Tag: Travel

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Train Trip to New Mexico

With all of the excitement about the Union Pacific steam engine coming through Cape, it was good timing to stumble onto my train ticket going from Cape to Philmont Scout Ranch in Raton, N.M., in 1962.

Service club sent us to Philmont

One of Cape’s service clubs sent three Scouts to Philmont for a Junior Leader Instructor Training Course (JLIT). I wish I could remember which club it was, because it was one of the greatest experiences of my young life. I’ll be sure to find out by the time I write up the whole trip.

Classmates Bill Hardwick and Martin Dubs were the other two Scouts.

In the Things Never Change Department, note the Missourian headline above our photo.

People traveled by train

A cross-country trip by train wasn’t unusual in those days.

A train trip from Cape to Chaffee was a rite of passage for kindergarten classes at Trinity Lutheran School.

I hopped a train from Cape to Peoria for a photo conference in the late 60s. I went back and forth between Cape and Athens the first year I was at Ohio University. Unfortunately, the railroads were doing everything they could to discourage passenger travel, so they arranged it so you’d have a day layover in Cincinnati, making it impractical. The inconvenience and student standby rates offered by airlines ended my train travel.

Round trip ticket cost $63.86

It looks like we were on the Frisco, Missouri Pacific and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail lines to get there and back. The carbon is a little hard to read, but it looks like the round trip cost $63.86. Another stub showed that we paid 50 cents for a “Special Service Charge for Reserved Coach Seat.”

Filet Mignon cost $3.50

The menu shows that a bacon-wrapped, 8-oz. Filet Mignon with a baked potato, chef’s salad, hot bread, green peas and a drink cost $3.50. I was probably put out by that extravagant price because I could get a filet with fries and a salad at Wayne’s Grill for $1.25. Darned gougers.

I’m pretty sure the cook cars still used wood stoves on this run.

Strip sirloin was $3.95

The special might have been a better deal: a 12-oz. charcoal-broiled strip sirloin steak with baked potato, fresh green beans, tossed salad, hot biscuits and a drink for $3.95.

 

 

 

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Last Model T Produced in 1927

Foodie Friend Jan Norris sent me a message Tuesday morning gleaned from some list that sends her daily minor factoids to clutter her brain.

Let me clear one thing up before we get to her post: I’m missing that piece of the male gene that contains an interest in automobiles. I have buddies that can ID every car on the road, what engine it has, how many throckmartins it puts out and whether that particular model has whingdings or not.

I do well to know how many doors it has and come close to guessing the color. That’s why I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these photos from Mother’s scrapbook are of a Ford Model T that Jan’s quote talks about. [You can click on the photos to make them larger.]

Last Model T

On this day in 1927, the last Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line. It was the first affordable automobile, due in part to the assembly line process developed by Henry Ford. It had a 2.9-liter, 20-horsepower engine and could travel at speeds up to 45 miles per hour. It had a 10-gallon fuel tank and could run on kerosene, petrol, or ethanol, but it couldn’t drive uphill if the tank was low, because there was no fuel pump; people got around this design flaw by driving up hills in reverse. [Like on Mill Hill.]

Model T cost $290 in 1927

Ford believed that “the man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.” The Model T cost $850 in 1909, and as efficiency in production increased, the price dropped. By 1927, you could get a Model T for $290….(But in 1927, with pay averaging $1000 a year, this still was likely a good chunk of change out of a salary.)

A car for the great multitude

“I will build a car for the great multitude,” said Ford. “It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one — and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

Some things don’t change

I don’t know who the folks are in the photos (maybe Mother will chime in), but they are all looking at the broken-down car in the way we STILL look at a vehicle that won’t start. The small child in the top photo has already mastered the if-I-stare-at-it-long-enough-maybe-it’ll heal-itself pose.

You can see another variation of the “Oh, Bleep!” pose in this fender-bender story.

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Altenburg Museum Christmas Trees

I stopped in at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum in Altenburg this Wednesday afternoon to talk with museum director Carla Jordan about a possible project. I noticed folks like Lillian Fiehler buzzing around getting this year’s annual Christmas Display ready for the weekend.

Dressing for Christmas

Many of the trees are themed, like this one entitled Dressing for Christmas, which is decorated with gloves and hankies. This is a great place to get decorating ideas that are simple and not expensive.

