie about the construction of the Arch was amazing!  I did not realize what a feat of engineering it was to put the thing together!

We saw a giant angel cloud in STL!

After watching the movie, and touring the museum area where we learned about St. Louis being the Gateway to the West and more about the design and construction of the Arch, we finally got in line to go up into it.  Bish was not in a good spot as she is afraid of heights and was trying to keep calm as the build up of getting in the little cars approached.  A guy in line behind us starts to tell her of how the car spins around once you are on top, and then he was nice enough to tell us he had no idea as he'd never been up in it!  Once we got to the top, she realized it wasn't that bad of a trip at all, and the 630' in the air really wasn't a big deal since you were enclosed in a tiny space up there.

Waiting in line to take the pod back down at the arch.

After a fun lunch in downtown, we went to Budweiser Brewery for a tour.  The place is HUGE!  Unfortunately, the next free tour wasn't for 2 hours, and we weren't willing to wait 2 hours to see a Butt-wiper tour.  We did a drive through tour of Washington University of St. Louis as Bish's neice Colleen went to school there.  It was a very pretty looking campus.

Go Blues!

That night we met Bryan Buck, a Purdue FH friend, for dinner nearby in Forest Park at the Boathouse.  Buck was a roommate of mine when I lived at Farmhouse Fraternity at Purdue.  He has lived in STL for 20+ years, and has made it his home.  He still makes it back to Purdue to see his parents and attend a football or bball game occasionally.

Forest Park from on top of our apartment building.

After dinner, I had to take everyone to the infamous Ted Drewes for frozen custard!  Everyone thought it was good, but they all concurred that if the lines had been longer, it might not have been worth the wait.

Scooter rides

We got up the next morning and rented Lime scooters and rode into Forest Park.  One of us took a tumble on our Lime scooter and skinned up a knee!  They do recommend you wear helmets when riding!  After scooters, we hit the road headed for the lovely Branson, MO!

Dork out front!

As we started driving out of STL, I realized an old freind from MHS lived somewhere West of STL, but didn't know where.  So I looked him up on FB, and figured out we could stop by and say hi to Blaine Leifer as we drove through Lebanon, MO on I44!  Before stopping to see Blaine, we HAD to stop at Uranus, MO for a few good laughs!  It's a roadside attraction that is about as cheesy as one can get.  You walk in the door and all of the emplyees say "Welcome to Uranus!"  And then when you walk up to the fudge counter to take a look, the lady behind says "Would you like me to pack your fudge for you?"

Uranus became the "butt" of all jokes for the rest of the day!

My olde Kentucky home, Luvalle style

Darby sneaking a sip of bourbon at Jim Beam!

After rolling into Louisville and doing the slugger museum on Sunday night, we headed to our Air BnB in the Highlands neighborhood.  It was a cool spot, and a great location.  We all were kind of ready for an off night, so we just decided to go grab a bite to eat locally within walking distance.  Darby chose our eating options, so we ended up goign to a nearby Korean place and 3 of use had Bibimbap as that's about the only thing on the menu we recognize from ordering it previously!  Our timing was not great, as when we exited the restaurant, it was a friggen downpour outside!  So we ran across the street to a pizza/bar place and had a beer and a giant cookie dessert to wait out the rain.

The big bat

The legend, JR.

We had kind of a quiet morning the next day, and then headed off to conquer Louisville.  We started off at Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum on the South side of town.  It was cool to learn about the history of the Running of the Roses, and our timing was unique due to this being the first year that the race was decided by a DQ.  We got the walking tour around the paddock and out to the homestretch of the track.  The dirt track is ~ 75% sand and they were working it up while we were nearby.  Back in my early SoCal days I worked at Hollywood Park and used to visit with the guys that maintained the track and it was always fascinating to learn of the science behind a fast or slow track.  My favorite part of the museum was the farrier video showing how they prep a horse hoof and nail the shoe on.  I was surprised I had not actually seen that occur when I was younger.

Barbaro tribute in front of Churchill Downs

The Slackette jockeys.

After the track/museum, we went across the street for lunch at Wagners Pharmacy, a popular tourist trap diner nearby.  The food was actually pretty good and very reasonably priced.  Bish won with the Derby Special sandwich of grilled ham with cheese on it.  After lunch we did the driving tour of University of Louisville campus as Darby (and quietly the rest of us) were not in the mood to walk another university campus yet.  It is a pretty compact campus surrounded by a lot of city.

Derby hats

Boo having a Mint Julep

Then we went back into downtown and hung out near the fourth Street Experience (think Fremont St. experience in Vegas, only not as big and not as many weirdos and drunks walking around).  We stopped into the Jim Beam Urban Distillery there and did another bourbon tasting.  I thought Bish was going to die when she took a sip of the Knob Creek Rye bourbon and it seemed to burn her throat going down!  All that was missing was her pounding her chest with her fist and saying "Good stuff" between coughs!  I am slowly starting to recognize the different tastes of bourbon based on what the mash bill mix is.

Trying to steal the Colonel's secret recipe.

We had decided that evening that we were going to go do the Louisville Mega Caverns as it sounded cool to go hang out in a 60 degree limestone cave when it was 87 and humid outside.  The place closed at 10 pm (it's always dark underground), so we headed in that direction for our tour around 6:30 with plenty of time to spare.  Or so we thought!  All tours end soon after 6 pm!  Too bad that info wasn't on the web site for planning purposes!!!  Oh well, we'll have to try the Mega Cavern tour on our next trip.  For dinner that night we just went to a local pizza joint nearby and called it an early evening.

We got up on Tuesday morning, cleaned up, loaded up, and got out of our Air Bnb early enough to make it to the Muhammed Ali Museum before it opened at 9:30 am!  We spent 2-3 hours learning about The Greatest as well as about homelessness (another exhibit currently) around the world.  Ali grew up in the Louisville area.  

She is the greatest!

Rope a dope!

After Ali we hopped on the road towards STL.  I hadn't had a breaded pork tenderloin yet on this trip (an Indiana staple and something I always try to have at least once while back near home), so I found a place online in Corydon, IN for one.  Unfortunately Mike Bussabarger (FH) wasn't home while we were in town.  Funny story, first it was KFC that was out of biscuits... the restaurant we went to for the BPT was a 'brick oven' place, so they of course served pizza.  The waitress informed us that that were "out of pizza dough" when she took our order!!!  :-)

Another horse pose

After lunch, we had to stop by Santa Claus, IN because you just have to if in the vicinity!  We ran by the Christmas store and had some hat fun!  And we got to see Jay Cutler baseball field!  Not sure why they named a baseball field after him in his hometown when he excelled at football, but at least there is a field named after him.

Larissa pose with Santa

Southern Illinois was flat, open, and boring!  Good thing it was only 100 or so miles over to STL.  Our Air Bnb in STL was in the Central West End neighborhood near Forest Park (think Golden Gate Park or Central Park).  I felt like Buffy and Jodie from Family Affair as we were staying in a high rise apartment in the city!  All we were missing was Mr. French!

Baby shark...doo doo...

Coal for Darby this year