Wednesday July 8, 2009 10:38 Central Time

Well another busy day. We decided to check into staying in Kansas a little longer. So Don got up early this morning and went down to the office and we were approved to stay til Saturday morning. So we did the morning routine and packed our lunch and headed to St. Joseph, MO. On our way a coyote crossed the road in front of us. I thought it was deer at first, then a dog, then the astonishment settled in. I couldn't believe it. It just walked out onto the highway like it was nothing and crossed the road. We passed it and got a better look and dubbed it a coyote so we turned around and went back. We couldn't find it so we turned around again and right there low and behold there it was in the ditch just standing on the side of the road. I took several pictures of it. Don whistled to it to get it's attention and it turned and looked at us. After several snapshots, it headed off into a field of corn. We next came up on a town called Atchison. This was the birthplace of Emilia Earhart. We saw several signs about Emilia and Lewis and Clark and a Santa Fe Depot so we decided to head to the visitor's center. It turns out that the visitor's center was a museum for all those folks. We enjoyed our tour of the Depot and gathered some other literature for future reference and headed out to a train they had on the side yard. We took several pictures of the train too. It seems that this was a Union Depot during the Civil War. We got ready to leave and decided to try and find Emilia's birth place and the museum. We followed the map and somehow never found either one of them. But we did find a big drop off in a curve that actually blew the front passenger tire on the Bonneville. Remember know this is the second tire incident since we left WV. This incident nicked our rim too. As Don was out looking at the situation, a truck with yellow flashing lights pulled up behind us. We figured it was a towing company looking to make a few dollars. We were wrong. Just as Don was explaining what had happened, a huge tractor with a loader on front of it pulled up in front of us. By this time we realized these folks were with some maintenance department but didn't know if it was, state, city or county. Both guys asked Don if he could use some help to get the tired changed and he said I hate to admit it but yes. He told them about his accident and both men just kept getting everything together to change the tire. They even told us where the Wal-Mart was (because that is where our tires came from) so we could see about getting a new tire. So they changed the tire wouldn't accept any kind of payment. We asked if the worked for the state and they said yes. They shook Don's hand and said they were glad to help out and wished us luck on getting a new tire. We got there names and headed to Wally World to see how much this would set us back. We pulled up and there were no cars in the bays or waiting in line. The guys came right out and Don told them what had happened and they said well we will fix you right up. So I headed off to the Pharmacy to get some of Don's RX filled and he headed to the counter to see what a tire was going to cost. The gentleman in there asked what had happened and told him and stated that he didn't have the paperwork on the tires and his story of being in the nursing center when they were bought so they would need to look up the info to see if we had road hazard on them. It turned out that we didn't have road hazard and that the price of a new tire was pretty close to $100.00. The man at the counter asked him again how long he had the tires and Don said since February. The guy told the boys to check the tread on the tire and let him know what it was like. They came back with the measurement and the man said I will pro rate the tire for you. So Don was thinking any discount would be great at this point. He asked Don if he wanted road hazard on the one tire and Don said yes. He rang it up tire $10.00 road hazard $10.00, total 20.00 and a few cents for a brand new tire!!!! Praise the Lord!!! Hallelujah!!!! How great! We had been blessed twice within a matter of about an hour or so. So after our pit stop at Wal-Mart we headed out once again to St. Joe. We finally made it. We arrived at the Patee House Museum. It is a museum that along with the Pony Express museum have the James Home museum where Jesse James was shot. The house has been moved to the Patee property but there is a monument 2 blocks North that stands vacant where the house originally stood. It was really neat to visit all three museums. The James Home has the actual bullet hole framed and with a glass type covering over it so it cannot be vandalized. We were able to take pictures throughout all three of these museums. The Patee house was originally the World Hotel. It was a huge place. We were able to visit the stables where the Pony Express horses were boarded. This was the starting point for the Pony Express. It went from St. Joe to Sacramento, CA. It only last 18 months and was replaced by the telegraph. We took lots of pictures again. We left a little after 5:00 and headed back to Lyndon KS by way of Kansas City. When we came in the other day I saw a huge building that in the top of it were the words "Kansas City Livestock Exchange". I so wanted a picture of it but didn't see it in time to get one that day. We also passed the Kansas Star newspaper office and the same story applies to it. Don and I searched the other day in the "West Bottoms" as it is called for the exchange. We didn't find it but today we went right to it. We were literally only a block or so away from it the other day and didn't know it and couldn't see it. The West Bottoms is not a place that I would want to be alone. It looked like a very rough place just like in the movies when you see the overpasses & train tracks and trains on side tracks, and allies with rutted out roads leading back to nowhere. Well that was where we were. I was begging Don to get out. Today we didn't have to do all that we went straight to the exchange and the Kemper arena which used to be the stables for the exchange. We then headed out to find the Star. After several attempts we found it too. There are so many roads and bridges going in every direction that it is hard to get used too. Thank the Lord that the traffic is not bad. Charlotte traffic is much heavier than in Kansas City or Topeka and Topeka is the state capital! So after those pictures we headed back to Lyndon. I have been taking pictures of every state line sign just like I did in 98 when we went to Maine. Everyday I have missed the KS one. So again several times of getting off on one exit and back on at another I finally have my KS state line sign. Tomorrow we plan to visit Mahaffie Stage in Olathe KS and Leavenworth. There are three Leavenworths. Leavenworth the town, Leavenworth the Fort and Historical Leavenworth. They are near each other (or at least that's how we are perceiving it) but not all the same place.

The picture above is the home where Jesse was killed in and you can see the bullet hole above Don's head and it is framed in where people have vandalized it.