Entering the rotunda on the main floor, we were immediately struck by the jaw-dropping beauty of the building.  And though there was a custodian polishing the floor, there was no security station to impede our view or our progress.

From the inlaid terrazzo tile floor and the majestic marble staircase to the Victorian leaded stained glass of the dome, the building is an elegant and impressive seat of government.  Built between 1905 and 1910 for just under $1,000,000, the South Dakota statehouse was designed by Minneapolis architects and is said to be a 'modified version' of the Montana State Capitol in Helena.  We hope to visit that statehouse on this trip and look forward to checking out the similarities.
     
Even if they started from the Montana plan, the builders incorporated many features that make this building uniquely South Dakotan.  Symbolism is employed widely and effectively in the design of this statehouse.  In four niches above the floor of the rotunda are flags that represent the governments that have held dominion over the area known today as South Dakota.  Included along with the French, Spanish, Dakota Territory and United States flags is a Warrior Eagle Staff.

   

This type of staff represents the "flag" used by Native Americans as they traveled across the Great Plains.  Staffs were decorated individually and served many purposes including long-range identification of various bands of Sioux people.  This particular staff is made from green willow branches wrapped with buffalo hide and strung with beads and eagle feathers.

    

Below the flags in each of the four corners of the rotunda are classic large bronze sculptures installed in honor of South Dakota's centennial celebration in 1989.  All draped with flowing "fabric," the allegorical sculptures represent characteristics valued by South Dakotans:  courage, wisdom, vision, and integrity.  Like a jeweled diadem crowning the rotunda is the Capitol dome.
    

In keeping with other features of the building, the dome is rich in symbolism incorporating the tree of life, the South Dakota state flower, and acanthus leaves.  Greek, Roman and Celtic architectural influences blend beautifully throughout the building, but its formality is tempered by some uniquely human touches.
     
According to legend, 66 Italian artisans were hired to lay the Capitol's terrazzo tile floors.  To enable each of these artists to leave his "signature" on the building, each was given one blue tile to lay at a place of his choosing among the thousands of white and earth-tone mosaic pieces.  Locating the blue tiles has become something of a scavenger hunt as visitors tour around the building.
    

During the drought years of the 1930s, the building underwent extreme settling, resulting in hundreds of feet of cracks in the tile floors.  The artistic signature tradition continued in the 1980s when South Dakota contractors hired to repair the cracks were provided small heart shaped tiles to use at the point where each mend was completed.

    

SD Senate Chamber SD House of Representatives Chamber

One other human touch was the reputedly intentional upside-down installation of one of the balusters on the grand staircase.  According to local lore, this was another nod to Native American tradition and ritual.  In their finest beadwork, Natives often insert an intentional mistake as a reminder that perfection is not an innately human trait.

     
Leaving the capitol after our 90-minute self-guided tour, we found a series of three letterboxes on the capitol grounds before heading north on US-83 out of Pierre.  Near Mobridge (pop. 3,465) we visited Sitting Bull's grave site overlooking the Missouri River.

    

The legendary Sioux holy man and chief was born near this spot and lived much of his life here.  A few yards away from his grave site is a monument to Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who served as guide for Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase territories.  And close to the obelisk erected in her honor, a brand new letterbox is hiding out waiting for visitors.

     

From Mobridge, US-12 took us north through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, passing through a massive buffalo ranch owned by a Florida real estate tycoon.  As we later learned, the Wilder ranch has been investigated repeatedly for failing to provide adequate food and water for its herd of some 5,000 buffaloes.  Last year, after numerous malnourished bison were found dead or struck by vehicles when they escaped to search for food, the local sheriff's department was court-ordered to intervene and ensure that the animals were fed.  They were released back to Wilder five months ago, but based on one of the animals we saw hanging out near the road, the problem may not be completely resolved.
   

Rolling into North Dakota, we began to see a few buttes and other formations, suggesting that we were out of the flatlands for a while.  We'll spend three nights in Bismarck, taking things slowly and recharging our batteries before heading to Montana.

