Since you’re reading this now, you know that we didn’t meet an untimely end at the “Bates Motel” RV park in Cameron. Truth be known, the ramshackle, neglected park behind the third-rate motel actually was as quiet as a church and we slept the night away unmolested. Unfortunately, since, the mobile device could not find a satellite from the tiny city park in Marysville, Kansas, where we spent last night, you’re not finding this out until it’s old news. The mobile device is to blame. Or maybe Kansas itself. Last night we were getting no “green” signal at all, not even a flickering one. Not sure what the problem was, but we had absolutely no connectivity at all. If I’d seen a McDonalds nearby as we turned off the main highway and motored south to this park, I could have walked back there to update the Blog. As it was, I had to just type this entry into Word Perfect and hope that our signal would sort itself out somewhere down the road.
Yesterday morning, after packing up the various hoses, fittings, and other RV accouterments, we headed for the nearest gas station to top up our tank. Like the motel to which it was adjacent, the gas station had been sorely neglected as well. The barely readable pump instructions failed to illuminate my repeated attempts to make the card reader acknowledge my card. So, we saddled up and moved across the highway to the Shell station where the card reader seemed to have been more thoroughly cared for. Once gassed up, we continued our westward sojourn on route 36.
Our immediate intention was to drive the short distance to St. Joseph, Missouri and visit whatever museums they had available. We had already seen the advertisements for the Pony Express Museum, but I was fervently hoping that I would be able to find a museum dedicated to America’s westward expansion of the 1840s, 50s, and 60s. We never did find such a museum, but in the end it didn’t matter for we had struck museum pay dirt in St. Joseph.First, the Pony Express museum. We found it almost too easily. A quick exit off the freeway, an easy couple of blocks into the heart of the historic district, and there it was. At first I thought we were going to have a problem finding a place to park the rig. But in the end we pulled right into the museum’s backyard. Seeing a museum employee working there under a spreading black walnut tree, we rolled down the window and asked if the anyone would object if we left the rig right where we were sitting. He shrugged and said, “Guess not.”
It couldn’t have been simpler. Of course, anytime things go that well you have to assume that the museum will turn out to be a big ripoff full of pretend historic junk and a gift shop full of Chinese “American” souvenirs destined for next summer’s garage sale. Again we were surprised. Not only was the museum a very professionally run organization, but their displays were absolutely wonderful. I especially liked the biographies on the various pony riders that outlined how successful they had been as young express riders and, then, how their lives had turned out after that. Terrific! By the way, that's me on the pony express "horse" in the upper right.
They had actual archaeological artifacts from a number of pony station digs. They had clothes and weapons used by the riders. They even had the personal histories of the founders of the company, Messrs. Russell, Majors and Waddell, so you could get to know them and see how the idea for a rapid mail carrying company came to fruition and how it was all too soon upstaged by the coming of the overland telegraph.Concetta and I spent a very enjoyable hour there and would recommend, should you be traveling this way, that you do the same.
When we left the Pony Express museum we decided to walk east two blocks to take in the Patee Hotel since we’d seen it referred to several times in the previous hour. OH MY GOD! The Patee turned out to be – and this is no exaggeration – the very finest museum, American or foreign, we have ever been privileged to visit.
The Patee Hotel figured prominently in the history of Kansas and was said to be the finest hotel west of the Mississippi in the late 1850s. Originally built to take advantage of passenger traffic when the railroad approached St. Joseph, it would
later figure prominently in the history of the Pony Express since Russell, Majors, and Waddell had an office there. Later, the Union army took over the hotel and established the provost marshal’s office and recruiting center for that area of Kansas in the hotel. One of the most fascinating anecdotes involving the Patee took place in 1865, the final year of the Civil War. The Owner, Mr. Patee, a very Confederate-leaning gentleman, decided that he needed to sell the hotel to satisfy his debts. However, instead of selling, he decided that a lottery would be the best way to recoup his expenses. As the day for picking the winner approached, Mr. Patee found himself in possession of 100 tickets that had gone unsold. To insure that the lottery would be sold out, Mr. Patee purchased the final 100 tickets himself. You can probably guess what happened. Yes, Mr. Patee was indeed declared the winner of the lottery and was able to keep his hotel and retire his debts in the bargain.
According to the Hotel’s brochure, “The building was a hotel 3 times, and a girl’s college twice, before serving as a shirt factory for 80 years. In 1881, on the top floor, a Dr. Richmond operated an epileptic sanitarium. Patee House was called the World’s Hotel when Jesse James was killed just a block away, at 1318 Lafayette on April 3, 1882. His widow was interviewed in the hotel by the sheriff the next morning.”
