As much as I would like to say that Route 66 in Missouri was every bit as fun and exciting as Illinois, I can’t. Not because there is anything wrong with Route 66 in Missouri, it’s just that we deviated from the plan and took a major detour, and then the weather threw us an additional distraction, which I will come back to later.

We loved our time in St. Louis. The Arch was fun to see and the ride to the top was spectacular. I enjoy history, and so our trip to the Ulysses Grant National Historic Park was fascinating. Many years ago, I designed the set and lighting for the play Meet Me in St. Louis. I remember studying the history of the 1904 World’s Fair and seeing the pictures. I’ve wanted to visit Forest Park and imagine what it must have been like for visitors in that day. There is little that remains of the fair architecture, but there is an imprint, nonetheless. We visited a museum in the park that had a wonderful exhibit about the fair. I didn’t realize there was a dark side to the fair wherein people of different world cultures were showcased in a zoo-like setting.

St. Louis, Missouri Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

There is no question that my favorite time in St. Louis was spent at the Botanical Gardens. What a beautiful and rich display of plants from around the country and world. The Japanese gardens were stunning with vibrant displays of azaleas in full bloom. We spent the entire afternoon wandering through the gardens enjoying the sights and smells.

Japanese Garden, St. Louis Botanical Garden

When our time in St. Louis was done, and we were ready to move on, we departed from Route 66. We have family living in Marshall, Missouri, about an hour east of Kansas City. Seeing our children and grandchildren was more important than staying faithful to the old road. Our kids live on a farm surrounded by fields of corn and other crops. It is still early spring, and with the heavy rains, not a lot was growing yet. It was beautiful notwithstanding. Even though we were not on 66, we still took advantage to see much of what Missouri has to offer.

We traveled to Independence with the kids to visit church history sites and learn about the story of the LDS people in the early years of our history. We went to the Visitors’ Center, the temple lot, and Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith and others were kept imprisoned the winter of 1839. Then we drove north to the St. Joseph area. My mother is buried in St. Joe, and I wanted to visit her gravesite and pay my respects. Neither Virginia or any of my children met my mother, and so it was fun to sit by her headstone in the cemetery, and share stories about my mother with her great grandchildren. My son cut away the grass that had overgrown the headstone, we took some pictures and then continued on our journey. On our way back to Marshall, we stopped at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, a place that the prophet Joseph Smith revealed was the setting for the Garden of Eden. It is a beautiful and sacred valley, and the spirit that rests over that area is heavenly. I chuckled when I saw a sign warning guests to stay on the trail, that snakes may be present. It’s a subtle bit of humor that one might find snakes at the Garden of Eden.

Whenever we stray from the Covenant Path, we may find ourselves vulnerable to unseen snakes lurking in the grass.

After 4 days on the farm with kids and grandkids, we continued on our way, intending to intersect Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri, near the Ozark Mountains. The closer we got to Springfield, the worse the weather became. We planned to stop at Costco to refuel and stock up on a few treats. About 12 miles out, Virginia needed to use a restroom, so we pulled off at a gas station. There were already a few truckers seeking shelter there and we should have picked up a clue from them, as they were all listening to severe weather alerts on the radio. When we got back on the road, the conditions deteriorated rapidly. I knew we should have stayed back at the truck stop. The rain engulfed us in sheets of water, and wind whipped the trailer from side to side. The very next exit we saw another service station. At the same time our phones set off emergency weather alerts advising us to seek shelter immediately. I took the off-ramp, as the visibility dropped to almost zero. We pulled into the station, ran for the door, being drenched in rainwater as tornado sirens blared around us. The door was locked, but an employee opened for us and instructed us to proceed to the women’s restroom in the back. There were 40-60 other people huddled in the small bathroom with children crouched into the toilet stalls. We were in the town of Fair Grove. While we were waiting, the following message from the National Weather Service appeared on my phone: At 9:51 am CDT, a confirmed tornado was located over Fair Grove, or near Stafford, moving east at 50 mph.

Victorian Garden, St. Louis Botanical Garden

20 minutes later, the danger passed, and we were released. I was relieved to find our Scamp still standing. It was still raining and much debris covered the roadway. We continued on our way to Springfield without further incident.

In Springfield, we visited Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, the site of the second major battle of the Civil War. Much like a cemetery, the land beneath a battlefield is hallowed by the lives that are given upon its surface. It was beautiful and peaceful.

Onto Kansas: Route 66 only clocks about 13-20 miles in Kansas as it clips the southeast corner of the state. Unfortunately, we were not even able to pass along those few miles. My ancestors, the early Handley pioneers, came to Kansas and settled into a small town named Oswego. My grandparents, great uncles and aunts, great grandparents, distant cousins, all are buried in the Oswego Cemetery. Paying my respects to those forefathers was more important than pounding the tread of my 4Runner along a highway for the sake of putting in the proper miles. I visited Oswego in my youth, but paid little attention to its setting. The Ozark mountains, which are really just hills, were incredibly beautiful in spring. The forests were in full blush of new leaves; soft, velvety green, and the hills were bursting with young grasses running down the hillsides. Only 13 miles of pavement define Route 66 in Kansas, but from what we saw, they are 13 stunning miles through hills, forests, and farmlands. We had rain the entire way.