This morning we did a grocery stop, then went to the Battle of Carthage Civil War historic site. There wasn't much to see, but lots of signage. It was the earliest full-scale battle of the Civil War, preceding the Bull Run by 11 days. The site has a meadow and spring that made the area an encamp,ent for both the Union and Confederate troops during the battle. The area hasn't changed in appearance since the battle which was fought on July 5, 1861. The site explains the battle that set the stage for a decisive showdown a month later at Wilson's Creek. To read the information, both sides felt like they won the battle!
From there we headed to the town square. The Jasper County Courthouse sits in the middle. Built in 1894-1895, the clock tower is 106 feet tall.
Just south of the square is a mural with pictures of famous people from the area. Sam Butcher – the creator of the Precious Moments figures, Annie Baxter – the first woman elected to public office, Marlin Perkins – “Wild Kingdom” TV host and zoologist, James Scott – Ragtime composer and pianist, and David Newell – actor, are some of the folks featured. Andy Thomas is the artist who created this mural which is made from 459 porcelain tiles weighing 6500 pounds! He is the second from the left top hand corner of the mural which was completed in 2021.
Tobey took off from here on his ride today. I walked a few blocks to Civil War Museum. Admission is free, but they gladly accept donations. It is small, but they have quite a few photos and weapons on display.
Not too far outside of Carthage we passed the Route 66 Drive-in, one of the last drive-ins located along Route 66.
We made our way west through Webb City and the northern edge of Joplin before heading north. Tobey wanted to be sure he was still on the correct route so he kept an eye out for the Route 66 signs!
Tobey went by this restaurant on his ride. His first thought was it’s spelled wrong. I had trouble using a translate program to get “famos” to come up with an English word. Italian for famous, maybe? The German word, “famos” translates to “splendid” in English, so who knows?
Not too much further, he called me and said to change my route because his was on a gravel bike trail! After that, it put him out onto a busy highway with no shoulder!
We caught up and had lunch and re-strategized the plan for the afternoon’s ride.
He was at the end of Route 66 and needed to head north to the Trans-America bikeway. Through some Google mapping using satellite views, he changed our route to small state highways and county roads. It was much more pleasant and much safer!
We went by Oronogo, Missouri (on County Road 260). There was what looked like a tractor graveyard along the road. It was hard to see them for all the weeds growing up around them, but there were many more than this picture shows!
Before we knew it, we were in Kansas! After a quick break and reconfirming the new route, I said goodbye to Tobey and headed on to Girard on a little different route than him.
Four miles later, Pittsburg was the first town we went through and loved the welcome sign!
Unlike bigger cities, smaller communities seem to value their service clubs and allow welcome signs with their logos on them! More murals in Pittsburg.
He did take a wrong turn and was sure he was in Texas when he saw the longhorn cattle!
He rolled into Girard about 4 pm this afternoon after riding 58.2 miles. Girard is the county seat of Crawford County with a population of about 2500 people. We are staying at the library tonight and I had a nice visit with the staff. After dinner, I walked around the town square and had a chance to see the murals on a couple of the buildings, as well as the courthouse.
It is supposed to be hotter tomorrow, so we hope to get an early start.
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