Throughout its many uses, the Patee Hotel has maintained its elegance. The Hotel is just as beautiful today as it was in 1858 when it was built for the then lofty sum of $170,000. Today the first two floors of the Hotel have been converted into a fabulous museum the likes of which you won’t find anywhere else. If you’ve been to the National Auto Museum in Reno, where the car collection is centered around a collection of store fronts and street scenes, you know something of how the Patee’s collection is presented. But the Patee goes way beyond what you’d expect. Each “business” is presented with all the accouterments normally found at such an establishment, be it barber shop or photo studio, dress shop or auto garage. There’s even a railroad station complete with train, a collection of fire engines and antique cars, and a grand ballroom where elegant events are held to this day. It took us no less than two hours just to walk by all of it. I won’t bore you at this point with further embellishments on this museum theme. Suffice it to say that if you miss this wonderful storehouse of history the next time you’re in Missouri, you’ll be missing something extra special. We didn’t get to the Jesse James family home, which is located (now) right next to the Patee Hotel property. The house was moved to its present location from elsewhere in town in order to preserve it. Also, within one block of the Patee is a fireman’s museum, which we also had to save for another day since we really had to put some miles on the Ford before nightfall. If you have lots of time, I’d spend the whole day in St. Joseph and really be treated to an entire town full of history.
Around 1:30, after we’d returned to the RV and had our lunch, we jumped back on route 36 and headed for Kansas. We were traveling blind this time as we had not been able to ferret out any suitable campsite for the night over the entire course of our intended route. When we reached Marysville, we stopped for supplies at the local Wally World noting that it was 3:00 p.m. and the sun would soon be dropping over the horizon. As we motored out of Walmart, I started hearing a small swishing sound from the rear of the coach and decided to stop and check it out. Thankfully, it turned out to be one of the chrome beauty rings that decorate the rear wheels. The rings held on by two bolts that, for some reason, don’t quite do the job adequately on the left rear. The right is nice and tight, but the left is
“losey-goosey.” So, we motored down Marysville’s main street until I saw a tractor sales and repair shop and I stopped to ask them if they had the correct socket wrench to tighten the nuts for me. They did and soon we were on our way, but not before we asked the mechanic if he could recommend a place for the night. He thought hard, but really didn’t have any good suggestions beyond telling us that he thought a local motel had a RV lot behind.... We sort of shuddered at that idea.
So it was that moments later we were driving slowly through town trying to figure just what we were going to do for the night. I had only just told Concetta to watch for any street signs that might announce a turnoff to some state park or recreational area when she said, “How about that.” She pointed to an approaching sign which proclaimed that the city park could be reached with a left turn at the next intersection. For want of any other ideas, we turned. I didn’t think a city park would allow us to remain for the night, but as we approached we clearly saw a fifth-wheel RV set up in the middle of the park. We pulled in next to him and rolled down the window. The owner of the RV saw us and came over. “They allow motor homes to stay overnight?” I asked. “Sure do,” he said. “Can’t stay longer than five nights, but they have water and electric and, if you need it, a dump station you can access on your way out.” He pointed back behind me. “Right over there,” he said. “Just pull off the pavement and onto the dirt by that power pole and you’re all set. There’s no charge.”
Concetta and I looked at each other. All the hookups AND no charge. Moments ago we’d been faced with camping out at Walmart or driving into the night to find a place, probably in some dark-as-midnight state park with no hookups.
I looked back to our fellow camper and gave him a thumbs up. “Thanks,” I said. “That’s just what we wanted to hear.”
He grinned. “Know what you mean.”
So, everything came out fine. One of the nicest locations we had discovered in days just popped up and said “howdy” as we passed by. Thanks to Concetta and her eagle eye, the Davis luck continues to hold.
Today we headed back out on route 36 with our eyes on the Kansas border a day’s drive away. Haven’t seen much in the way of campsites in our guide book, but at this point it doesn’t seem to matter. We always seem to come up with something. We heard yesterday from one of our fellow travelers that there’s a special guidebook available just for free campsites nationwide. We’d love to get our hands on one of those, though it will probably have to wait for next trip, I expect.
Until then, we wish you good food, good wine, and exciting destinations. Oh, and lots and lots of adventures. You just have to have those.
Ciao.
Author's note: the foregoing was added to the blog in the Norton, Kansas, Mickie Ds, the town in which we hope to stay tonight. It's afternoon, I had a fruit smoothie, and Concetta is in the process of drinking a Iced Latte to earn our right to sit here and surf the net. We're not sure at present whether the mobile device will connect tonight in camp, since it doesn't seem to like Kansas much. If not, we'll update you as soon as we can.
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