    

WEDNESDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2012
    
DAILY STATS

• Miles driven:  264
• Letterboxes:  F 4, P 1
• Weather:  Sunny, 34° to 41°
• States:  2 (SD, ND)
• Gas (premium):  $3.79 in Pierre, SD
• Wow moments at SD State Capitol:  63
• Total tiles in SD Capitol:  783,156
• Blue tiles we found:  7
• Heart tiles we found:  1
• Native American monuments:  2
• Sad-looking buffalo:  634

  space  

  space  

TRIP STATS

• Miles:  3,084
• Gallons of gas:  125
• Letterboxes:  F 26, P 6
• States:  11 (GA, SC, NC, TN, KY, IL, MO, KS, NE, SD, ND)
• Coldest temp:  25, Topeka, KS (Oct. 27)
• Hottest temp:  80, Gaffney, SC (Oct. 22)
• Gas price extremes:  $3.30 in Topeka to $3.95 in Lincolnton, NC
• National battlefields:  3
• National historic sites:  3
• State capitols:  2
• State parks & historic sites:  6

Since this was our one day (which was only a partial day) in Nebraska, we needed to find a letterbox and place a box in the state today to support our 2012 "Great 48" goal of finding and planting a letterbox in each of the 48 contiguous states.  After fueling up at Shell and Starbucks, we drove south of Kearney to the Fort Kearney Historic State Park.  

The visitor center was closed, so we just wandered around a bit, looking at their sod blacksmith shop with the cool grassy roof (pictured above) before heading to the adjacent state recreation area.  In both places, we searched for a secure hiding spot but found none.  The SRA had a letterbox at the end of a two-mile hike, but then we'd have to walk two miles back to the car, and we just didn't have the time.
     

So we took the easy way out and drove to a nearby rest area for a quick driveby box, stamping in and getting back on our way within ten minutes, our Nebraska finding goal accomplished.  One down, one to go.  And we had almost 200 miles to go before we reached South Dakota.  Surely we'd find one little hidey hole along the way.
   

Driving north on US-183, we experienced a Dorothy moment as the terrain became bumpy and lumpy, the unbroken flatness of the Kansas prairie clearly left behind.  We had entered the land of the Nebraska Sandhills, mixed-grass prairie unfolded across grass-stabilized sand dunes.  This terrain covers more than one fourth the state of Nebraska, and some dunes reach heights of 350 feet.  Because the sandy soil is unsuitable for growing crops, the region contains extensive tracts of natural habitat.  The hills have proved suitable as rangeland for cattle and today support more than half a million beef cattle.
     

Intermittently on 183 we saw examples of the mass feed lots where cattle are sent to be fattened for market.  If our car AC was on the wrong setting (i.e., admitting outside air), we often smelled these operations before we caught sight of them.

At Ansley, we turned west on NE-2, better known as the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway.  Nebraska's tourism department claims that the late Charles Kuralt called Highway 2 one of America's ten most beautiful highways.  As many years as the CBS News correspondent spent On the Road, his opinion is compelling.  We also found the drive attractive, with its textured monochromatic vistas, but we question its ranking as one of the top 10.
   

After we turned onto Highway 2, we were running parallel to a major east-west railway.  Along the double sets of tracks, a steady stream of lengthy coal trains and rail convoys of cargo containers stacked two high raced us along.

   

The local Subway in Broken Bow gave us a change of pace from our typical picnic lunches, and we pushed on northwest, ever on the lookout for a good home for our little box.  Just past the town of Dunning, we finally found a spot where a public road led up into the sandhills.  Appropriately called Sandhills Drive, the gravel road took us off the highway for an intimate look at this fascinating terrain.  Up close, the finely textured sand beneath the cover of buff prairie grass mimicked what we see on Gulf Coast beaches.
     

