St Louis to Topeka via Independence, MO

Sept. 3. Wednesday
Truman's Museum in Independence was excellent and very informative. He seems to have been the right man for the times. Many of the things he tried to accomplish sound very familiar....... establishing universal health care, increasing the minimum wage and appropriating more money for education. He also was very instrumental in improving our infrastructure. It seems the infrastructure was all he could get done because of a Republican congress. Sound familiar? Some of the crisis' he faced included whether to drop the A Bomb or not, the cold war, the employment and educating of the returning WWII soldiers, the beginnings of integration including integrating the armed services, the Korean War and the firing of MacArthur, to name a couple.
He was one of the few recent Presidents to move back to his hometown.

On a different front, as the trip fashion editor I would like to report that some of us are wearing clothes on a pretty regular basis...... oops! I mean the same clothes! I personally have worn the same shorts everyday and intend to shoot for a few more days. I did catch Barb with the same outfit for two days. Basically we are presentable but don't look too close. With temperatures in the 90's fresh shirts/blouses are lending some variety to our wardrobes. I still think I packed too many clothes and will not use them all. I have seen numerous Goodwill stores and I think we could have bought along the way. Maybe I'll try that on future road trips. Sounds a bit like "living off the land".

We have been eating all our lunches out of our coolers and doing restaurants for the evening meal.
We tried to get motels with breakfast included or housing with kitchens and so far that is working out.   We had fun with other customers at Applebee's.  We were sitting in the waiting area while a table was being cleared for us.  A young child was walking out with a birthday balloon.  We sang Happy birthday to her.  We overheard another customer tell the hostess that what they were there for the wife's birthday.  All six of us sang happy birthday to her in front of the whole place.  That sparked a happy conversation with the husband. Teddy is a native American preacher who gave us a mini sermon while we waited.  His card says that he is minister at "CHRISTAN LORD" MINISTRIES.  After both parties had dinner he walked over to our table and thanked us again for making their acquaintance.  He then offered a blessing prayer for us fellow believers for safe travels.  A special connection!

One disappointment is that MacDonald's ice cream cones are not 49 cents in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Some of us continue to buy them but with a heavy Dutch heart because of the extra cost.

Dirk and Phil