Kansas City then Missouri, the State

Friday night at the Museums

I went straight to the Kemper Gallery, which I thought was the cool modern building I read about a few years ago. It was not. It’s a nice little contemporary art gallery, but it is not the thing I was looking for. They were having a Friday night wine and cheese party built around a talk by a current exhibitor. It seemed even smaller on the inside than it appeared to be from the outside. I talked to a nice museum guard and he helped me figure out that what I was looking for was the new-ish wing of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, built 8-10 years ago. It is a short walk away. The KC art scene is awesome.

So I leave the van in the Kemper lot, jog north a half block, cut through the Kansas City Art Institute‘s beautiful grounds and boom! I am at the far corner of the huge complex of art that is the Nelson-Atkins! First of all, it is free. That’s cool just to save $12 or whatever, but the simple fact that entering or leaving is no big deal gives the museum a whole different feel. All the entrances are just … open! No rigamarole about controlling entrance points and checking your sticker before you re-enter, none of that stuff. Just walk in and out of the grand North Entrance, the even grander South Entrance, or the New Wing Entrance as you please. The KC art scene is awesome.

I start in the new wing, of course. The dreadlocked cutie in a guard uniform gives me a map and an overview of what’s up. Once inside I decide to do a quick walk-through of the old building, just so I can say I saw it. The European and American stuff was pretty easy to breeze through, but some of the Asian stuff stopped me in my tracks. There was a corner with monochrome glaze ceramics that really turned me on, and also what they called “Southeast Asian” art. I would have called it Hindu art, but that probably just means I’m ignorant. It was the very busy, ornate statues of voluptuous goddesses and multi-armed incarnations of Vishnu with animal heads, that kind of stuff. I spent some time there because it was so mesmerizing.

I returned to the new wing, which is modern art. It went on and on and on and had a lot of cool stuff. They had a couple of Rothkos, one from the gray period. I had listened to a docent lecture at the Nevada Museum about Rothko in July, so I felt very smart for a minute. I wore myself out on art and trudged back upstairs and outside in time to catch a very pretty midwestern sunset, amplified spectacularly by the reflecting pool. The guards mentioned that there was some kind of projuected pattern art on the outside of the new wing, which prompted me to walk to the south side of the building. I thought the north side was impressive, but the south side is the real Grand Entrance. Fifty steps or so on a hill sloping down to a large expanse of city park lawn, ending in a little creek three blocks away. Since it’s still only 8:15-ish, the south side doors were wide open to any and all who wanted to enter. The KC art scene is awesome.

About 9 pm I was done. I gave some thought to finding a bar in the ever so hip neighborhood a little to the north of the Art Institute (of course), but decided I just didn’t have it in me. But I do need dinner …

The other thing one must do in KC is have barbecue, right!?!? I start the drive back to the hotel thinking I’m going to a bbq restaurant, but after a few miles I had a much better plan, namely to eat my Thai food leftovers from Plattsmouth two days ago. Then tomorrow morning I will return to the museum for coffee and then treat myself to a bbq lunch on the way out of town. Great plan! Artery-hardening bbq should be eaten in the middle of the day instead of right before bed anyway.

Saturday (Sep 22)

The cafe in the museum looked really pleasant last night, so it was an easy choice for coffee today. Coffee at the museum, then a barbecue lunch somewhere. Boom! Wish it was always that easy.

The KC art scene really is so user-friendly it’s ridiculous. Check-out time forced me out of my shambolic hotel at 11, so I was heading up the museum hill about 11:30. Veteran of the neighborhood that I am after spending one night here, I ignored the boring Maps through construction on the west side of the hill and drove up the east side of the hill. This meant I drove along the length of the New Wing. It really is an impressive building. At the top of the hill I found a spot instantly, in a direct line of sight to the cafe. Even though I could see it, it far enough away that I decided against lugging my laptop. So I decided to go for the “journal and book” cafe experience rather than the “laptop and two phones” cafe experience. My traveling meals, snacks and coffee breaks are typically are one or the other of these.

It was just great. Got my coffee and brownie, went outside to a table in the shade and watched the activity around the reflecting pool. There was a lot going on. A limo disgorged a Hispanic couple in full wedding garb, and soon there was a whole entourage of black-suited dudes and matching-gowned ladies and they were taking wedding pics on the steps of the North Entrance.

Another way this museum is more oriented to the public than most is that the spacious plaza around the reflecting pool is not cordoned off. Any rando can just drive around the pool if they want. In practice few do. The folks that drive in are the people that should need to it. Beat up little compacts make the loop and disgorge people with walkers or wheelchairs or very very old. The whole place is just a beautiful scene. I was inspired to revisit the Asian art, and to give a slightly closer look at the Western stuff on the first two floors of the old building. It was super fun. Again, the notion of just walking in whatever door you’re at without any form of entrance ritual with the guards was so, so cool. I walked out the south entrance to admire the the view across the city, just because I could. I wish I had brought only my notebook, and left the very thick Japanese epic I’m reading back at the van. I coulda done without lugging that around.

Then it was BBQ time! Gates Barbecue is the big deal around here. There is a whole chain of them. The one near my sad hotel was recommended by the desk, but now that I am downtown again there is a much closer one close by in the direction I will leave town, so that’s the plan!

I caught the downtown Gates at the end of some kind of weekend rush. The parking lot was super crowded, and there was a ten minute line to order. It was a temporary thing, because when I left there was nobody ordering. Anyway, the fellow in front of my said the short ribs have more meat, so I ordered that and coleslaw, and a stein of Goose Island IPA (“Goose makes me loose” said the big ole black lady as she draws the beer :)) The ribs were quite good and filling.