Sandhills Drive

A little after 2:00, we arrived at the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey.  If you're wondering how a forest suddenly sprouted from these treeless dunes, you're not alone.  As it turns out, this is the largest hand-planted forest in the western hemisphere.  Charles Bessey, a University of Nebraska botany professor, established the forest in 1902 as an experiment to determine whether a national timber reserve could be created by foresting the treeless Great Plains.  The 20,000-acre forest of Ponderosa The 20,000 acre forest of Ponderosa pines stands as convincing proof that Bessey could get the trees to grow, whether his timbering scheme had merit or not.
  space  

Nebraska National Forest

One of the first things you need when you create a forest in an arid area, of course, is a fire tower.  The Scott tower is the third to stand watch in this forest, and visitors can climb up for a panoramic view of this most unusual woodland.  Once we reached the top, what did we spy but the perfect place to hide a letterbox.  Not on the tower itself, but at the sheltering base of a nearby tree. 
     

Part two of our mission accomplished, we drove on to South Dakota.  The Nebraska sandhills continued into the southern part of South Dakota, soon giving way to semiarid rolling plains, similar in appearance.  Largely treeless and unfit for agricultural tillage, these plains are also havens for large cattle ranches.  This time of year, especially in the late afternoon, the tan landscape in the distance resembles a desert.  A pair of mule deer that we passed roadside were well camouflaged amid the brown grasses.

Arriving in Pierre just  before the sun set, we checked into the Pierre Clubhouse Hotel, a sparkling new property that caters to what the desk clerk called "high roller" hunters.  Apparently their special hunting dog-friendly rooms and other special accommodations for hunters have been quite a hit with the sportsmen.  Where else will they find gun-cleaning towels provided in their hotel room?

Tomorrow we plan to visit the South Dakota capitol building, as well as one or two Lewis and Clark sights we missed in 2002.  Plant a letterbox and find at least one in the state and we'll be in the other Dakota by nightfall.

   

TUESDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2012

DAILY STATS

• Miles driven:  373
• Letterboxes:  F 1, P 1
• Weather:  Sunny, 34 to 68
• States:  2 (NE, SD)
• Gas (premium):  $3.84 in Kearney NE
• Train cars:  2,543
• Cattle in feed lots:  16,933 
• Cattle trailers:  178
• Bales of hay in fields:  43,092
• Farm equipment dealers:  41
• Trees other than pine in Nebraska National Forest:  0

TRIP STATS

• Miles:  2,820
• Gallons of gas:  109
• Letterboxes:  F 22, P 5
• States:  10 (GA, SC, NC, TN, KY, IL, MO, KS, NE, SD)
• Coldest temp:  25, Topeka,KS (Oct. 27)
• Hottest temp:  80, Gaffney, SC (Oct. 22)
• Gas price extremes:  $3.30 in Topeka to $3.95 in Lincolnton, NC
• National battlefields:  3
• National historic sites:  3
• State capitols:  1
• State parks & historic sites:  5

     
Like the new Hampton Inn where we stayed last night (all queen beds, small lobby and breakfast area), the just-opened Love's truck stop at exit 54 in Colby (pop. 5,387) carried only two grades of gas, 87 and 89 octane.  When we drove to the adjacent Colby exit to fill up with premium gas, we found a pleasant surprise—a Starbucks store.  Billing itself as the "oasis of the Plains," Colby has the fake palm trees to prove it.  (pictured above)

Completely fueled up, we drove east on US-24 to US-83 and then on to Prairie Dog State Park.  Our first stop was at the prairie dog town within the park.  We were surprised to learn that these little ground squirrels play an important role in the health of the mixed and tallgrass prairies.  Their burrowing systems help channel rainwater into the water table, preventing runoff and erosion.  In the early 1900s, naturalist Ernest Seton estimated that about 5 billion prairie dogs inhabited North America.  The largest colony on record, in Texas, of course, extended 250 miles by 100 miles wide and contained an estimated 400 million prairie dogs.
     

