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The store of stores |
Joplin, mounds
To avoid a lane closure on the highway, we detoured through the small town of Joplin, Missouri, down its sweet little main street. Parts were old and well preserved, parts were clearly "revitalizing" with the beginnings of gentrification, and parts were boarded up and abandoned. I wonder which force will win, as the US economy gets even worse.
For some unknown reason, Joplin sports four different doggie day cares, pet spas, and pet grooming places. Does the entire state of Missouri take their pets to Joplin for care? Are the good people of Joplin more pet-friendly than folks in the average Southern town? We will never know.
We also drove past mounds -- the ancient kind. The landscape in this part of the country is completely flat. You can see as far as the horizon with not a rise and, if it's farmland, hardly a tree. The distinctive shapes of the mounds really stand out. We saw one that was tiered; you could clearly see three levels, like a ziggurat.
Leaving Joplin, we saw a small mound, on top of which there was a sculpture of two giant praying hands. The inscription: Hands In Prayer, World In Peace. I guess we're not praying enough. Pretty disgusting to do that to an ancient site.
Incomplete list
I remembered two more US states I haven't been in: West Virginia and Kentucky. I also missed a country (Wales) and recorded a city (Brussels) for a country (Belgium); thanks to wmtc readers mkk and Wally the 24 for catching those.
I updated that post; I think I've got all the states now. And I think the list may now be permanent, but who knows.
A free day leads us to many wonders
In the morning, in the cozy little Airbnb in KC, we looked for something to do on the way to St. Louis. We had a full day and didn't want to just hang around in a hotel room. But what was available? Let's see.
America's National Churchill Museum? Yep, it's a museum about Winston Churchill. Nope.
Harry S. Truman birthplace? Nope.
The Nicholas-Beazley Aviation Museum, "one of the preeminent museums in Marshall, MO"? Nope. And just how many museums are there in Marshall, Missouri? We will never know.
We found mentions of a scenic drive through Jefferson City, the state capital, and I wanted to tour Meramec Caverns, a commercial cave site outside St. Louis. Allan didn't think he wanted to go, but he was willing to drive there for me. He did end up going on the cave tour, and thank goddess he did. If he didn't experience it for himself, he might not have believed me.
Jefferson City
Jefferson City also has a nice downtown, with upscale cafes and boutique stores. The Capitol Building resembles a smaller version of the US Capitol, surrounded by gardens and various statues, near the large brick Governor's Mansion. There was a Little Free Library that looked like a miniature Governor's Mansion. We walked around a little, and read some historic markers.
There was a marker about Missouri's part in the Civil War, which was complicated. The state didn't secede, but it made some concessions to the Confederacy to placate the slave powers. There's also a big stone Ten Commandments. Separation of church and state much?
We saw a sculpture group commemorating the Lewis and Clark expedition. It includes York, the only Black person on the expedition -- Clark's slave. I'm guessing the monument was controversial when it was installed (too honest) and I wonder if it will survive.
In the Museum of Western Expansion (under St. Louis' Gateway Arch), we learned that York begged Clark to allow him join his wife, who was enslaved on a plantation. Clark repeatedly refused. Here's how the National Park Service describes York.
A fronteirsman, hunter, and likely the first African American to cross the continent, York was an American explorer who made important contributions to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was enslaved by Captain William Clark and after the expedition's return was denied his payment and his freedom.
As I was writing this, I looked online to find a link, and
found this on the "Visit Missouri" tourism site.
The plaza includes statues of Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, York (Clark’s man-servant), George Druillard (French-Canadian-Shawnee hunter and interpreter) and Seaman (Lewis’s Newfoundland dog), plus a journal, telescope, guns and hats. [emphasis added]
Clark's man-servant??? My head is exploding!
This "man-servant" was owned by the famous explorer.
Back in Tulsa, on the Greenwood Rising building, there is a quote from James
Baldwin.
Not everything that can be faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
Leave it to James Baldwin to nail it so concisely.
I'm going to email Missouri Tourism to complain.
One store, two minds blown
Driving south from Jefferson City, I saw a store -- “Dutch
Bakery” -- and asked Allan to turn in. Always happy when I suggest a bakery,
Allan was glad to do so. Maybe we could get some freshly baked goodies.
We headed for the cookies, then started to look around. Oh.
My. God. What is this place??
It is huge. It is enormous. It is humungous. It is the
largest store I have ever seen.
Do you see the image in this post? That is of one side of
one aisle, about one third of the length of the wall. All candy. I paced it
out: 20 paces. Not heel to toe, actual paces which are about one meter (three
feet) each.
Every combination you can think of. Almonds in milk
chocolate, almonds in dark chocolate, almonds in milk chocolate and caramel,
almonds in dark chocolate and caramel, then the whole thing again with peanuts,
then with raisins, then with coffee beans. Then with yogurt coating. With
strawberry yogurt, blueberry yogurt, and on and on and on. Then a sugar-free
section. And maybe 15-20 bags of each of these varieties – and the bags are
heavy and generous.
Opposite the candy, saltwater taffy. Saltwater taffy in 15
different flavours, alone and in combos. Jelly beans. 20, 30, 40 different
kinds of jellybeans. And this is just one aisle.
I said, “Oh man, my mother would love this. If she was here,
she’d never stop talking about it!”
To which Allan replied, “I’ll never stop talking about it!”
I suspected that the “Dutch” in the title referred to Amish
or Mennonites. I saw some young women working, and their dress and
head-covering confirmed it. Allan saw a sign that said, “Modest dress is
appreciated.”
Allan retrieved my phone from the car and started taking
pictures. (The camera would have been too much.) I think he took more pictures
of the Dutch Bakery than of Cahokia. Aisles of grains, aisles of rice, aisles
of dried fruit. It just went on and on.
No advertising. No brands. Every bag has a label: product,
ingredients, unit price, weight, price. And the prices were ridiculously,
insanely low.
The deli had 20 hams on display. A city block of cheese.
There were picnic tables, and several seniors were having lunch, ordering from
a menu of 15-20 different sandwiches.
All things considered, we were very restrained: a
small bag of ginger molasses cookies, saltwater taffy (which, once started, I
cannot stop, so must limit access!), and chocolate-covered espresso beans. At
the checkout, I told the cashier (in traditional Amish dress) how much we loved
the store. She was very pleased, so I continued, telling her we have never seen
a store like this.
“What? Never? You’re not from here, then?”
“We’re from Canada.”
“Oh, Canada, that’s why. In the US, stores like this are
everywhere. Anywhere there are – “ she paused a little, I tried to make her
comfortable – “anywhere there are Mennonites.
“There are many Mennonites in Canada, especially in the
province of Manitoba. Maybe they have stores like this there.”
I enthused some more, and we thanked each other.
I don’t know, one day we might stop talking about this
store. Anything is possible.