St. Joseph, Missouri

Although I29 is really not a side road (like we enjoy traveling), it has proved to be an interesting road. We left Sioux Falls on Saturday morning and took this highway south to St. Joseph, MO. We actually tried to stop earlier - yikes we went almost 300 miles! Seems the campgrounds along the interstate are either $35+ a night or so substandard that we wouldn't feel safe staying in them. After starting just after 8, we finally stopped around 3. Before we retired that would have been a short day but now it is longer than we really like to travel - life changes!

We ended up at an expensive dump in St. Joseph. By stopping here, we got to discover a bit about the city - what an old historic town. And they were having a Pumpkin Festival so of course we had to venture into the old town to check it out. I need to tell you here that we got new phones this summer and Mike's has GPS on it so we named her "Hot Lips" and tonight we followed her directions - wow we got there but we went through some unique neighborhoods and unusual streets to do it - maybe we have something set wrong... Anyway, we got there!



This scaffolding was filled with carved pumpkins - all with a different face. Some were advertising a business and others held messages and some were just faces.

Like this one. I don't know about you, but it sure looks like the face of Jesus to me... but then I see dead presidents in campfires...
Since we were in the historic district, we decided to walk around a bit. This is the "barn" that housed the horses used for the Pony Express.
Up the hill a ways is a house in which Jesse James lived in 1881 - He came into town and was known as Tom Howard. By this time in history, most of his gang was killed and he was looking for a place to settle where the $10.000 reward on his head wouldn't be the end of him. While planning a bank robbery with Bob and Charley Ford in this very home, they shot him in the back. The story goes that he had turned to straighen a piece of framed needlework on the wall. The hole is still in the wall of this home. The Ford boys came to trial and were put to death - they never collected the 10,000 dollar reward.

This old hotel was the site of the trial. The hotel was also the headquarters for the Pony Express. It is now a very comprehensive museum of the west. I guess I never realized that the Pony Express only lasted a short time, less than 2 years. Anyway, St. Joseph is where it started in 1860. Plaque indicates they had a good record; maybe even better than today... sorry Janet!

We located a church tonight so after services we set off for Branson... and who knows what! I love this life!