Joplin to St. Louis

October 16, 2018

Our first morning in Missouri was a chilly one, 33°F outside the van and only 41°F inside.  If we didn't have to get out of our sleepy bags we'd be fine, but of course nature always calls.  We did a lot less sightseeing and a lot more driving today, covering 350 miles before we reached our campsite at Babler State Park, just outside St. Louis.  

 Another motel that has a garage for every room!

The Jasper County Courthouse in Carthage, Mo.  Built in  1866.   Joplin was a very wealthy town in the 19th century due to the thriving mining industry at that time.  Sadly, mining has tapered off, but the town has done a good job preserving many of its buildings.  

We had breakfast just across the street.

After breakfast we spent a few hours visiting the Wilson Creek National Battlefield.  There were only two states that witnessed more battle during the Civil War than Missouri.   Although slavery was allowed in Missouri, it did not secede from the Union.  The battle at Wilson Creek, which took place in August, 1861, was the fist in the state.  2500 died in a battle that lasted only a few hours.  Although the Union army sustained many more casualties than the Confederacy, the North considered it a victory since they prevented the South from taking Springfield, a transportation center for southern Missouri.

The Ray family home on whose cornfields the battle took place.  The family hid in the root cellar while the battle raged, and then the Confederates seized their home and turned it into their field hospital.

Bud's High Performance Tires and Wheels

The Stooges are popular on Route 66

Springfield mural

 You won't see these signs on the roofs or sides of barns like you used to, but the billboards are still everywhere!  I'm still hoping to find a barn with a "Mall Pouch Tobacco" sign, so far not one!

This town was named after the favorite drink of the railroad workers that settle this area.

We arrived at Charlie Gitto's Italian restaurant in St. Louis at 5:45 PM.  We had a fabulous dinner there a year ago, so we couldn't resist going back, and we were not disappointed.  We even had the same restaurant which was incredibly busy for a Tuesday night, every table was taken when we left.

On our way to our campground at Babler State Park we stopped for some frozen custard at Ted Drewes'.  Another must anytime we're in St. Louis. We arrived at the campground around 8:30 PM, happy we had a reservation.