Because the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, we left Ada on a Tuesday instead of a Saturday, the day after Mari's last day of school commitments for the semester.
Our first stop was the Dog Iron Ranch in Oologah, where Oklahoma celebrity Will Rogers lived until he was eleven years old (the house was actually moved three-quarters of a mile in the 1960s to make way for the Lake Oolagah Reservoir). Rogers became a star with the Ziegfield Follies in New York as a comic and rope trick artist, went on to make almost 70 movies (48 silents and 21 talkies, according to my good friends at Wikipedia), and became, at one time, America's highest-paid movie star and its syndicated columnist with the widest circulation.
We were literally the only people on the property and in the house until the Education Director showed up while we were having lunch in the Amish-built barn next to the house which was protected by a "guard donkey." We were chased by one of the barn goats who was hoping to share our meal. The Education Director told us that Will's first trip out of the United States was to Argentina, where he and a friend tried to make it as ranchers (they did not succeed).
On the way to Oologah, we saw haystacks dressed as Minions (from the
Despicable Me franchise), a BBQ restaurant advertisement that read "Nothing Beats a Good Butt Rub," a kolache jail in Prague, a mural honoring legendary Sauk athlete Jim Thorpe (we were reminded that while the Pottawatomie County-native won Olympic gold, it was later taken from him because he had previously lost his amateur status), and a torch bearer for
the Peace Run: a global relay promoting international friendship and peace.
In anticipation of this visit, Pablo read three books about Rogers before we left. His favorite Rogers' quotations are: "No man is great if he thinks he is," and "A man who don't love a horse? There's something the matter with him." When Rogers was a baby (he was the youngest of his parents' eight children), he slept in the crib visible at left in the photo above.
The peacock guarding Rogers's front door was named "Kevin."
Our next destination after visiting the Dog Iron Ranch was the John Brown Museum in Osawatomie, Kansas.
Emilio and Pablo both read multiple books about Brown before our trip. The Museum is on the battleground where Brown and 27 anti-slavery comrades fought over 300 slavery supporters who eventually burned the free state settlement of Osawatomie. Brown's son Frederick was killed in the battle, which is sometimes compared to the Battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece because of the encouragement Brown's brave, outnumbered force gave to those committed to ending slavery.
Before we left, I made two CDs featuring songs about places we'd visit, along with kid favorites from the year and new non-English-language songs I'm trying to work into the family mix. As we approached the John Brown Museum, we listened to a rousing version of "John Brown's Body" sung by Marah. Other songs featured on first day of driving included: "Kansas City" by Wilbur Harrison, " "La Marseillaise" sung by Julien Neel in barbershop harmony-style (since every place we'll visit on this trip was part of the Louisiana Purchase), a vintage recording of "Fate of Will Rogers and Wiley Post" by Bill Cox, "All-American Bluegrass Girl" by Missouri native Rhonda Vincent, and "Kansas City" from
Oklahoma!, plus "Uptown Funk" featuring Bruno Mars (a kid favorite) and "Bailar en la cueva" by Jorge Drexler (for Spanish language reasons).
Our successful first day culminated with free dinner for the adults at the Hampton Inn, pizza from Minsky's for the kids, and a pool swim.
Family Vacay Eight is planned to start as soon as Mari gets home from school on Friday--which is also the last school day for the kids--but we're not entirely ready to go as soon as we'd like.