Next stop was a US Bank ATM on the edge of town, worth mentioning only because navigating to it took me through many varied and interesting parts of town that I would’ve missed just following the big road out of town. After the ATM I hooked up with the big road, US 24, to follow the Missouri River for one more afternoon before I leave it “forever” to turn south for Florida.

The river route took me through downtown Waverly, which turned out to be an historic and interesting place. They had a little riverfront park where you could camp. It was  peaceful, on a 40 foot bluff looking right down at the river. It was very tempting to just stop here for the night. I am glad I pressed on, because the place I ended up was great:

Missouri does state parks right. This one has all the amenities at a good price! There’s an overlook that looked close on the campground map. So I assembled the bike and headed out. But the hill was steeper and longer than I thought, so I punted on that, and just tooled around the picnic area and a short way on a trail before the mosquitoes drove me back. They are big on their history here. Along with the usual Lewis and Clark signs there was a lot of info on the Missouri Tribe. The Missouris were a big deal before the white folks came through, but they brought smallpox with them, and the Missouri’s were decimated. Too bad for them.

Sunday

Van Meter State Park is a very pleasant place. I rode my bike over to the showers and hung around until checkout time of 2 pm. The Niners were playing the locally revered Kansas City Chiefs in an early game today, so I was able to follow the frustrating first half on my phone. Heck, I could almost follow it sitting in my lawn chair listing to the radios of every other camper in the place. A little before 1 pm checkout time I drove 10 feet out into the road take advantage of that threaded faucet and top off my water tank, then it was time to start working my way from the left middle of the state to the lower right corner, on the way to Florida.

Most places out here in the sticks are for working folks so are often closed on Sunday. I couldn’t see coffee or lunch possibilities until the big city of Sedalia – home of the Missouri State Fair. Which I now know because the restaurant I was aiming for is across the road from the fairgrounds. I parked in the shade in the back, grabbed my laptop and devices, walked to the front, and … like many small things the last few days, it was a FAIL. The Country Kitchen closes on Sunday at 3 pm, and it’s 3:10 now, so too bad for me.

I went back to the shade to research my next attempt, when I noticed Kehde’s Barbecue 40 yards away across the side street. I left my van in the shade and walked over there. It was quite nice! No wifi, but that’s ok, I need to get my notebook caught up anyway. I decided to see what burnt ends is all about. They turn out to be great! Tastier and easier to eat than actual ribs. With cole slaw and the inevitable hush puppies, probably a way better meal than I would’ve gotten across the street.

I quite liked last night’s Missouri State Park, but tonight’s isn’t working for me. First of all, the place is huge, but i didn’t quite grasp that fact coming in. I didn’t realize that there is an exit the far corner of the first loop which leads to three more loops. So, thinking this was it, I took a campsite that was uneven and dark and cramped, and all-around un-awesome. It was next to the camp host and it turns out they were partiers. They and another couple were hooting and hollering till 10:30 or so.

Monday

Not much reason to hang around in the morning, so I got going relatively early. The Lake of the Ozarks area is strange. It’s quite built-up and busy, but there’s just no there there! It’s endless highways lined with chain stores and strip malls. I think it’s because there was never a town to begin with, it’s all unchecked commercial activity around the edge of the new(*) lake.

(*) Lake of the Ozarks facts:

• Finished in 1931, had many official names but none of them stuck
• It was built by the regional utility company for power generation. Flood control was an afterthought.
  This is pretty much the opposite of the Missouri River dams and lakes I’ve been at the last month. They were built by the Army Corps for flood control, turbines to generate electricity added later. Bummer for me, because the campgrounds are state rather than federal.
• Shoreline is 1,150 miles long, which the barrista said is longer than California’s. Dunno about that, but it’s a lot of shoreline.

Anyway, off the main drag down one of the countless peninsulas created by the lake, Yelp directed me to an aspiring independent coffee shop – Great Stone Coffee. The owner(?) was a real nice kid, went to the Art Institute in KC where I was walking two days ago. A thing that stuck with me out of our conversation, there’s a local Ozark’s spoken word collective which they call “O Snap!” :)

Back on the highway I found an Ace Hardware to buy hose washers and fly strips, and dinner from the deli in the grocery in the same lot. Hose washers and the meals I bought were a complete success. The fly strips were a complete fail. They’re gross and disgusting and the flies aren’t interested in them.

I wrote about this two years ago, but the combination of busy, two-lane, narrow, curvy, and worst of all absolutely no shoulder make Missouri backroads exhausting to drive.

Pretty great evening. There appear to be three occupants here tonight- one giant RV, one tent couple, and me. So there are plenty of choices. I pick a spot were I park parallel to my picnic table. It is very hot and humid and still.

Settle in, put on my walking shoes, walk back and pay. Then explore a little bit, walk down the road with signs to the Spring. A very odd thing happened down there, I met a forest nymph! Actually it was a young woman carrying a little plastic bag of something, but it was so odd – where did she come from and where was she going? – that I prefer to think of it in mythological terms. She amused herself by saying that yes the Spring is right down there, but look out for the “big hunting dog” running loose … and look for the beavers … I saw neither beavers nor dogs (thank goodness), but what the heck was the story on her????

The trail to the Spring was cool fun in the dwindling daylight. It’s so humid my glasses are permanently fogged all evening. It woulda been a good day for contacts.

Back to my spot, Sitting around does not cool me off, but taking a shower and ending it with a long cold soak does the trick. After than I just dig the fuck out of the place. It’s after sunset, cloudy and foggy, but it’s also full moon. Walk down to the Current River and watch moonrise in the stillness. yum!