Give Them Hell!

This morning I stopped in Eaglesville, Missouri for a cup of coffee and the young fellow at the counter looked at me (hood up, masked face), and said, "Coffee free for you. Happy New Year!" Wow. I was glad I stopped there for coffee. Getting it for free made it more delicious.

I drove through Missouri and into Kansas when I got the idea to visit the Truman Presidential library. So I drove back into Missouri again.

Truman was the president when I was born. 

He seemed to be a truly nice guy, "salt of the earth" type of man.

After FDR died, he had to take over the job.

He came into office at a very difficult time.

He grew up on a farm but did not want to be a farmer.

Mucking out the pig pens was the job he really dreaded.

He had to make some dreadful decisions.

I love Norman Rockwell art. Always have.

While driving today I saw 7 hawks. Five were red tailed hawks I think. One hawk seemed to have a red face and a white breast and I have no idea what kind of hawk that was. One nearly hit my windshield and I think it was a Northern Harrier. I saw Canadian geese, ducks, American Crows, 2 eagles and a bunch of smaller birds that are hard to identify when I'm driving 65 miles per hour. I saw cows and horses and sheep. I also saw oil rigs and lots of agricultural. 

Highway 169 had long stretches of farms and no towns. I was getting nervous about running out of gas so I stopped in Iola to buy gas. Then I figured I should use a restroom. I found the city hall and walked in. The only person in the place was a woman who said I could use the restroom. She had a dog near her desk, a little Pomeranian with a bow atop it's head. I asked if this is the city dog? She said it was. On my way out we had a nice chat about the weather. She said I was lucky that I stopped when I did because I might have run out of gas. That turned out not to be true but we did have a nice chat. 

The high temperature today was 50 degrees Fahrenheit and it felt wonderful.

I made it to Independence, Kansas before the sun had set. I asked the nice man and woman at the reception desk if they could recommend a good Asian restaurant. He answered, "I am Asian but I do not like most Asian food." He recommended a Mexican restaurant about four buildings away from the hotel.

So I walked down the road and had an excellent Mexican dinner.

The service was great and the food was delicious.

Tomorrow I am aiming to go to the George W. Bush library on the MSU campus.

I already bought a ticket for 3 p.m.

I hope I make it in time!