Joplin, Missouri

Since Bryce had to watch the MI State game on Saturday afternoon, we waited until Sunday to visit Joplin, and we should have known . . . lots of stuff CLOSED!  Oh well!

After mass in Webb City, we drove through downtown Joplin looking for Route 66 sites . . . and we saw several, but all of them were closed.  I was especially bummed about missing the Joplin Museum Complex . . . I really wanted to see the Cookie Cutter Museum!!

All that driving around made us hungry, so we stopped at Norma’s Diner for lunch.

With our energy replenished and a beautiful day ahead of us, we decided to enjoy some outdoor activities.  We went in search of Grand Falls . . . and eventually found it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The colors were beautiful, and the boys enjoyed climbing on the rocks around the falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Grand Falls we made our way to the George Washington Carver National Monument. 

I remember doing a biography of Carver when I was in grade school, and I knew he was a well-known scientist, but I didn’t remember that he grew up in Missouri.

He was born a slave in the household of Moses and Susan Carver, who taught him to read and eventually sent him to school.  He eventually earned college degrees, including a doctorate, in Iowa, and was hired at Tuskegee University where he spent the remainder of his career.

He was most well-known for discovering hundreds of uses for the peanut, but he was also a teacher,

and he did considerable research on how to improve the health of plants and animals.

 

His other passion was health and nutrition, and he spent lots of time teaching the farmers how to grow other crops that would improve their diet, and even even taught them how to cook!

He would take his Jesup Wagon into the villages and demonstrate recipes with fresh vegetables . . . if he were still alive today, he’d probably be on the Food Network!

After completing the tour of the Visitor Center, we went outside to walk along the interpretive path on the property.

The path took us through the woods, along the creek where George spent his youth,

and also the location of the slave cabin where he was born.

We also saw the home of Moses and Susan Carver,

and the family cemetery plot.

George Washington Carver is not buried here, though . . . his grave is at Tuskegee University in Alabama, where he spent his adult life.

We enjoyed this beautiful fall day . . .

and I just couldn’t resist taking more pictures of the fall foliage.

This post is for my sister, Tina

Carthage, MO is home to Sam Butcher – creator, sculptor and painter of Precious Moments figurines, and in the Ozark countryside he built a chapel to express his thanksgiving for all the blessings in his life.

My sister has been a long-time collector of Precious Moments, so when we visited the Chapel, I took lots of pictures for her.

We walked through the gift shop,

and out to the grounds along the path to the Chapel.  It was a beautiful fall day, and the trees were in full color!

 

 

We arrived at the Chapel just in time for the guided tour.

Our tour guide explained how Sam Butcher arrived in Missouri and purchased 17 acres in Carthage to build his home and Chapel.  Inspired by the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Sam wanted to share his art in a similar manner.

The ceiling is covered with angels, and the front wall of the Chapel is covered by a large mural called the Hallelujah Square.

 

Many of the figures in the Hallelujah Square are based on real people.  Sam Butcher received many letters from people sharing their stories of sadness and triumph, and Sam incorporated many of them into his paintings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other murals within the Chapel depict scenes from nature and stories from the Bible,

such as the story of Jesus’ birth,

 

and favorite stories from the Old Testament . . . like the story of Moses.

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to all the paintings, Sam also designed stained glass windows for the Chapel.

When our tour was finished, we walked around the outside of the Chapel, where we could see Sam’s home,

and the little playhouse he built for his grandkids.

I just had to take advantage of the beautiful backdrop to get a couple pictures of the boys.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The path from the chapel took us along Center Creek, where an angel guards the opening of a cave.    

After our visit to the Precious Moments Chapel, we headed into Carthage to look for some Route 66 sights.  We passed this cute little RV on the way.

It was at the entrance to an RV Park that is run by Precious Moments.  The park looked nice (or at least like it would be nice when it was fully open), but right now it was just home to a few long-term residents that looked a little shady.  Maybe it’s better in the summer . . .

We drove on a short stretch of Route 66, but didn’t stop to get any pictures . . . not even of Whee Bridge (photo from You Tube)

. . . maybe we’ll have better luck in Joplin.

Dodging Rain in Missouri again!

The weather reports for Wednesday and Thursday weren’t great, but it was dry when we got up on Wednesday, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to put another 200 miles behind us.

The drive to Cuba, MO was dry and uneventful, and we arrived at the Ladybug RV Park with plenty of time left in the day for school and work.

 

The RV Park was small and basic, but it was quiet and at $13.50 (PA rate), it was a good deal!

We settled in for the evening, and never did get any of the rain that had been predicted!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, after taking care of some work and school, we decided to go ahead and make another move.  We had just finished hitching up when the drizzle started!

We had on/off rain all day, but only a few bursts of heavy rain, and no severe weather – although the sky was pretty threatening at times.

The fall colors along the way were really beautiful – I think we’re seeing Missouri at peak leaf season!

We made a quick stop at a rest area outside Springfield, and despite the rain, I just had to take a few pictures.  It was really cute – all of the picnic shelters were made to look like Route 66 businesses!

We arrived at the Big Red Barn RV Park in Carthage, MO in the rain, but had a small window of time to get unhitched.  We had heard that this was a Passport Park, but apparently they stopped accepting Passport, yet they still add on all the “extra charges" to the base rate.  Overall, the park was disappointing, so we decided to just stay the one night, and then move down the road to another RV Park for the weekend.

On Friday, we went to 7am mass for all Saints Day, and then got packed up for our 4 mile move.

We arrived at Coachlight RV Park, and were pleasantly surprised to see how nice it was! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather had improved, too, and we were finally seeing the sun and blue skies again!

We checked in at the office and quickly got set up on site 52 . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . in plenty of time for Nicolas to get into his Physics class on time!

This park is right off the freeway, but it’s pretty, and quiet,

and seems to be a popular spot to stop on the journey west.  It’s been almost full all weekend!  The campground is owned by an RV Dealer, and is conveniently located just behind the dealership.  Nicolas was glad to have some free time on Friday afternoon to tour a few RV’s (not that we’re in the market yet!!)

We spent the weekend exploring Carthage and Joplin (and watching football), but those will need to be separate blog posts!  Tomorrow we move on again – Oklahoma – Bryce wants to get through there quickly, even though I explained that they don’t usually get tornadoes in the fall!