Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Cabernet in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!!"

Sunday, June 27, 2010

DAY TRIPPER 1

Friday being my day off we did a day trip to Weston, MO.

 001

Weston, Queen of the Platte Purchase, became a significant mid-nineteenth century Missouri River port community, the second largest port on the river, second only to St. Louis. In 1850 over 300 steamboats a year docked at the Port of Weston. The population soared to 5,000, surpassing both Kansas City and St. Joseph. But after major floods, fires, and the Civil War the bustling town declined to about 1,000. When you see all that goes on here, you may be surprised to learn that over a century later, Weston still has fewer than 2,000 residents.

Barn they dry the tobacco in. 

002 003

Though not as important as hemp in the early days, through the years tobacco has become a very important cash crop for Weston and Platte County. The annual tobacco yield in Platte County prior to 1861 was 25 million pounds and Weston developed the only tobacco market west of the Mississippi until 2001. It's annual auction from November to January brought in millions of dollars. Today about 2.8 million pounds of tobacco is grown annually in Platte County, however it is now contracted to tobacco companies, or shipped to markets in the South.

007

In 1856 Ben and his brother, David, founded the Holladay Distillery on the outskirts of Weston. They built above a limestone spring and used grain grown on area farms to make mash from which they distilled whiskey. Now known as McCormick Distillery, the property remained in the Holladay family until 1894.

Main street is walk back in time with it’s shops and restaurants .

013pic_firedept_med

If you look at the black and white picture you can see the old hotel that's in the left picture.

012009

011010

This tree was growing outside the church.

008

Not sure why she wanted to take my picture here..

018017

015016

They had a real nice museum.

 

Also just outside of town is

006005

004

Nice park over looking the Missouri River.

Has a nice camp ground it wasn't real full and lots of room for a 40 ft rv. 

cg

On the way home from Weston Friday we saw this county park and thought we would take the dogs for a walk Saturday morning and check it out.

i009

We got up early Saturday before it got to hot…80 at 6am and went to explore.

h008

The trails were all paved and grass well trimmed.There were seven bridges like these and the creek running below

  c003

  b002                d004  f006 

The dogs were hot and tired by the end. They got in the creek to cool off and get a drink.

   g007

There was no one there when we got there but by the time we were leaving a few joggers and a family riding bikes showed up.

We thought it would be nice if we had some bikes to ride in places like this and we could use them when we start full timing.

So off to Walmart we went to buy us to new bikes.

Its been a long long long long time since this old man has been on a bike. Honey don’t forget to bring the first aid kit.

 

j013

That's it for this week we’ll see what next week will bring.

ONE DAY CLOSER TO THE DREAM

6 comments:

Prettypics123 said...

Have fun with those new bikes. Love your picture of you and your doggies. Isn't the RV life grand?

Sam&Donna Weibel said...

Looks like a fun day trip, Donna & I need new bikes also, she wants one that has bigger tires and three speeds without a derailer, sso I will have to shop the internet, Walmart doesn't carry anything like that, its either one speed ot a gazzillion. Tell Annie Rigg's says hi. Be safe out there.Sam & Donna.

Happytrails said...

What an interesting place Weston is! Lots of history there...thanks for the tour! The Weston Bend State Park is just beautiful and I can certainly see how it would inspire you all to get bikes. Mike and I have been debating on getting bikes ourselves. He has had back problems so we want to be careful.
You guys have fun with those new bikes!!

Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com

Merikay said...

Earlier this year I had our bikes tuned up and had planned to start riding again this summer. So far we have been so busy fixing and painting that we haven't had time to ride, but the fixing and painting has to be done and I'm glad to be doing it now.

Have fun on the bikes. How do they work in with the dogs?

Dennis and Donna said...

OH yea, bikes are a must..I used to have a 1960's vintage Schwinn, but it died in Texarkana, TX. Den bought me a new bike at the WalMart there..you know the kind...big butt seat, no shifting and regular brakes...LOVE IT!! Oh, and you are right about Nellie and I...we could easily be arrested if we were ever lucky enough to be together and hatch a plot to find trouble...I have a daughter her age...I feel like Nellie could be one of my own!!!

ThE MidLiFe CrUiSeR said...

Great looking bikes! Now all you need are helmets (just one each...don't go crazy thinking you have to double up), knee pads, elbow pads, and a pillow to sit on.

p.s. Ignore Donna. She's the troublemaker. I'm innocent!

Nellie
http://midlifecruiser.blogspot.com/