Kansas City, MO & Independence, MO

Judy’s high school friend and her husband drove down from Minneapolis, MN to spend the weekend with us. We hadn’t seen them in two years. When we all lived in Chicago we used to double date all the time and have kept in touch. We stayed in Independence which is only ten miles from Kansas City.

Saturday we drove into Kansas City. Our first stop was The Treasure of the Steamboat Arabia Museum.

The Arabia was a steamboat that in 1856 was bringing tons of new supplies from Kansas City on the Missouri River westward. The big side-wheeler had just left KC when her hull was suddenly pierced by a submerged tree. She sank in just minutes with all of her treasures lost. All the people on board were saved. The Arabia and its hoard of buried treasure were discovered beneath a Kansas farm field in 1988. Buried for 132 years, her excavation uncovered a “time capsule” of remarkably preserved 1856 frontier supplies – the world’s largest collection of items of nearly every description were found.

One of the five men who was involved with the unearthing of the boat was at the museum and spoke to us and answered any questions we had. We thanked him for uncovering and preserving this part of history. As we toured these displays we met another one of the five men with his wife who both were involved in locating and “saving” this treasure . They also volunteer at the museum and thanked us for coming.

Our next stop was the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art where we saw a HUGE shuttlecock steel sculpture on the lawn. We then went to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art where they had a “sleeping giant” and a huge spider standing outside.

Sunday we had breakfast with our friends and then said our goodbyes. After they left we went to get tickets to take a tour of Harry S. Truman’s Home. Since our tickets were for 1:30 so we spent some time at the Harry Truman Presidential Library.

We enjoyed all the movies and exhibits that we saw but had to leave after about an hour and a quarter so we could make the 1:30 home tour. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the house. It is exactly as it was when the Trumans lived there. Harry’s coat and hat were still hanging on the coat rack by the kitchen door ready for his morning walk. Bess never removed it so there it still hangs!





After the home tour we went back to the library to see what we didn’t get around to earlier. Then we went to the visitor’s center where Mike had purchased the tickets and watched a movie giving the history of the home. Truman had a rough presidency facing monumental decisions. First, trying to end World War II, and then the Korean War. He authorized (with much difficulty) the use of atomic bombs, causing Japan to surrender in 1945. He desegregated the armed forces and ordered an airlift against the Soviet Union’s blockade of Berlin in 1948. That same year he was elected to a second term as President, beating all of the polls that predicted he would lose. In 1948 he was the first world leader to recognize the new State of Israel. Truman was a ‘common’ man who knew hard work, had Midwestern values such as honesty, courage and perserverance. He retired to Independence, MO where his roots were and dedicated the Harry S. Truman Library in 1957.

In 1972, at age 88, he died and is buried at the Library. Bess died in 1982, at age 97, and is buried next to Harry. We found this Library much ‘warmer’ than the Clinton Library.



Before heading back to the trailer we stopped at the International Headquarters of the Community of Christ. The building has a very unique spire.