Fun in Missouri!

 By mid-afternoon of Saturday October 1st, I had finally reached my 1st destination...Moberly, Missouri, and was warmly greeted by cousin Karla and her husband, Brian! We had a great time catching up and visiting with lots of laughs, several at poor Brian's expense...but he is a great sport and was most likely overjoyed when Karla and I went out for the evening to catch a movie, leaving him in peace!

After seeing these bricks on the streets of Hannibal, Missouri, I did a little investigative work and found that at one time there was a large brick plant located here in Moberly! I'm not sure when it was in operation, but it's been quite a while. 

 On the morning I left, we all had breakfast at a popular restaurant in town called "The Brick"! It was very tasty and I'm sure is a reference to the earlier industry.

 There is a large mural in downtown Moberly, that depicts life in the Moberly area. In 1873, Moberly's population exploded as a result of it becoming known as a big railroad town that it was called the "Magic City". Anyway, this is just one small segment of the mural that is painted on the backside of one of the city buildings.











Spotted this building downtown. I'm not sure of its history, but it reminds me of a jail from the 1800's!

Outside of downtown, was a quaint little park, with a bronze of 5 Star General Omar Bradley. "The Soldier's General" moved to Moberly as an adolescent before attending West Point and having a very successful military career culminating in his appointment as the nation's first Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff.

Continuing on the park road, we stopped by Rothwell Lake to see the colors begin to change on the trees.

It was a crystal clear day with no wind at all! Oh, how I wished I had a kayak that I could launch here and paddle for a couple of hours! But, even if there was a kayak rental I had to get a move on as I had a few hours drive south to Springfield.

A humorous side note....this afternoon, I stopped at a McDonald's to use the facilities when I saw these two "characters", keep in mind it's October. On my way in , the shirtless teen asked me "Did you ever give Santa anything for Christmas?".....shocked, I quickly replied "Yes, I have...cookies! Lots and lots of cookies." I did not get a response and shortly after returning to my car, I saw them start to walk away....I'm not really sure WHY they weren't in school...perhaps it was some sort of sociology project, or a small chance that they were just playing hooky!