Independence, Marysville, and beyond

   Day 3 (has it only been 3 days on the road? Seems like a lot more) follows us as we finish up this morning in Independence, travel north and cross the Missouri again (I think this makes 4 times so far), stop in several towns along the way to Marysville and then on down to our B&B in Waterville.

   First an aside from St. Louis, the one place Carolyn wanted to visit was the Arch, and I wanted to see it also, but thought it might just be a tourist trap. It was everything Carolyn wanted, and I enjoyed it immensely. The views and the way the whole park was situated made it an enjoyable time, and I'm glad my wife insisted on going there.

   Today we finished up in Independence.

   Taking in the Truman Courthouse and Independence Square. We bombed out on the Truman Library as it was under renovation and will not reopen till 2020.

   Then the National Frontier Trails Museum.

   Then the car was our resting spot as we travelled up to St. Joseph and then west on US 36.

   Several County Seats were calling to us as we drove along, so we stopped..

   In Hiawatha, Kansas for the Brown County seat of government

   In Seneca where unfortunately the old courthouse from the mid 1800s had been destroyed by a tornado in the 1970s.

   In Marysville where we received a double blessing:

   A great older courthouse from 1891, which now houses the Marshall County Museum. This was full of Oregon Trail artifacts and records. The picture shows how they had to get the wagons across a river (in this case the Big Blue). They unhitched the team, caulked up the wagon and then floated it across by means of a line attached on each shore. The cattle or oxen or mules swam. If the river was low enough they forded it, but as they had to leave in the late spring so as to get across the mountains before winter, a lot of the time it was too high to ford.

   Then on to our overnight spot in Waterville at the B&B. A 100 year old house which we had all to ourselves.

   Goodnight Day 3...You were good.