Kansas: Crawford Lake State Park

 21 May 2022

This post has been delayed by the lack of adequate internet for loading of my photos in Kansas. I’m finishing it up in Arkansas after finding out that Dan and I are both positive for Covid. Dan started coughing on the 18th and I brought up COVID. And, allergies—we’ve been exposed to lots of different things on the road, after all. He said NO, it’s not allergies and refused the loratadine I offered him to make a definite differential. (MEN!) On the 19th, he told me “It’s just the common cold” but it seemed to me that his coughing had worsened and he threw up.  I was still nervous about Covid and by the 21st, I’d had a sore throat and took one of those home COVID tests (thank you Joes: Fauci and Biden). It was positive, and right away. When Dan got up from his nap (he’d been taking a bunch of them since coming down with his “common cold”) I told him that I think he gave me Covid. And what he then had to do about it.

He tested. He was positive. 

I told him that there was no way we would be going out the next day, potentially exposing others (we missed the George Washington Carver National Monument, but it wasn’t even a close drive to Kansas!), while we were still in the contagious phase. His five-day quarantine ended yesterday (it’s now the 24th) and mine will end tonight. I felt noticeably better this morning, so that is a plus. But honestly, my symptoms were limited to only a sore throat and runny nose and some sneezing. Dan had all that plus nausea, vomiting, fatigue and 3x as much coughing. It’s been ok for us on the road. The only interaction we had with people was getting gas and that is outside. We can easily isolate in the RoadHouse and right now I can see a lake out the window of the camper here in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Thank goodness that even though we were due to go to the market, we have enough left in the freezer to manage until tomorrow when we feel safer going to the store.  Dan’s still fatigued and taking lots of naps, but that’s ok. No reason to stress. When he told me about going to the national park nearby and doing some hiking today (in the rain), I put my foot down! NO! We have to get over this first! This is NOT the common cold! 

While we’re staying at Crawford Lake State Park in Farlington, KS, we hopped over the border to Missouri and visited Independence, home of the Truman Library and Museum. Very interesting.  This was before we knew we had COVID….I was wearing my mask as a precaution in any case!

Truman Museum and Library

Yes, we got the impression that Harry Truman was kind of an ordinary fellow. No college degree, a bit of a bookworm and he loved playing the piano, he was working the family farm when WWI called him for service. He was first rejected for poor vision but later on they took him and he became the platoon leader for a group of unruly young soldiers who had gone through a number of leaders; chewed them up and spit them out, as it were. He quickly came in and dismissed the worst, punished the unruly who tested him and soon his men decided they could not only trust his judgement but they respected him as well. What his war experience taught him was that he could be a leader.

When he came back home, he finally married his junior high crush, Bess. They had one daughter, Margaret, and the three of them together were known as the Three Musketeers.

Bess was the reluctant political spouse. She had no aspiration to be First Lady, but fulfilled her role, when the Presidency was thrust upon Harry suddenly and with no preparation after FDR died of a cerebral aneurysm. The film in the beginning showed us Roosevelt and the huge hole the four term president left in America when he died. Truman and Roosevelt had, prior to Truman taking over, only two one-on-one meetings before Roosevelt died!

I can remember my mom telling me, as a kid, how Truman shocked the country by beating Thomas Dewey. Truman decided after his first term he did want to continue to be President, so he got on his train and rode across American and back—twice. He was glad handing and making speeches. And it worked.

After the museum, we drove a few blocks away to see his and Bess’s home. And wandered the streets of downtown to find the right place for lunch.  Dan was feeling well so we split a sandwich and I bought a couple pastries to take home with us.

Truman statue at the new entrance to the Museum. We found out that an extensive remodel had been finished and the museum re-opened on April 5 of this year. THAT was why everything looked so NEW!

Impressively large and colorful mural done by Thomas Hart Benton in what used to be the entrance to the Truman Library. Truman didn’t like his style but became convinced that he was the perfect person for this project, being a fellow Missourian. They actually grew to appreciate each other as the planning and painting of this mural progressed—Benton especially appreciated that Truman was “hands off”! Truman convinced the artist to allow him to paint a bit on it…somewhere in the sky are brush strokes from Truman’s brush (and Benton’s palette!).
As you enter from a side hallway that you think is the end of the tour, one almost gasps seeing this!

The Courtyard

Truman was full of quotes, including “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” and many others.

The Truman Library/Museum enclosed a peaceful courtyard when Harry, Bess, Margaret and her husband Clifton Daniels are buried.

The Courtyard of the Truman Library

The Field Rose hedge in the courtyard was in full bloom. It was so fresh and pretty.

From a sign outside this office: “When he left the presidency in 1953, Harry Truman had no Secret Service detail, no presidential pension, and no job. He had some savings, some investments, and a small pension from his military service in the First World War. He might have joined corporate boards, given lectures for large fees, or even sold his presidential papers and state gifts. But that seemed to him like trading on the presdency. Instead, he created the Harry S. Truman Library and a new direction for his life’s work.”
This was his actual office where he worked after he and Bess returned to live in Independence.

The famous sign from Truman’s desk.

I’m not sure if you can read this, but this is Truman’s hand-written note, reaming out the New York Times music critic who had given his daughter Margaret a bad review after a vocal performance! Whoo. 

Truman’s Oval Office mock-up. I thought these were very calming colors; understated even.

1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan

1941 Chrysler Royal Club Coupe

SO true

1941 Chrysler Windsor sedan

A couple from Crawford Lake State Park

Widowcross; this was a new one for me! 

Our last night on Crawford Lake in SE Kansas. As I was looking at the map for our journey to Hot Springs, AR, it struck me that we had looped WAY up north to take a bit of Kansas, then WAY back, south and east through the Ozarks to Hot Springs, all to get that Kansas sticker on the “we camped in this state” map! 🙄 When confronted with this information, Dan nonchalantly admitted as much. 😳

We will allow ourselves to go out, masked, tomorrow. My symptoms are nearly gone and Dan is better (he was boosted but declined to get the second booster. I think that’s why I’m doing better than he is) but still tired and coughing. But less.  So, stay tuned!