Last 4 days of the trip--Sun., Mon., Tues., Wed., Sept 11th to 14th, Kansas to Home.
This is the end of the 101 day, 16,000 mile wonderful journey across North America. I hope you have enjoyed the days and the adventures along the way. The pictures that have been shown are just a representative of the thousands of picture we took throughout USA and Canada. If you are interested in the DVD that we will have ready later this fall, let is know either on Face book, or here on the blog. You can also write us through e mail at crazy4birds@comcast.net . I would love to hear from those of you in India, Romania, China, Thailand, Canada, Italy and any other country who have been following along through these months.
Windmills and corn
The four last days were through the United States heartland and what we call the “Plains” of the United States, where most of the basic crops for our food and many exports are grown. This is basically flat and fertile land ideal for the raising of row crops like corn and beans (soy) In Kansas, Minnesota, MIssouri and Illinois are the great corn fields that stretch for miles and miles to the horizon, along with millions of acres of soybeans that are used for oils, mainly cooking oils and biodiesel. The remainder is used for animal feed as it is 38% protein. Corn of course has a multitude of uses and 50% of it is grown in in these 4 states. 55% is exported mostly to Pacific rim Countries.
"The Arch" at St Louis Missouri
We took time in Kansas and MIssouri to stop in two National Wildlife and Recreation areas to observe a few more bird species. The birds were not as many as we had seen before, but it was good to see a few more. We ended up with 224 species total on the trip, and a few new ones for our “Life list”. The N. W. Refuge at Emporia Kansas was the Sand Hills NWR . One outstanding bird there was the Scissor Tailed Flycatcher that we had not seen previously. It was Saturday and the Refuge HQ. was closed so we were on our own. We did find a map of the area so got to most of the places of some note. It was quite open and skirted the Missouri River in places. The effect of the drought was seen as the grasses in that NWR were very dry. Even in the RV Park there were wide gaps in the soil where the heat and dry air had cracked the earth into gaping fissures. Although it was early in September many trees were losing their leaves prematurely. The RV Park at Emporia was “surrounded” by two Interstate highways and one Railroad so it was very noisy. In town there was a street Festival as they turned the main street into a Carnival atmosphere with booths, rides and lots of food. Some of the lines for food were very long. We did have a brief, 5 minute, heavy rain that evening.
By Sunday we had had communicated with cousin Barb and Chris Ramsey, (Shirley and Bob Atkinson’s daughter and son in law) to meet in a restaurant as we were headed north and would be a few miles from their home. We did that and ate at the “54 Grill” in the Truman Mall on US 71 south of Kansas City MO. It was a good visit and as we had not met before (at least not since Barb had been a young child) we had a lot to catch up on. Chris is retired military and headed back to school pursuing Pharmacy as a vocation. (The Truman Mall has the original homestead of the Truman family still standing.
Higginsville, MO water tower
From this point into Missouri there were few trees except for Juniper on the rolling hills of western Missouri. At times it was really reminiscent of the old prairie of many years ago before the plow cut up the soil. In the middle of this route is the town of Higginsville in which is a Confederate Memorial regarding the Civil War. We are reminded that Missouri was a “border” state in the Civil War and sent 110,000- troops to the Union side and 40,000 to the Confederate side, hence the Confederate Memorial which was a home to Confederate veterans and their families for 60 years. That brought us across the Missouri River (south side) and into Columbia MO, the home of the Missouri University (Tigers0 and that day a very large Bike Marathon for Muscular Dystrophy. In that particular event. 3,500 bikers raised more that 1 million dollars for MS. In the Cottonwood Park where we stayed many bikers had camped that weekend so we were there at the end of their stay and by morning the campground was 75% empty. Both of these days were sunny and moderate in temps at 75 F .
One of the Green Herons
While we were in Columbia we had the opportunity to “do” one last National Recreation Area along side the Missouri River. (The river still was at flood stage in some places) This Eagle Cliffs National Recreation Area (NRA) had many roads that were dry and very dusty. The effect on the truck was penetrating dust in every crack. There were however a few highlights that were unexpected. The best one was seeing seven young Green Herons in one place. A family evidently that had all made it through the summer and were in pretty good shape for the southward migration. We observed them for a long while and took some pictures of their activities along an embankment by a pond. That was the most of that species we had seen ever in one place. This NRA has corn and buckwheat planted that was standing and it used to feed the many geese (Snow and Canadian?) that come through here in migration the next two months. An MD from Columbia talked with us about the NRA as he and his wife came often and told us of an Eagle’s nest that we did not find. The gas price in MO there, was the lowest of the trip at $3.19 per gallon. (Ruth always said that MO gas was the cheapest.)
Then it was through St.Louis , get a few pictures of the “Arch” at 55 miles per hour and head into the heavier traffic on the east side of the Mississippi River toward Chicago on I-55. We did stop overnight at Bloomington, Illinois in another RV PArk that had two Freeways and an RR track surrounding it. On the way to this spot there are more than 75 wind generators on the flatlands of Illinois near Carlock, IL. We did get good Wi-Fi here so we could still communicate by internet one more night.
The next morning , which was the last day, we headed up I-55 toward Chicago, but when we stopped for gas in Dwight, IL, the lady cashier at the gas station indicated that we would do much better to go east and then north on I-65, rather than I-55 (NE) and then I-80 E as there was a lot of construction and we could save 2-3 hours doing that. We took her advice and did save quite a lot of time and stress and got to see some of the “small town” America on the way. Ruth got a picture the “Welcome to Michigan” sign which will be in the DVD I am sure.
The Missouri River in Missouri
The last stop we made was to get the truck and trailer washed at the 76th St. truck wash in Byron Center.MI just off US 131. We did that and arrived home just after 5:00 PM safe and sound..
Thanks for ‘tagging along’ and if there are any questions or pictures that you would like to have, please e mail me (see above) or write a note on Face Book (Jim Strohmer ). It was a “trip of a lifetime” to be sure and we are thankful to be home again safe and sound. We’ll let you know of our next adventure here on the blog!
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