After checking out the pups, we hiked the nature trail, where we found a letterbox and lots of evidence of deer in the park.  Judging by the deer tracks and trails through the grass, the park must be home to sizeable herds, a fact that made us a bit nervous since they are such a haven for ticks.  Although we had hoped to be away from insects by now, we clearly are not.  Today was considerably warmer than we've seen recently, and insects were out in force—flies, gnats, beetles, ladybugs, and probably ticks, though we were lucky enough not to pick up any.  Houseflies swarmed our car every time we stopped and tried desperately to hitch a ride, clingingly hopelessly to the windshield as we drove away until the wind was just too much and they were swept away.
     
To avoid sharing our lunch with the local insects, we ate our picnic at the park in the car.  It took some fast moves to avoid admitting some of the noxious critters in the car after our hike, but just because the doors were closed and the windows shut tight didn't keep the flies and gnats from lighting on our windows and side mirrors, gaping at us as we ate.  We tried to ignore them as we watched the prairie dog activity and listened to news reports about the expected landfall of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey.
     
Continuing east on US-36, we stopped in Phillipsburg (pop. 2,581), where we located a letterbox near Fort Bissell plus a series of four on a trail near the local medical clinic.  We tracked north for a few miles to visit the cabin where a physician wrote a poem he called "My Western Home" in the early 1870s.  Later his friend set the poem to music, and the tune became a favorite among settlers and cowboys, eventually being selected as the state song of Kansas under its better known title, "Home on the Range." 
   

Based on the size and style of the cabin where the good doctor lived, we'd have to say that the medical field has become significantly more lucrative in the last century and a half.  A campaign is underway to restore the landmark, and in case you're wondering, no, that is not one of our favorite songs.  We visited the location because there was a letterbox hidden nearby.
     

Our primary destination of the day, and the reason we inserted this eastward tack on our journey was a little spot near the town of Lebanon (pop. 218).  In 1918, a scientific survey established that the geographic center of what was then the United States (now the contiguous 48) lies just outside this little town.  A suitable marker was erected there in a little pocket park.  There's even a tiny chapel, so visitors can meditate about the significance of this place.  And now it also has a brand new letterbox.

Finally turning north, we drove from the GCOTUS into Nebraska on US-281.  As we drove through the far southern reaches of central Nebraska, we passed through a couple of hardscrabble towns that time and prosperity have passed by.  Both Inavale and nearby Riverton seem to have a few diehard residents hanging on by their fingernails to towns that are wheezing their last breaths.  In the latest census, Riverton's residents numbered 89.  As an unincorporated area, Inavale's population isn't so easy to determine.   Inavale, where homesteads were transformed to graveyards when the cycle of drought hit in the 1930s, was profiled in New York Times journalist Timothy Egan's compelling portrait of the survivors of the Dust Bowl, The Worst Hard Time.  
   

Our travels ended just before 7 p.m. when we arrived at the newish Fairfield Inn in Kearney, Nebraska, a town where we had overnighted on our way to Yellowstone in 2008.  Tomorrow takes us out of Nebraska and into South Dakota.

Since we arrived too late to see any of Dodge City last night, we had to explore a bit this morning.  Would Miss Kitty be in the Long Branch on a Sunday morning?  Was Marshal Dillon patrolling the streets?  We headed down to Front Street (pictured above) to check out what was going on.


We found the Long Branch, but it was locked up tight, so Miss Kitty must take Sundays off.  Nor did we see anyone else, including the marshal.  It was a little early but maybe church services had already started and everyone was off hearing what the local preacher had in store.

Finding none of Dodge City's celebrities, we moseyed over to Wright Park to search for a letterbox that was planted along the banks of a river.  No one had reported finding it since 2007, so we thought it might have floated away.  Our concern was misplaced.  There was nothing in danger of floating away in the Arkansas River in Dodge, not in its current condition.  (Yes, of course, the pun's intended.)

