Day 7 - A VERY Bad start to a long day.

The plan for today was to get up at 6.00am & be on the road by 7.00 to put serious miles into our trip west. At 5.55am the longest loudest train passed just 50’ from RV, making sure that we did wake up.

I went off for a shower & was pleased to see security driving round the park. Showered, I returned to the RV, only for Jackie to ask me to fill the fresh water tank up. I connected the hose to the tap then realised that the hose wouldn’t reach. Jackie was boiling the kettle on the gas stove, so I reversed the RV back until I suddenly heard the reversing sensors beeping. I braked then pulled forward & got out to fill the water tank.

As I was standing there with hose in hand, a security guard drove up & jumped out. He said, “I saw that”. “What?” “You hit the trailer behind you”. I looked round to see a massive Winnebago trailer & in the side bit that sticks out there was a crease & the corner piece was smashed. Genuinely, I didn’t realise I had hit it. I don’t think the security guard believed me. The next thing I knew was the security guard was on his radio calling up his supervisor, GREAT.

10 minutes later, 3 security vehicles turned up & surrounded us. The supervisor got out & spoke to his guard, then informed me that it was matter for the 2 parties to sort amongst ourselves. The security guard then knocked on the dented trailer. A minute or so later, the unhappy owner having just been woken up, came out in just shorts & a T-shirt. I explained that I had apparently hit his vehicle & I was immensely sorry. His reply “Well, it happens”

Whilst I was writing out my details & insurance, he went to inspect the damage. By now he had pushed out the crease so you could hardly see it & said that he just needed to get the broken bit of plastic replaced. He is going to email me the bill. He turned out to be quite chilled once he had woken up.

We were now running 30 minutes later than intended. We started to head out of St. Louis when we decided to fill up with fuel. We turned off the Highway into a bit of a rough area. We pulled up at the fuel pump & black fellow approached us for money for a coffee. Not being in the mood, Jackie said “No” abruptly. He walked away, but as I went to the shop he told me he had lived in Manchester for 6 months. I went in to the shop & the cashier told the beggar to leave the premises & when he answered back she said that she was going to call the Police. We filled the RV up with $111 of fuel & drove away quickly.

We drove west on Highway 44, then picked up Route 100 which took us to a town called Washington, an old historic town named after George Washington. We then crossed the powerful Missouri River & followed Route 47. We took a small diversion to stop & photograph the grave of folk hero pioneer & explorer Daniel Boone.

We joined Route 94 (The Lewis & Clark Trail) at Marthasville & followed it until we crossed the Missouri River into Hermann (No prizes for guessing it was founded by Germans). Hermann was a very attractive town with lots of good-looking buildings & is apparently the sausage making capital of Missouri.

Back on Route 94 we followed it to Jefferson City for which I has low expectations, no reason for this, other than the name. My expectations were initially met when we first set eyes on the Missouri State Capitol to see that it had been shrink wrapped. It was covered in white plastic for renovations. We stopped opposite it for lunch, then located the other sights of Jefferson City - the now derelict maximum security Missouri State Penitentiary that has notably housed the boxer Sonny Liston & James Ray Earl, who killed Martin Luther King (He later escaped!) & the Lewis and Clark monument.

From Jefferson City, we took US Route 50 (which travels over 3,000 miles from coast to coast & is known as the Loneliest Road) westbound. We passed through the towns of Knob Noster & Lone Jack & just north of Whiteman AFB, which is the home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber.

At Lee’s Summit, we headed north to Independence, the hometown of Harry S Truman. Independence is also known as ‘Queen City of the Trails’ because it was a point of departure for the California, Oregon & Sante Fe Trails

Next stop was Liberty, where there were 2 locations of interest. First we located the Historic Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was jailed during the 1838 Mormon War. Joseph Smith allegedly received revelations during his imprisonment there, which are now recorded in the LDS Doctrine & Covenants.

After taking the obligatory photo of the Historic Liberty Jail sign (underneath of which says ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), I noticed there was a visitors entrance. I entered with Jackie reluctantly following behind. Inside I was pounded on by a large lady who insisted on shaking our hands, introducing herself as Canon something & thanking us for visiting. I quickly explained were with short on time & only wanted a quick look. We then passed to another church official who led us into the viewing gallery, where there was a cut away reconstruction on the original site. We took a photo, made our excuses & left.

Next was the Clay County Savings Association Bank, which on February 13th 1866, Jesse James & hid gang robbed it of $60,000. This was particularly significant because it was the first daylight bank hold up in the US.

After we stopped at Aldi for a couple more provisions. In the car park, a woman gave us her trolley & said “He’ll, it’s batshit crazy in there”. Undeterred we went in, got our bits then saw a massive queue, so put our bits back & walked out. I gave my trolley to another lady who insisted on me taking her 25 cents - bonus!

We got our stuff from good old Walmart then cruised up & down Grand Boulevard in Kansas City. We had no time to stop, so we pushed on to our campsite, Kansas City West / Lawrence KOA arriving at 7.00pm & having driven over 350 miles today. After more chilli & a couple of drinks we were done.

FITBIT = 9,521 steps / 4.42 miles.

Song of the Day - Bankrobber by The Clash.

Bonus Songs of the Day :-

Liberty Song by The Levellers
Just Like Jesse James by CherRead more