Day 5: Independence, MO to the Middle of Nowhere Iowa

Since we were camping, we figured we would be up with the sun because who can sleep in a tent once the sun comes up.  Well....  what we didn't take into account was that we were covered in trees and couldn't see the sun. So, we started off the day behind.  A quick drive-thru for breakfast, and then we were off to Independence, Missouri.  Our first stop was the Truman Presidential Library.

Sadly, I didn't know much about Harry S Truman, so this stop was a learning experience for all of us.

According to the information provided at the library, President Roosevelt was very sick, and it was known that he probably wouldn't live to serve his full term.  So the Democratic party  wanted someone who would be the next president.  Truman was their choice.

Shortly after Truman became president, the end of WWII, the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, and many other events that changed history.

No known written record exists in which Truman explicitly ordered the use of the atomic weapons against Japan.  This is the closest document.  Wish I could have gotten a better picture.

Trying to learn something

Not sure what this was about but found it interesting that it was written in pencil and not pen.

They rode the train all over the country campaigning for his re-election.

Guess he wasn't expected to win the election

He wasn't very tall

Looking out into the courtyard

Bess and Harry Truman

After he left the presidency, he had no secret service, no pension, and no job.  Instead, he created the library, and  spent his time giving tours at the library.  Now that would have been an awesome tour to have been on!

LOVE this quote!! It may have to be the Bradley family motto this year!

His office as he left it on the last day he was in it.

His oval office

Harry's first job was at Clinton's Drugstore where he earned $3.00 a week.  It is now a cute soda fountain.

Not far was a house he lived in but apparently those pictures did not get downloaded...sorry
Then we hit the road and didn't' plan to stop for a while.  My cousin told us about a museum on Jesse James and if we passed it, we should stop.  We decided we wouldn't go out of our way to see it, but if it was on the way, we would stop.  Not long after driving, what did I see, the sign to exit for the museum, so we decided to check it out. 

We took the tour of the house, but pictures of the inside weren't allowed.  David does not know how to follow directions.

This is Zerelda Elizabeth Cole James Simms Samuel, mother of Frank and Jesse James. On a cold night in January of 1875, someone threw an incendiary device through the window of the James family farmhouse. That device exploded in the fireplace, killing Frank and Jesse's 7yr old half brother. Mrs. Samuel would lose her arm as a result of the explosion. Many folks believe that the "bomb" was thrown by Pinkerton Detectives who sought to flush The James Boys out of the house. The Railroad had hired Pinkerton to track down the brothers, who were believed to be responsible for numerous train robberies. Feeling guilty for the death of little Archie and his mother's injuries, the Railroad is said to have given her a lifetime pass good on any train in the U.S. In 1911 Zerelda Samuel would die of a heart attack onboard a train in Oklahoma, returning from visiting Frank and his wife Annie. Ironic isn't it, that the Railroad would give free rides to the mother of the two most infamous train robbers in history, and that she would die on one of their trains?

Here are some pictures from outside that you were allowed to take.

 At one time Jesse was buried here, but he was moved to the cemetery down the street. 

Next stop..Iowa

Couldn't stop at the road sign, so this will have to do!

We went through the town where John Wayne was from.  We were too late to for the museum or a tour of his house. 

 

This little house at 224 South 2nd St, in Winterset, Iowa was once the home of Clyde and Mary Morrison. Inside the home, in May of 1907 Mrs. Morrison gave birth to a 13lb baby named Marion. Little Marion grew up to be 6 feet 4 inches tall and earned an athletic scholarship to USC. Marion would drop out of college after a broken collarbone was suffered in a bodysurfing accident. As a favor to the USC coach, Marion was cast as an extra in a Hollywood film directed by John Ford. Little Marion Morrison would go on to be a top box office draw for nearly 3 decades, winning an Oscar for the movie True Grit in 1969. In total he would appear in over 170 films, most of them under the screen name, John Wayne

I also wanted to see some covered bridges.  There were some on the way that were used in The Bridges of Madison County.

Here's some additional info David came up with:  This is The Holliwell Covered Bridge,the last of the famous covered bridges built in Madison County. Constructed in 1880, it spans 155 feet across the Middle River near Winterset, Iowa. It is the longest covered bridge and the longest remaining timber bridge in the state.

We are camping again.  This time it's at a KOA in the middle of nowhere Iowa.  It was quiet and had lots of things for the kids to do.  What do they choose??? Swimming