    

We found the letterbox hidden under a rock below one of the metal cross posts, exactly as the clue described.  All the contents were in perfect condition, and after logging in and returning it, we took off across the Kansas prairies to search for another lonely letterbox.  This second one was planted in 2006, and no find had ever been reported on the letterbox.  Buoyed by our luck in Dodge City, we were optimistic about our chances of being the first to record a find on the box.

   

The long, straight KS-23

Unlike some of the willy-nilly arrangements one encounters in eastern states, roads in states like Kansas follow an orderly grid pattern.  They were laid out in parallel lines, one mile apart, running north to south and east to west.  Occasionally a road will stray off the grid to bypass a natural barrier such as a river, but inevitably it makes its way back to the framework. Some of the roads on the grid are paved, and some are not, but they all follow the grid.

Alongside some of these long, straight stretches of road in western Kansas today, we saw enormous fields.  Most summer crops have already been harvested, so many of the fields were at rest, but sorghum harvesting is just underway.  Kansas produces more grain sorghum than all other states combined.  Today we saw oceans of sorghum stretching as far as the eye could see.

     

Sorghum Sea

Unfortunately we were lulled into inattention by the monotony of the landscape and missed one turn and then another.  Our GPS struggled with our desire to drive into the middle of nowhere and kept trying to redirect us to main roads.  Unpaved roads were the only way for us to reach our destination, and these confused the GPS mightily.  Maybe it was the dust.

     

One of Kansas' many unpaved roads

The site we were seeking is called Castle Rock, a large limestone pillar located in rural Gove County.  Although it is located within the bounds of a large ranch, the property owners provide for public access to this unusual formation, which has been named one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas.  Thanks to the GPS leading us astray to a dead end a couple of times, we spent 3.5 hours driving through 60 miles of unpaved roads by the time we located the castle and returned to a main road.  Was it worth it?

     

Castle Rock

We thought so.  This 70-ft. remnant of deposits from an ancient sea rises dramatically from the surrounding prairie.  And there was a letterbox planted nearby.  What happened to that box, we have no idea.  It still remains unfound, but as with so many letterboxes we seek, we enjoyed the journey and the destination.  The box would have been a bonus.

Continuing west, we stopped for the night in Colby, Kansas, just 50 miles from Colorado.  Tomorrow we still need to find a place to hide our Kansas letterbox before heading north to Nebraska, our next state.

   

SUNDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2012
     

• Miles driven: 233
• Letterboxes: F 1, P 0
• Weather: Sunny, 25° to 60° 
• States: 1 (KS) 
• Sorghum plants:  83,475,102
• Curves in the road:  0
• Coyotes:  2
• Hawks perched near roads:  27
• Cows:  254
• Thickness of dust layers coating our car:  1.64"
• Gas (premium):  $3.79, in Dodge City

TRIP STATS

• Miles driven: 2,158 
• Gallons of gas: 96
• Letterboxes: F 13, P 3
• States: 8 (GA, SC, NC, TN, KY, IL, MO, KS)
• Coldest temp:  25°, Topeka, October 27
• Hottest temp:    80°, Gaffney, SC, October 22
• Gas price extremes: $3.30 in Topeka to $3.95 in Lincolnton, NC
• National battlefields: 3 
• National historic sites:  3
• State capitols:  1
• State parks: 3
• State historic sites:  1

     
This complex embraces the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Ike's childhood home (pictured above), and the burial place of the President and his wife.  While competent, our guide for the home tour lacked the warmth we encountered at the Truman home in Missouri earlier this week.  Her presentation was meticulous, but questions distracted her from her script and were not encouraged.

The museum exhibits were a bit tired but well organized.  My particular favorite was the room dedicated to First Lady Mamie and her unique sense of style.  Rotating mannequins modeled outfits Mrs. Eisenhower wore at momentous events so you could check out every angle.  A letter on display from cosmetics queen Elizabeth Arden thanked Mrs. Eisenhower for patronizing her Washington salon and included copies of sketches Ms. Arden had ordered to assist her stylists in executing the First Lady's unique Parisian coiffure.  Operated by the National Archives, the Eisenhower Center collected $9.00 admissions from each of us (reflecting a AAA discount of $1).

