Some of you may recall that one of our goals in the RV has been to visit all 91 Missouri State Parks and historic sites. There are many reasons for this goal. One is to see the diverse geography and natural areas in the state. The other motivator is to truly see where and how people live in every corner of the state. We in the Midwest are often labeled as flyover country. But ironically, many St. Louisans have never visited most of their own state either. We have already covered most of it and the big chunk that is left covers the NW corner of the state, from Kansas City all the way up to the border with Iowa and Nebraska.
The origins of the Missouri State Park System date back to 1917, when the General Assembly established the State Park Fund within the Fish and Game Department. This marked the beginning of the state park system, which transitioned to the Missouri State Park Board in 1937. And while Missouri often ranks pretty low in many categories, the state park system and the Missouri Conservation Department are at the top. We have visited enough of other state parks to know this is true. We are lucky in that respect. We just voted to continue the small sales tax that funds the system and it won by a huge margin. As a result, new parks are slated to open so we may have new trips to take.
In the coming weeks, you can expect to go on this journey with us. I may not exactly follow the weekly publish dates so bear with me. But it should be a lot of fun. You can see on the map what is missing.
Before I go, there is one more great story from the house history that I want to share. You may recall me mentioning that a friend printed out newspaper clippings about happenings at our house. One of those was a classic and it reminded me that the newspapers were social media before there was social media. This snippet is from 1949. Here is the story, Edwin P, “southside hardware magnate, brought in a widely traveled chef to prepare foodstuffs on a new electric range at a dinner and poker tourney at this home. All hands agreed the various dishes were prepared in a tasty and wholesome manner. There was some little dissatisfaction, however, from the fact the chef’s lack of experience with electric ranges caused short-circuits that blew out the lights when reckless betters held the best poker hands.”
And here is one more picture from our house. This is the old gaslight that was original to the house. My wife and our friend Betty restored it to be a garden feature. Monday is Betty’s 90th birthday! Happy Birthday my friend. She also built this bench just last fall.
This is why I much prefer cooking with gas😉
Also, 91 parks? You’ve got your work cut out!
I like what you said about newspapers being social media—and what a funny story! I can’t wait to discover the parks along with you!