Digging for Our Roots, Part 2: September 2013

19 September 2013

We stopped in Springfield for a couple of days. First stop was a tour of Fantastic Caverns. I had been here 33 years ago on a trip with a friend and remembered that it was a nice cave tour. We rode on a tram behind a Jeep for over a mile in and out of the cave, so it was an easy tour. The cave was discovered by the farmer who owned the land during the Civil War but he kept it secret until after the war because he didn’t want it used by either side. After the war, he advertised for someone to come explore it for him – no men applied so 12 women from an exploration club did the exploring. It has had an interesting history; there was electricity in the cave long before electricity came to Springfield, it was a speakeasy during the prohibition and it became a very popular performing stage with stars like Buck Owens bringing in crowds of hundreds. Today, it is privately owned by a group that besides running the tours, also conduct lots of educational programs for the local schools.

Next we headed for the Wilson Creek National Battlefield. This was the second major battle of the Civil War and its outcome convinced Lincoln that the Union needed to control the Mississippi so Union troops were diverted to do just that. Over 500 men died in 6 and half hours, including the first Union General to die in the Civil War, General Lyon. Even though the Confederates got a technical win, they were not able to leverage it and Missouri did not secede from the Union. A side effect was the creation of Confederate guerilla groups that raided the countryside, including one led by Frank and Jesse James. After the war, some of the guerilla groups converted to robber gangs. One can blame the war for this, but I personally think that war can become the mechanism for sociopaths to do some very evil things.

We took a drive out town down to Branson. We will probably come through this way when we do our Appalachia Bluegrass Tour someday, but for now, I just wanted to scope it out. The surrounding area is beautiful with big rivers and lots of wooded hills but Branson itself is pretty touristy. It will be interesting to camp in the area though and see some of the shows.

On a much, much lighter note, we stopped by the Precious Memories Chapel in Carthage, Missouri on our way down to Oklahoma City. Those of you who know me know that I like to collect the Precious Moments figurines – I have a few of them. Most of them have been gifts and I have very nice memories of when they were given to me. Sam Butcher, the artist, created this chapel about 20 years ago. He did all the painting inside the chapel. It is free to the public. Along with it are a very nice museum and a shopping area with a nice little restaurant. We spent a very pleasant 2 hours there and I controlled my spending tendencies very well.

We are stopping in Oklahoma City for a couple of nights so that we can watch college football on Saturday (Go Irish!) After our visit to Fantastic Caverns, we were inspired to detour down to Carlsbad Caverns on our way home. It will take a couple of days to get there, a few days visiting the Caverns and then heading home via Tucson and Phoenix. Not sure how much more sightseeing, other than the Caverns, we will be doing. A lot of desert out there. But who knows……

The entrance to Fantastic Caverns. Some of the ceilings were pretty low and the driver warned people to bend down so they wouldn't bump their heads. This is a dug out entrance. The original was a small hole obscured by trees and bushes.

Russ, the intrepid spelunker.

One of several columns. The formations were not very colorful, but some were quite large.

When the 12 women explored the cave, they wrote their names and date with charcoal on the wall.

This is the stage where many groups performed in the 1930s through 60s.

This is the steam generator that was used to provide electricity to the cave around the turn of the century.

One of the canons used in the battle at Wilson's Creek.

The visitor's center had several items from the battle, including this Confederate flag carried during the fight.

Much of the fighting occurred in a cornfield in this area. The battle was in August with lots of heat and humidity and bugs.

This is the Ray family house. The members, including 8 or 9 children, were able to hide in the root cellar during the battle. Afterward, the house was used as a field hospital. The house was not damaged - this is the original building.

General Lyon was the first Union general to die in the Civil War.

A very cute trailer near the entrance to the local RV campground at the Previous Moments complex.

The Precious Moments Chapel. There are over 2000 acres owned by the artist with several acres made into beautiful gardens with adorable Precious Moments sculptures and fountains.

The back wall of the Chapel is the Hallelujah mural with scenes of Heaven. Many of the figures were people in Sam Butcher's personal life including his mother and his son, Phillip, who was killed in an auto accident when he was 27.

The sidewalls included scenes from the Old and New Testaments as well as some of his favorite verses.

This is the Old Testament wall, including scenes of Moses in the reeds and Joseph being sold into slavery.

The ceiling is painted with lots of angels. Sam painted this laying on his back, much like Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. There was no air conditioning at the time in the building and it was in the summer.

I especially liked the tongue-in-cheek scenes showing the creation of the world. He has angels using flashlights to bring light into the world. And he has angels playing basketball with the planets that God created.

The side rooms had beautiful stained glass scenes; one side depicted the 23rd Psalm, the other side depicted the Beatitudes. This window was about laying down beside still waters.

One of the Beatitude windows.

Sam built a playhouse based on one of his figurines for his more than 33 grandchildren.

The empty tomb.

An absolutely breathtaking dollhouse in the museum with little vignettes of figurines.

16 September 2013

It was a relatively short drive down to Saint Louis. We decided to stay in a campground next to a casino since it was just across the Mississippi from all the places we wanted to visit. We had a very nice steak dinner in the casino restaurant. While we were there, I saw a sign in the casino talking about it being a riverboat. Pretty sure I hadn’t stepped aboard a boat when we walked into the casino; I looked up what that might mean. The casino is actually a “boat in a moat” which means they floated the casino floor on a pool of water so that it legally is still on water. From the outside, it is just a regular building. Pretty interesting.

Since the weather was still stinking hot, we spent our first full day in St. Louis at the Science Museum. There were a lot of geeky things to do that were fun for both kids and adults. Not a lot of people there, so we were able to try a lot of the exhibits. Saw a nice planetarium show on Voyager and I thought it was cool that it was on the same day that NASA announced that Voyager I had crossed into interstellar space.

