Wilder America



Breakfast in Amy, Brian & David's old chairs.

After Jane won about 15 hands of "Steal the Old Man's Pile," Aunt Linda told us it was time to go. (Ha! Ha! Just kidding. Aunt Linda would have played with her all day.  Jane can't wait to have an opportunity to play with her cousin, Sinead now.)  Actually, they loaded us up with good food, toys for the kids, and a dogwood tree for our backyard to cover up the ugly vacant house behind us and off we went.

She would have kept eating Uncle Steven's food all summer.
I'm definitely going to have to pack away the 12 month
clothes when we get home.

So close, and yet actually about an hour away by the time
we got lost and turned around three times.

I had promised the kids a smashed penny from the Gateway Arch which proved to be a Herculean task as they were doing road construction, the river was flooding, and there are just a bunch of one-way streets.  So, an hour later, I emerged from the visitor center (after going through security) with two pennies in hand.  Then we snapped a few photos of the Mighty Mississippi (both for us and for another family visiting from California) and off we went again.



I made him get the pop-up book out of the bottom of the pile
of stuff in the car for one last picture. We just need to do
Mt. Rushmore, New York, and Washington D. C. and we've
hit everything in this book. Maybe next summer.

Arch in the background, Mississippi River on the left,
train on bridge to the right - so much to look at!

LCMS headquarters.

 

We made our first potty stop of the day at a really neat Route 66 Visitor Center that had a cute little museum and a gift shop.  The girls were in their Laura and Mary garb and the lady at the desk actually called her boss down from upstairs to see them.

Recreating the opening credits of the television show
sans wildflowers

Two hours later, we arrived at Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Mansfield, Missouri. Jane and I were so excited and Grace, picking up on our excitement was bubbling over with enthusiasm, too.  We went to the museum first.  There were no photos allowed inside and so I can't show you PA'S FIDDLE!  That's right. We saw Pa's fiddle on display.  Jane was squeezing my hand so tight. Right next to it was the little jewel box she received as a Christmas present in On the Banks of Plum Creek. Jane kept saying, "So you mean this is all real?  I just can't believe I'm seeing this!"  They had dresses and shoes that Laura and Mary wore as adults, plus all sorts of family pictures.  Almanzo had a deformed foot and so made his own shoes.  They had his shoes and shoe-making equipment on display.  They had a quilt that Laura had sewn and even the sewing machine she had later in life.



The pecan tree that Laura and Almanzo planted blew
down in a windstorm.  They sell souvenirs made from it in
the gift shop. Of course we bought one.

When we finished in the museum portion, we were hoping to tour the house.  But, it was pretty late in the day and there were no tour guides available.  So, we headed over to the book store and were browing around when we heard the gift shop lady get the call to do the tour.  We followed at her heels and were able to see the inside of Laura and Almanzo's home.
Laura was only 4'11" and Almanzo was only 5'4" so since they built their own home, all the counter tops were custom made at the correct height.  There was a little kitchen with a "pass through" to the dining room - cutout  that allows you to pass food through from the kitchen.  Laura's calendar from 1957 still hangs on the wall. 



Jane is trying to put on a brave face even though she is
crushed because we weren't going to get a tour.

We saw the room where she wrote her books.  Almanzo was always whittling away and you could see his collection of walking sticks and stick lamps (that still work). There's a clock in dining room that they traded a wagon of hay for that still works. The museum staff winds it every morning upon opening (although, Almanzo wound it at night).  My favorite part were her bookcases next to the fireplace.

The whole house was built from wood found on the property and the fireplace stones were from the property, too. Almanzo had bought brick for the hearth, but Laura cried (something she never did) and he used stones for the inside, too.

Had to get one photo with Rosalie in it.

Jane at Laura's grave.

Down the street is the little cemetery where Laura, Almanzo and Rose (their daughter) is buried.

A mural on the side of a store in Manchester. We also passed
the Laura Ingalls Wilder branch of the Mansfield Public Library.

On the way from Mansfield, Missouri to Tulsa, Oklahoma we passed so many signs for things we'd like to come back and see. From the cave where Jesse James and his gang hid to the George Washington Carver monument to Will Rogers' homeplace - we could spend a week here!  There was one billboard that got us to pull off the road and swing by: "America's Sistine Chapel."  We were curious enough to venture four miles off the road.  And there it was.  The Precious Moments compound, er, chapel.  I am trying not to snicker too loudly because people I know and love think Precious Moments are pretty precious.  But, this was just over the top cheeseball.  The stuff that cross-country roadtrips are made of! Obviously, we will be returning during open hours someday. (That is, if we don't take the Precious Moments cruise first. Yes. There is a Precious Moments Cruise.)

 



Oklahoma sunset

Our drive to Tulsa was just gorgeous.  There was a lightning storm to the left and a spectacular sunset to the right. All the while, we found some local color on the radio - Samantha Joelle Honey Lamb on KOSU playing "Songs from the Plains" (songs you can ride your horse to, as she said, though Arthur and I were trying to figure out how you would do that exactly. Does a horse come equipped with a headphone jack?)  She was a character, but spun some great artists: Iron & Wine, Emmy Lou Harris, Bill Monroe, Pure Prairie League.  Coudn't be a better ride.

When we got to our hotel, I threw the kids in the indoor pool to get their wiggles out.  At least until the lightning storm was overhead.  Not sure if it would really affect an indoor pool, but I didn't want to find out.

Tomorrow we'll start the long trek home. I had hoped to see the Woody Guthrie Museum, but it turns out it is closed on Mondays. (Yes. I am SO bummed. But we just have to come back someday, that's all.)