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| Grant House |
Tuesday continued with the rain in St. Louis. We headed out of the city to see the home of Ulysses S Grant. I didn't know much about him as a president and he has a pretty sad story. Apparently he never really got anything he wanted out of life and people said the only thing he was good at was war and marriage. We had a personal tour from the ranger that lasted over an hour and he gave us a lot of detail. From there we headed over to Wilsons Creek Battlefield. It cost $15 to enter which I thought was a lot for what is there but that price is good for a week and covers Pea Ridge Military park as well. We only had an hour so we did the speed tour of the visitor center and drove the auto tour route. I always have a hard time at battlefields because its so hard to envision the history there due to all the changes time has taken. They did have an original house left that a family hunkered down in while war raged around them. Their home ended up being used as a field hospital.
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| Wilsons Creek |
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| Wilsons Creek |
Our last national park site of the day was George Washington Carver. I had only associated him with peanuts and didn't know much about him but he had a fascinating life. I wish we had more time to spend there because he seems like a fascinating figure to learn about. The visitor center was huge with tons of information. There is also a walking trail to a statue of George and a house he was raised in.
Tuesday night was spent in Tulsa and on Wednesday we continued on west. I always enjoy stopping at state capitols so we made a pit stop in Oklahoma City. We wandered around the rotunda to view all the murals. After seeing so many state capitols though they all tend to look the same.
Back on the road we went to Washita. Most of this trip has been on the highway but Washita is 28 miles off the road and we ended up having to go to a local grocery store to grab lunch. Several of the stops we had made this trip were focused on the Civil War but this site was focused on the Indian wars. Washita was where Custer launched a surprise dawn attack on the Cheyenne. The visitor center had a great film and there was a 1.5 mile trail interpretive trail around the battlefield. The sun had come back out but it was still cool. It was nice to stretch our legs. Then it was back on the rural farm roads of Oklahoma into Texas. We were surrounded by feed lots, oil wells, and natural gas pumping stations. Dad asked me at one point "you don't drive roads like this when you travel by yourself do you?" I wisely declined to answer but I think they are getting a taste for what the last 10 years of my road trip life has been like :)
Enjoying your travel from my chair at the computer!
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