On the Road: Kansas City to Oakley, Kansas (Summer 2009)

I got a slow start today. I went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, but, today being Sunday,  it didn't open until noon, so I lost several hours in the morning. As a result, I didn't get as far west as I had hoped to. I am now in Oakley, Kansas. I arrived in the middle of another severe thunder storm, having woken up to one in Independence, Missouri this morning.

I'm glad I got to the museum, though. It's an excellent collection, strong in American art of the region, but also with a good collection of European painting, Asian art, and Near-Eastern art. The painting here is by Victor Higgins (1884-1949). Higgins was a member of the Taos Society of Artists. The painting dates from around 1926. It's a good example of the excellent regional art in the collection. I enjoyed seeing Thomas Hart Benton's Persephone, a funny painting that I've seen reproduced many times over the years. The museum opened in 1933, so it would have been new when my father knew it.

I left Kansas City at around 3:00PM. I had hoped to get to Colorado Springs, Colorado tonight, but, because of the storm, I decided to stay in Oakley. Just before Oakley, in Victoria, Kansas, I stopped to see St. Fidelis Church, known as "The Cathedral on the Plains." Tomorrow I'll start to cross the Rockies.

On the Road: Hermann to Independence, Missouri (Summer 2009)

Waiting out a major thunderstorm in a hotel in Independence, Missouri. The museum in Kansas, City doesn't open until noon on Sunday, so I'm in no hurry.

The photos here are from yesterday. One is a shot of the thick layers of limestone near Washington, Missouri, but I saw this rock along the highway pretty much across Missouri. The building is in Hermann, a town that still shows its German roots very obviously.

In Hermann, I toured Stone Hill Winery, one of the oldest in the state--in the country, for that matter. At one time it was the second-largest in the United States, they tell me, but no one seems to know which winery was on top. The extensive underground cellars carved out of the limestone were interesting. The guide said they are the most extensive vaulted stone cellars in North America. Impressive, but I have seen much bigger in Champagne and the Loire. I tasted a range of the wines made. All solid, but none exciting.