A Drizzly Day

Missouri – Monday, November 5

It rained last night, and it was a drizzly gray day. But maybe that’s good for all the hunters here in northern Missouri. It seems to be deer season here too, and I think my motel was popular with hunters because there was a scrap of towel on the bathroom counter with a note politely asking people to use the clean (but possibly stained) scrap for cleaning guns, instead if using one of the nice shower towels!

I was in the town of Chillicothe, and even though it was misting out, I decided to start off my walking in town. It was a nice-sized town from the 1800s, with a lot of 2 story brick buildings, nice broad avenues with easy pull-in parking (coming from one who avoids parallel parking!) and I could just imagine the days when the streets were full of horses and carriages, and later, early automobiles. Again, there were empty storefronts, and I just tried to picture the town when all the buildings were occupied and people were bustling about – online shopping is certainly taking a toll, both on small shopkeepers and on face-to-face human interaction. There were a number of large murals on some of the side walls of buildings, and they were well done, and so nice to look at instead of dusty brick. I also walked in a couple of the city parks, and all-in-all we covered nearly 4 miles.

Then it was donation time. I had looked into veterans homes in Missouri, and discovered that there are 7 of them, and they sounded like nice places. Each of them had a person to contact for volunteer/donation questions, and before I left the motel this morning, I had emailed the volunteer coordinator for the veterans home in the next town over to see if there might be something useful for me to get. And she emailed back a wish list. So I headed for a Wal-Mart and got a variety of stuff from the wish list – a box of silverware, white t-shirts, white washcloths, construction paper, highlighters, puzzle books, paintbrushes, and muffin mixes – quite a selection!

Unfortunately, while I was driving out of the parking lot after shopping, an elderly gentleman pulled right out of the drop-off lane into my passenger door. It really startled me – at first I thought someone had thrown a rock or something at the van. The damage was relatively minor on both sides, but I still talked to my insurance agent, and we exchanged info and I took photos. I’ll see what comes of all that – at least it doesn’t impact the driving, and the door works fine.

I found the veterans home and carried the stuff in. The place was clean and comfortable and welcoming – the people were friendly, and it seems to be a really nice place for the veterans.

After dropping that stuff off, I headed to St Joseph on the Missouri River in the west side of the state. I’d read that there was a big park just north of town with some trails and all, so I made beeline for that, and did another 4 miles of walking. I passed an outdoor amphitheater in a natural depression in the hills – what a great place to come see a performance on a summer night! I finished my walking for the day, and stayed in a local motel. I’m still not used to it getting dark so early!