A temporary exhibit "War and Peace:  the Art of Shin-hee Chin" did provide a bright spot in the museum displays.  In the series the Korean American artist sought to honor both the famous and the unsung heroes of war and peace. An art professor at a Kansas college, Chin uses a mixture of traditional and innovative fiber art techniques to create impressionistic images that evoke an emotional response and invite closer inspection.  Her portrait of Anne Frank using fabric yoyos was especially compelling.

Every time we take one of these long road trips, we vow to build in some down time on the next one, a promise we've yet to keep.  Since we're making a concerted effort to travel smarter on this trip, we exercised such a break this morning, lounging in our hotel room until we went out to lunch in the early afternoon.  OK, I can't lie.  We really weren't lounging; we were catching up on blogging and e-mailing and planning, but it's still an improvement for us to actually set aside a few hours for such activities rather than trying to squeeze them all in between dinner and bedtime.
   

High on our list of Topeka sites was the Kansas State Capitol building (pictured above).  After our excellent experience at the Missouri State Capitol last month, we decided to try exploring more of these seats of government as we travel west.  As our first capitol visit in quite some time, Missouri set the bar high—very high.  Could Kansas possibly live up to such a standard?

     

Kansas Capitol's stunning copper dome

In a word, yes.  Even though Kansas was more in line with most of America in their x-ray security screenings at the building entrance, we were quite impressed with the friendliness of the kind-hearted Kansans we found working at the building housing the heart of their state government. Soon after we entered, while we were walking around agape at the beauty of the building, an off-duty security employee approached us and began enthusing about the ongoing restoration project before pointing the way to the guided tour desk, where we hooked up with Norm, our source of knowledge about the Kansas Capitol.  Here's what we learned from Norm.

Kansas State Capitol Stats:

• Built:  1866-1903 (yep, that's 37 years)
• Cost to build:  $3.2 million (mostly paid by railroads, who also donated the 20-acre site)
• Restoration project:  2001 to ??? ("We're in the 12th year of a 10-year project.")
• Restoration cost:  $500 million   (funded by government bond issues, not the railroads)
• Architectural style:  French Renaissance
• Mural artist:  John Steuart Curry
• Politicians' criticisms of murals:  people too stiff, prairie at night looks like ocean, pig's tail curled in wrong direction, bull's back not swayed enough, etc.
• Curry's response to criticism:  refused to sign murals and enhanced one mural with a line of skunks, each labeled with the name of one of his most vocal critics
• Feature not restored to original condition:  paintings in dome (Nudes in original paintings have been clothed.)
• Interesting details:
• Significant use of copper and bronze
• Columns incorporating all three Greek styles (Doric, Ionic & Corinthian)
• Columns in senate chamber used for ventilation
• Extensive use of marble from various states and countries
• Chambers:  Senate and House (Pecking order obvious in decor.)

Before restoration, all the copper finishes inside were black with grime from years of gas heat and cigarette smoke.

An example of one Kansas Column style:  elements of all the Greek capitals but no fluting

Allegorical ladies of the dome, now nicely clothed

The House Chamber.  Quite nice but lacks the opulence of the Senate quarters.

Senate Chamber (Note how bases of columns are used for ventilation.)

Details from the Senate chamber in golden glow of afternoon light give new meaning to ornate.

We're perfecting our rating system for state capitol buildings as we go, so we don't have a number yet, but the Kansas capitol is top-rate.  We really liked the use of non-traditional materials and the way the building reflects the values and character of the state.  The next capitol on our agenda is South Dakota next week.  We'll be too far west to catch Lincoln as we go through Nebraska.

