This is a little 3-day trip to participate in the Armed Services Skeet Championship at Peoria Skeet & Trap, plus some research on my 2great-grandfather, Richard Doniphan Truman, in Lewis County, MO.
I pulled out at 0812 this morning on Y Hwy, then turning north on MO-23. North of Knob Noster I noticed new homes and plenty of wheat fields. The infamous Blackwater River area was dry, with recently-plowed mud banks along the roadside. The road is below ground level in places here. Will they do anything about it? I doubt so.
Concordia has murals in many buildings. They actually say something about the town – none of that pretty, generic stuff, like the Burg. It has nice houses, St. Paul Lutheran High School, and a big TA truck stop just north of I-70.
MO-23 continues northward past rolling hills and newly-sprouted corn. There’s a stop sign at MO-20 near Alma; it is NOT a 4-way stop. I arrive at Waverly, junction of US-24 & US-65 and home of Missouri’s own Confederate wizard of the saddle, Joseph Orville Shelby. He wasn’t a big man, so his statue is appropriate to his stature.
Across the Missouri River bridge and on to Carrolton, or at least the bypass. US-24 parts ways with US-65 here and leads me through hills and bottoms on the Lewis & Clark Trail. DeWitt is home of Backwoods Crafts. Brunswick, at the Grand River, fills the bottoms with pecan trees. It hosts the Riverside Magnolia Inn, a B&B. A long-defunct Citgo station still displays regular at $1.05 per gallon.
Keytesville celebrates MGen. Sterling Price, CSA, with a non-equestrian statue. By war’s end his avoirdupois precluded command from horseback.
Last year’s corn fields, yet to be plowed for this year’s beans, bloom with the gold of wild mustard. Salisbury has the Sterling Price Community Lake. It claims to be “A Great Place to Call Home.” Some rights-of-way between here and Huntsville are planted with evenly-spaced trees. Pecans? Moberly, “The Magic City” is a good place for a comfort break – the Casey’s is out of any drinkable fountain soda. It’s 1035 hrs and 120 miles into today’s trip.
Madison, east of Moberly on US-24, has the Broken Egg Cafe – closed. Mark Twain Lake looks full, but it has been higher. I pass Paris, then join US-36 at Monroe City, home of the Fabulous Feet Dance Company and Ground in Grace Cafe. It’s now 1130. US-24 joins US-61 west of Hannibal. I pull off at Palmyra for a last Missouri top-off at $4.17 per, almost a buck below what’s on the other side of the river. Palmyra is home of the “Palmyra Massacre’ – a Federal provost marshal ordered the execution of 10 POWs.
The Rebel Pig BBQ is across the street from the memorial.
The Quincy Gun Club buildings (on the Missouri side of the river) look newly painted; I wish they’d go back to holding registered . skeet shoots. US-24 passes Quincy, loses a lane in the loess hills, and finally reaches IL-110. This is a modern 4-lane hiway. Every road sign has a little sign saying C-KC, with the C in Cubs red and the KC in Royals blue. This is a yet-to-be-realized dream road to serve as an alternate route. It takes be north to Carthage, then east to Macomb. US-136 becomes a 2-lane road, sort scenic. Macomb, along with many other places in Illinois, has been “Flocked” with plate reader cameras tracking our every move. Bushnell, also well-flocked, is fighting a trailer on fire, visible from the road. This is Spoon River country, near where Edgar Lee Masters wrote his famous anthology.
I reach Canton, find my way to US-24 again, then cut off to Pekin to bypass Peoria. On to today’s destination Peoria Skeet & Trap. I find my shooting partners, write a check, watch the shootoffs,and head to my Best Western. Supper was at a nearby Taco Bell, which was actually pretty nice.
Tomorrow: Shoot 28 GA event at 1100, hang out for a bit, then head to Keokuk for the night.
For the day and the trip – 364.7 miles
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