Well, we made a decision and did a U-turn and headed back east. We've been following the birds as they migrate north, but they've outrun us and we don't want to go chasing them any farther. We actually left home about 3 weeks later than we needed to, but there were some extenuating circumstances that didn't allow that. Oh well, we have seen a lot of birds and some old (plus new) territory.
We're not in a big hurry to get back home, and we're going to just mosey along. We left Big Lake State Park in the northwest corner of Missouri on Tuesday, took I-29 south through Kansas City, and then I-70 east and came back to Arrow Rock. As you've figured out, this is one of our favorite places in Missouri. The park is almost empty in mid-week, so we were able to get the same campsite that we had here a week ago.
One place we didn't get to visit the last time we were here is a small town named Blackwater about 11 miles away. It has a lot of history and we've been through it several times as we leave I-70 headed to Arrow Rock, but have never stopped. Yesterday (Wednesday) we drove over to Blackwater and strolled up and down both sides of the main drag. Like most old towns, most of the businesses from yesteryear are gone, and now there are only antique stores, gift shops, a couple of banks, the post office, a couple of restaurants, City Hall, and a telephone equipment museum.
We're not in a big hurry to get back home, and we're going to just mosey along. We left Big Lake State Park in the northwest corner of Missouri on Tuesday, took I-29 south through Kansas City, and then I-70 east and came back to Arrow Rock. As you've figured out, this is one of our favorite places in Missouri. The park is almost empty in mid-week, so we were able to get the same campsite that we had here a week ago.
One place we didn't get to visit the last time we were here is a small town named Blackwater about 11 miles away. It has a lot of history and we've been through it several times as we leave I-70 headed to Arrow Rock, but have never stopped. Yesterday (Wednesday) we drove over to Blackwater and strolled up and down both sides of the main drag. Like most old towns, most of the businesses from yesteryear are gone, and now there are only antique stores, gift shops, a couple of banks, the post office, a couple of restaurants, City Hall, and a telephone equipment museum.
View of the highway coming into town
Even though it isn't very big, the telephone museum was especially interesting to me - several old switchboards, some old equipment bays, displays of old phones, etc. Back in my days with Western Electric I worked on some of this stuff. The museum wasn't open, but you could see all the stuff on display through the windows and I got some decent pictures. A lady in one of the gift shops said we could see the lady at City Hall and she would open it for us, but we didn't bother with that.
The population of Blackwater is listed on the city limits sign as 199. We rode through some of the streets just to get a feel for the town. Passed one house that had several pretty horses in a pasture.
Tomorrow (Friday) we're headed on east through St. Louis, then southeast to Kentucky Dam Village at the north end of Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. It's a state park we've used as a stopover before. After one night there, we'll head on southeast thru Nashville and Knoxville, TN to one of our most favorite places of all - Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We are going to stay there for close to a week before we head to the barn. There's no cell or internet service in Cades Cove, so I'll wrap up the blog with a final post when we get home.
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