Day Three - In Truman's footsteps

As the sun rose over Truman's hometown, Brent and I got ready for the day ahead.  Benny served breakfast at 8:15 so we got an early start to our third day.  We met John, the other houseguest downstairs in the dining room.  A delicious fruit and yogurt parfait was served up first.  So delicious.  It was a perfect energy food to get us through our busy morning.  We then had eggs benedict as the main course.  So so good!  I'd never had eggs benedict before but I have a feeling from here on out I will be trying them and comparing them to Benny's.  They were great!  And filled us up perfectly.

We had an interesting breakfast conversation with John, an older PhD student from the UK.  He was in town for a week to do research at the Truman Library.  After seeing the size of the place, it's hard to believe a week would be enough.

In honor of President Truman's affinity for walking around Independence, Brent and I walked from the inn to the museum.  Once we reached Delaware Ave we were officially on the Harry S. Truman historic walking trail.  All along this trail, which goes from the library to Truman's home and to the square downtown are markers for historic homes, many of them with some connection to Truman.  We were marching down Delaware towards the museum, the same path Truman himself walked hundreds of times when he walked from his house to his office at the museum.

The town is crazy about Harry.  All around Independence there are little reminders of Truman and his love for walking.  Street signs even have little Trumans!  We walked right up to the museum and started our adventure!  The building was gigantic!  We entered a large atrium with a huge mural depicting Independence's role as being the launching point for the three trails west.  We watched the introductory video.  It was mediocre and oversimplified Truman's presidency.  We then joined up with a guided tour that was taken off from the atrium.

First stop was Truman's oval office!  The office and resolute desk are obviously replicas, but everything else in the room was in the White House with Truman, including all the clutter on his desk.  We learned about the building of the Museum and how Truman came to work at the Museum every day after its construction was complete.  He kept an office in the back and worked on his various books and often entertained guests at the museum.  We were told of a time when some folks called ahead of time concerned that they would arrive too late to visit the museum.  Harry answered the phone.  They explained to him that they were only passing through town but hoped to see the museum.  They were told to stop by when they got into town and knock on the door.  When they did so, Harry himself answered the door and let them in after hours and gave them a personal tour!!  How cool would that be?!

After we wandered through the exhibits with our tour guide for many hours we were ready for a break.  We walked back down Delaware towards Truman's home and downtown Independence.  Unfortunately we were visiting on a day that the Truman Home was closed to tours.  We got to admire from the outside only.

We continued past Truman's home to "the square."  Here we tracked down Clinton's Soda Shop, which was where Truman had his first job.  When it was Clinton's Drugstore, he opened the store at 6:30, mopped the floor, clerked, and stocked shelves.  It still serves up soda so Brent and I decided to have lunch at Truman's old stomping grounds.  It was a chicken salad sandwich for me and a chili dog for Brent.  We both chose the cherry soda and it was delicious!!!  We followed up our simple lunch with some tasty ice cream!

After a great lunch we hopped on The Truman Trolley for a lift back to the museum.  For a whole $1 each we got a brief tour around Independence and saved our legs another mile or so of walking.  We were reenergized for more exhibit wandering.  Here are some random photos ...

I have hundreds more photos but there's a snapshot.  The museum was great!! And I already look forward to visiting again someday.  I was hugely disappointed by the gift shop.  I wanted some Truman gear, but it was all generic president stuff that I could get anywhere.  I almost bought a walking cane like Truman's.  I really wanted a Truman hat but they didn't have any.

After closing the place down we went back to the inn for a brief break.  We then hopped in the car for a trip to the famous Arthur Bryant's in Kansas  City.  This highly rated, Food Network featured, KC BBQ joint was unbelievable!  The line funnels past the kitchen and the food is served up cafeteria style.  As you approach the window, the cooks holler, "What'll you have?"  You shout your answer through the window as you sidestep down the counter to the next window where it's passed through to you.  It's efficient, which is good because the line never dwindles and by the time we left it was almost out the door.

Brent and I both ordered the shredded pork open face sandwich.  We're lucky we both survived the adventure with all of our fingers still attached.  It was THAT delicious!!

Stuffed like pigs we waddled out of Arthur Bryant's and drove around Kansas City with no apparent direction.  We did find the World War I Museum, which was on are agenda for the next day.  We also drove across town to the Harley Factory.  It was good to know where we would be headed the next day.  And it was interesting to see just how big the city really is.  Not all parts on dilapidated brick buildings stained with soot.  Some have been "painted" and other parts look very much like the big box shopping centers like Centerra.

By the time we'd returned to Three Trails Inn for the night, we were whooped.  We'd had a busy and stimulating day.  I'd finally walked in the steps of Truman and had seen so many things directly related to my favorite time in history!  It was a day to remember!