Well, I aimed for Wyoming when I left Massachusetts but I hit Missouri instead. I may have to go on to Deadwood and see some fellows I met at the Ammonia Fuel Network conference – wheat farmers deeply concerned about the protein percentage in next year's crop. This is all shaping up nicely; I can start here, just a few miles from where Calamity Jane was born, and end up seeing Deadwood, the site of her adventures with Wild Bill Hickok.
Not a great deal of substance on this one, but I did get a couple of nice photographs for your viewing pleasure.
Missouri's a lot like Massachusetts – rolling hills, lots of trees, and no straight roads, but the sky occasionally does that western "big sky" thing.
Here's the road to her birth place. This is not some sort of historic restoration; northern Missouri is dirt poor and one lane gravel roads with plank bridges are not unusual.
The Highway 65 Motorcycle Club (which is just a collection of Harley enthusiasts as opposed to a gang) have placed a marker at the intersection of a road near the location of her birth.
The home site isn't even worth a walk across the soy bean field – nothing left but a stand of trees in the approximate location.
Folks who've never been here don't understand how downtrodden this place is. There is a serviceable one bedroom house on a quarter acre lot for sale next door to where I'm staying – asking price $8,000 and it's not moving. I'm recovering nicely (finally!) from Lyme and am able to work a full day almost every day so pretty soon I should have a bit of money again and with family right next door to this place I am thinking it might make a good investment for me. I'm definitely going back to the lil' woman in Massachusetts but I very much want a paid for rural redoubt in case things get as bad as I think they might. Perhaps my mother could live there, as caring for the 3.26 acres and large house she has now are wearing on her.
If any of you want to stop by that'll be fine – just come on past this sign a little ways and look for my little gray Nissan.
If you see the Cowboy Café sign you took a wrong turn when you hit the town square – we're the other direction.
Dang! Now that I've written this I'm really itching to see Deadwood. Could be reading this Jack Kerouac book, On The Road, might have something to do with this feeling? I just finished it and I've been rubbing my tummy and jumping up and rushing off to do things all evening.