Top ornament came from Walmart

I was admiring the red ornament that topped the tree Carolyn Schmidt was working on. “It came from Walmart,” she confided. They’re not afraid to mix the old and the new if the overall effect works.

Scherenschinitte Tree

“I’m glad there’s a label on this thing,” I told Carolyn when she introduced me to the Scherenschinitte – Scissor Cutting Tree. “If that wasn’t there to back you up, I’d think you were trying to trick me into running some kind of German cuss word.”

Why the donkey is brown

Autumn Hughey was doing a masterful job of coaxing beautiful colors out of chalk to draw a Nativity scene. “In case you were wondering, the donkey is brown because I didn’t have any gray chalk.” To be honest, I hadn’t even noticed, but that’s the answer in case YOU were wondering.

Display up through January 15

Carla said the display should be complete by this weekend. It will be up until January 15. If the first trees are any indication, it’s well worth the drive to Altenburg. To see another example of the quality of their exhibits, read my piece on the Vintage Hats of Perry County from this spring. There’s a map on the page, too.

The Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum’s website has more information.

If you go, tell them I sent you.

German history course

I’ve never been to the museum when I haven’t run into an interesting character. Wilmar Degenhardt, 85, looked at an aerial photo I shot in the 60s and exclaimed, “That’s the farm I grew up on until I was 18-1/2!” For the next hour, he lectured on the early German settlements and German history in general. He crammed in more information than you’d get in a college class. I was afraid he’d hand me a Blue Book and make me write an essay on what he had covered.

Photo gallery

Here’s a sneak peek at the early stages of the Christmas display before all of the trees were up. Click on an image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery.

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Vintage Hats of Perry County

When I was in Cape last fall, I wrote a piece for my bike blog about my favorite ride: the 26-mile run from Cape to Altenburg.

I try to stop in at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum whenever it’s open. Their permanent collections are full of fascinating artifacts of the German communities. I see something new every time I visit. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. It’s free, but your conscience should twitch a little if you don’t throw SOMETHING in the donation box on the way out the door.

I was planning on doing a series on cool stuff to see in Perry County, but the Easter bonnet theme caused me to jump the gun.

Hats off to 100 Years

The current exhibit features 100 historic hats and related photographs and other artifacts. It is the inaugural celebration of the Perry County Lutheran Historical Society’s centennial year as an historical society.

These aren’t hats from some far-off place. These are hats worn by local women who loaned them to the center just like they loaned their aprons to the exhibit I saw last fall. Knowing that the hats were worn by real women to Perry County church services or club meetings make them come to life for me.

Historical Society organized in 1910

The Perry County Lutheran Historical Society was organized in 1910 to preserve, interpret and promote the Log Cabin Seminary. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Bus tours and groups are welcome.

I wasn’t in Missouri for the Christmas Tree display between Nov. 18 and Jan. 5.

My Mother mentioned to the tour guide that it hasn’t been too long ago that women didn’t feel dressed unless they were wearing a hat and gloves.

This looks like Brain Coral

Maybe I’ve been in Florida too long, but this one makes me think of Brain Coral

Who needs pepper spray?

You didn’t want to have to chase one of these intricately-designed hats down the street on a windy day, so you used hat pins to hold it on. I am reasonably sure you couldn’t board a plane wearing one of these today. Some of those pins looked to be as much as eight inches long. I can see now how they were good tools for defending one’s honor.

How do I get to Altenburg from Cape?


View Cape Girardeau to Altenburg Bike Route in a larger map

There are more direct ways, but the way I go by bicycle is a great route. It takes you through some beautiful farming country that’s just now greening out. If you click on the map, it’ll make it larger. You can pan and zoom to see more detail.

You’ll pass farm houses that have to be closer to 200 years old than 100. You’ll cringe when you come to some bridges that are marked as one-lane when you recall that we drove on them as two-lane bridges at 60 mph.

The Tour of Missouri rode a good portion of this route. When you come to some of the steeper hills, think of climbing them under your own power on a bicycle. When you come to some of the sharper curves, think of taking them with 120 of your closest friends on all sides of you in a game of chicken.

Check out the Heritage Center web site

The Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum has an easy to navigate, uncluttered web site with lots of information. If you make the trip, tell them you heard about them here.

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