Before visiting the capitol, we went to check out the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.  Housed in the former Monroe Elementary School, one of the four segregated schools for black children in Topeka, the Brown site commemorates the struggle of African Americans to attain equal rights in education.  In 1954, Thurgood Marshall, then general counsel for the NAACP and representing a black Topeka student, Oliver L. Brown, argued before the Supreme Court that racial classifications were inherently unconstitutional, as were separate educational facilities.  The court's unanimous decision in favor of the plaintiff and in support of the 14th Amendment was one of the most significant in U.S. history.  

Entering the building, we faced large signs designating WHITE on one side and COLORED on the other.  Since we are both old enough to remember when such signs were actually in use, it was a jarring experience to be reminded of the days when this practice was all too common.  After that initial greeting, we were expecting the museum to be a compelling experience.  Sadly, the drama stopped there.  

After squeezing your heart in a vise, the museum's curators lost the momentum and presented a jumbled mix of exhibits that were distracting in their excess—too many things to look at, too much competing audio in the same room.  This is a story that needs to be told, but sadly it isn't told very memorably here.

For the last several months, we've been looking for cooler weather.  The South had another miserably hot summer and we just wanted some relief.  Today, we found it.  Although the temperature in Springfield this morning was a mild 55° under partly cloudy skies, that marked the end of any hint of moderate weather.

With a full agenda for the day, we got an early start, leaving the hotel at 8:00.  After fueling up at Starbucks, our first stop was Wilson's Creek National Battlefield (pictured above) in Republic, MO, (pop. 14, 864), just ten miles outside Springfield.  The Battle of Wilson's Creek in 1861 opened Civil War fighting in the border state of Missouri.  With citizens who harbored sympathies for both sides of the conflict, most of the remainder of the fighting in the state was characterized by guerrilla warfare.
    

The presentation of the battlefield itself was not particularly impressive, with only a handful of cannons and a few interpretive signs over a five-mile driving tour.  However, the visitor center was large, housing a research library, classrooms, and a rare book collection, in addition to the usual exhibits and gift shop.  The administrative offices seemed pretty extensive as well, which may explain why there was a $10 per vehicle admission fee.  

This contrasts with our visits to the free-of-charge Fort Donelson (TN) and Kings Mountains (SC) battlefield sites earlier this week.  Since all are operated by the National Park Service, we asked one of the local rangers why there was a difference in policy.  She didn't seem to know but made an effort to explain it anyway.
From the battlefield, we charged west on I-44 toward Joplin, dropping south on US-71 to the little town of Diamond (pop. 902), where we visited the George Washington Carver National Monument.  Both rain and the temperature began falling as we got out of the car and headed into the visitor center to learn more about this Missouri native son.

Born into slavery on a farm located at that site, Carver grew up to become a brilliant educator, a gifted orator, and a generous humanitarian.  Yet he is most remembered for his scientific research to transform peanuts into a plethora of products from ink to paper, soap to glue, dyes to oil, milk to cosmetics.

After earning a master's degree in agriculture from an Iowa college, Carver accepted an offer to head a new agriculture department at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute in 1896.  It was there that he conducted his experiments with peanuts with the goal of freeing Southern farmers from their dependence on cotton.  He continued teaching and conducting agricultural experiments and outreach until he died at Tuskegee 47 years after he arrived there.

Professor Carver's instruction was not limited to agricultural science.  He looked on his students as his children and tried to teach them what he considered valuable life lessons:  "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong.  Because some time in life you will have been all of these."  

Carver was a popular speaker with both black and white audiences.

In his statement of eight cardinal virtues, which he shared in a letter to the Tuskegee graduating class of 1922, Carver encouraged each of them to be a person:

1  Who is clean, both inside and outside;

8  Who takes his share of the world and lets other people have theirs.

From the Carver site, we drove ten miles north to Joplin (pop. 50,559).  Still recovering from the devastating F-5 tornado that struck the city in May, 2011, Joplin seems to be running on optimism, buoyed by the massive input of assistance that has flowed into the city from thousands of volunteers, who are still arriving to help out with recovery.  At the massive vacant pit where Joplin High School once stood and will return, "Operation Rising Eagle" is well underway as earth moving equipment works through the initial stages for construction of a new school.  Meanwhile, the school's 2,000 students are attending classes in a former warehouse and part of a shopping mall.  

