May 19, Tuesday: Truman and Independence

Stayed at a local RV park last night in Independence, Missouri so I could return to see the historic downtown and the Truman house.

Although Independence literally runs nonstop into Kansas City, the historic downtown still has a great small-town feel.

 I stopped at the visitor center and watched a movie about his life and then walked the half mile to the Truman Home.  It was originally his wife, Bess' family home where Harry and Bess stayed when they were in town.  After his mother-in-law passed away, Harry bought the home from the other heirs, making it the first time he had owned a home.  The home was built in the 1860's and added on in the 1880's -- an old, comfortable, modest home.  Everything in the home is original just as it was left by the Truman's.  They had retired to this home and lived out the rest of their lives here.

Across the street was Harry's cousin's home were he stayed when courting Bess as he was living 20 miles south helping his family out on their farm.  This house was turned into a mini-museum with a lot of photos and posters tracing Harry Truman's life.  Also across the street was a small brick home where the Secret Service lived and, according to stories, were bored out of their minds.

There was a walking trail through the downtown area, highlighting places that were part of the Trumans' life, but I was running out of time and so left down about 11:30, heading west.  Just a few blocks from the historic downtown, I spotted this unusual church spire, so I detoured to find out a bit more about it - it is a non-denominational Christian church that had a huge campus.  To me, it looked like the church steeple belonged in the munchkin land of the Wizard of Oz.

I took Interstate 70 just to get around downtown Kansas City, but got off onto US 24 that parallels the interstate just north, going through rolling farmland and a few small farm towns, each centered around a huge grain elevator.  Stopped outside Topeka for lunch, and then continued west through Kansas.  I stopped at an army corps of engineer campground on Milford Lake - the largest lake in Kansas.  Unfortunately, it clouded up and started raining and the wind picked up, so getting a great campsite right on the lake wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been.  Very proud of myself for backing into the campsite, staying in the designated driveway area and not putting the RV into the Lake!