Finally, some cool weather showed up. We spent a day at the Gateway Arch and the Museum of Western Expansion. Russ took the tram up to the top and got some great photos of the surrounding area. The museum was confusing to me; it sort of told the story of Lewis & Clark with words and nature photos and then segued into vignettes of the settlement of the west from the homesteading pioneers up through the railroads. But it seemed hodge podgy. The brochure described the museum as an impressionistic portrayal of the western expansion, hence all the small photos, clips of quotes and juxtapositions of current day photos against 200 year old artifacts, I guess. But it was not interactive and, to me, did not clearly make its point.

The Old Courthouse was two blocks away so we walked over to take a quick tour through it. This is the courthouse where Dred Scott and his wife sued for their freedom and lost. The case made its way up to the Supreme Court and when the court made their judgment that African-Americans were not U.S. citizens and were not entitled to citizenship rights and also that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the states, became a catalyst for the Civil War. There was an exhibit containing some of the Scotts personal items and giving information on their lives and what happened after the decision and the war. Scott finally won his freedom, just a year before he died. There were also exhibits on Saint Louis and its development over the years. All in all, a very worthwhile visit.

Nearby is the Laclede landing, which started out as a fur trading post in the late 1700s. Today the 19th century warehouses have been converted into shops, restaurants and bars and are apparently a hopping place at night, especially after a game at the nearby Busch stadium. We enjoyed a nice Italian dinner there, but did not enjoy the bumpiness of the roads. Those original cobblestones are murder on the shocks.

We finished the day off by walking across the Mississippi River on the Eads bridge which was built in the 1880s.

On Saturday, we did some shopping at the Soulard Farmer's Market. The sign said that a market of some sort has existed on the site continuously since 1799. It was fun to check out all the fresh produce, bakery goods and live chickens. We got some great fruit, meat and bread while doing some world class people watching.

We drove out of town on our last day in Saint Louis so that we could see the site where the Lewis and Clark expedition started their journey. A replica of Camp River Dubois was built for the bicentennial of the expedition along with a nice little visitor center. It is about 3 miles away from the actual site, which is underwater. Nearby is a 150 foot tower which allows a nice view of the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. The Illinois river also comes into the Mississippi in this area, about 5 miles north of where the tower is.

Back in town, we went to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and marveled at the mosaic work that covers all the ceilings. We were too late for the tour, but the sexton gave us a nice little history of the church and the making of the mosaics. The church is in a very nice part of town, but to get there, we had to go through some of the most blighted areas I have ever seen. Buildings that were literally falling down right next to playgrounds and schools.

We finished up our visit to Saint Louis by trying to get a nice Italian meal on the Hill. But we again ran into the Midwest culture of nothing being opened on Sunday. So we settled for pizza at a place recommended by the AAA tour book. Tried the Saint Louis specialty of toasted ravioli – pretty tasty.

We will continue our way out of the Midwest tomorrow with a stop in Springfield, Missouri.

Russ was confirming that he still knew how to solve the Tower of Hanoi problem.

Size 37 shoes worn by the "gentle giant" from Alton, Illinois. Robert Wadlow was 8 feet, 11 inches tall and is recognized as the world's tallest man. He died in 1940 as a young man.

An animated Tyrannosaurus Rex at the Science Museum (the other big guy is Russ.)

I forget what this critter is, but he was the model for a Pokémon character and his life cycle is such that he never gets out of the puberty stage - meaning he is a teenager his whole life. Poor critter.

The day was so beautiful, it seemed that you couldn't take a bad picture of the Gateway Arch.

Russ at the base of the Arch.

This is a replica of the tram you take up to the observation deck. Five people are crammed inside for the 4 minute ride up.

The Arch is the tallest monument in the U.S.

The old courthouse about 2 blocks away from the Arch.

The observation deck at the top. The floor is continuously curving.

A view of the Mississippi and some of the many bridges.

The buildings in the distance are the Casino Queen, where we were camping.

You had to climb some pretty steep steps from the tram to the observation deck.

We watched a great film on the making of the Gateway Arch. We didn't see a single person wearing a safety harness. Hard to figure.

This is an example of the weird juxtaposition of items in the museum. Don't really know the connection between FDR and a bison. In addition, most of the artifacts weren't labeled, so you didn't know the reason why they were there.

A long-horn cattle, I guess to commemorate the role that cattle ranching played in the westward expansion.

Supposedly a sod cabin, except I don't think many sod cabins had wood floors or wood window casements.

This is an iron staircase in the old Courthouse. A lot of the buildings in St. Louis had iron facades.

Dred Scott and his wife, Harriett.

The dome of the old Courthouse.

This is an example of the cobblestone streets in the Laclede Landing. Not fun to drive on.

The Eads bridge was built in the 1890s and handles cars, pedestrian and trains.

Russ is so excited to be walking across the Mississippi River!

Standing on the line separating Illinois from Missouri.

A last view of the Arch as the sun sets.

The Soulard Market. Lots of great produce and lots of people.

A status of Lewis and Clark at Camp River Dubois, where they spent the winter preparing for their expedition.

A full-size replica of the keelboat that they took up to the Mandan Village the first year on their expedition. The other side was a slice away showing how they stored their many tons of supplies.

A replica of Camp River Dubois. About 45 men spent a winter here preparing for the expedition.

This was the captains' quarters, where Lewis and Clark bunked.

The confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi. The Missouri is the more turbulent water - you can see the line between the two rivers.

The river overflowed quite a bit this year - this area is a pooling of the overflow. Lots of dead fish here because the oxygen in the trapped water got used. up.