     

When only the O and P were left on the Joplin school sign, someone knew what to do.

A lone tree that was stripped of its branches and its life in the tornado stands alone in a vast empty corridor of destruction.  Just before the first anniversary of the tornado in May, several local artists set to work to commemorate those who lost their lives and the heroes and volunteers who came to help.  They chose this tree as a symbol of Joplin's tenacity and resilience and vowed to bring it back to life with color.  Before the painting was even finished, Joplin locals spontaneously began calling it the Spirit Tree.
 

Joplin's Spirit Tree

Much remains to be done, but the city has hired a development specialist in an effort to forge reconstruction efforts into building a better community.  New houses have sprung up on lots left stripped, and the sound of construction equipment fills the air.  Clearly, Joplin is a city on its way back to full strength.

The most famous corner house in Lamar, Missouri

From Joplin, just forty miles north on US-71 took us to the town of Lamar (pop. 4,504).  Best known as the birthplace of President Harry S. Truman, Lamar is home to the state historic site which preserves this 20- by 28-foot house that Truman's parents bought for the grand sum of $685 in 1882 (just ten years after Wyatt Earp had left the town).  Harry was born there in 1884 and spent most of his first year in the house until his family moved to Harrisonville and later to Independence. We enjoyed a free guided tour of the house with a friendly and knowledgeable Lamar native.

After driving north to Nevada (no, not that Nevada), we finally turned west to enter Kansas, the real beginning of this trip.  Kansas is one of the 15 states we haven't yet visited this year.  And just across the border from Missouri on US-54, we drove into Fort Scott (pop. 8,087), a town that emerged from a frontier military outpost.

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Fort Scott National Historic Site

From 1842 to 1854, the Fort Scott was a link in a chain of military outposts spread along the line separating areas of white settlement with the territory further west where native tribes had been exiled, also known as the "permanent Indian frontier."  The troops' primary mission was to keep peace between the white settlers and the relocated Indians.  Soon, white settlement pushed past this line, and the frontier garrison was no longer needed.  Troops were reassigned, and the fort buildings sold at auction.  The town that grew up around the former military station retained the name Fort Scott.

One hundred years later, historic-minded citizens organized to restore the fort to its late 1840s appearance.  Structures that were not original were removed,while historic buildings were restored or reconstructed.

By the time we arrived at the fort around 4:30, the temperature had fallen to 45°, and the tenacious wind was doing its part to emphasize that a cold front had moved in.  After a self-guided tour of this interesting facility, we continued west, arriving at our hotel in Topeka about 7:30.  Tomorrow we'll take the morning off to rest up a bit, and try to see some sites in Topeka in the afternoon, spending one more night here before continuing west.

THURSDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2012

     
DAILY STATS

• Miles driven: 364
• Letterboxes: F 1, P 0
• Weather: Sunny, 55° to 45° 
• States: 2 (MO, KS) 
• Gas (premium): $3.49/gallon (Lamar, MO) 
• Uses George Washington Carver developed for peanuts:  >300
• Harry S Truman's middle name:  S
• Flattened or blown away in Joplin tornado:  8,400 houses, 18,000 cars, & 450 businesses
• Height of stockade around Fort Scott:  0 ft. 0 in.  (As a peacekeeping fort, it did not need a wall.)
  
  

TRIP STATS

• Miles driven: 1,621
• Letterboxes: F 10, P 3
• States: 8 (GA, SC, NC, TN, KY, IL, MO, KS)
• Temperature range: 45° to 80° 
• Gas prices (premium): $3.49 to $3.95 
• National battlefields: 3 
• National historic sites:  2
• State parks: 1 
• State historic sites:  1

Part of the excellent exhibits at the Carver site

The town of Fort Scott