Hello from Nevada, MO

Hello from Nevada, MO

Friday morning   October 12, 2012   (Fourth travelogue of this trip).

Our trip here was fairly short – about 150 miles.  Part of the trip was on Missouri 96 which overlays part of the route 66 highway.  We saw several old buildings that were obviously support businesses for the historic route.

Wednesday, I went to an great IHC museum about 5 miles from here.  It is a private collection, but Dan Agee enthusiastically showed me his vast collection of everything IHC including a catalog of all the products they sold many years ago.

When I returned to the bus, we decided to visit a cemetery here in Nevada.  We found the gravestone of Pat's great uncle and his family.

Yesterday, we drove over 200 miles visiting several cemeteries where Pat's ancestors were buried.  The most amazing “find” was the Dickison Cemetery where Pat's grandfather's grandparents were buried.  In preparation for the trip we tried several searches to try to locate the cemetery.  We finally ended up at the Bates county seat (Butler).  Several ladies were very helpful and one found a very old county plat map which showed the cemetery.  We drove out to the area, but could not find it.  We stopped at a farm house and the lady was very helpful.  It should be noted that she has lived in the area 20 years and did not know about the cemetery, in spite of the fact she lived less than a mile from the lo.  She made a couple of calls and found that the location was on private property owned by a 94 year old lady.  Babe Morris gave us permission to drive out in the field and tour the cemetery.  It was very small.  We quickly found the gravestone.  We were absolutely blown away that we found the grave site! 

Now for another amazing story.  We are parked at the Wal Mart in Nevada (map).  In the mid west, Wal Mart has gasoline stations.  Indeed, there is one about 100 feet from our bus.  At the rally, several folks mentioned that Wal Mart fuel prices were lower than any other stations and if you buy a gift card, for the amount of fuel you think you need, you get an additional 10 cents off.  The stations are generally intended for “normal” vehicles and vehicles our size are very difficult to maneuver into and out of the station.  In the early evening I scoped out the situation and developed a plan to get the bus in and out pretty easily.  We waited for the traffic to slow down, unhooked the dolly (car was already off the dolly), and made a run for it.  Now for the amazing part, the posted price was $3.89, while every other station we saw was at least $4.19.  So we got over 90 gallons at $3.79 and that was a savings of at least $.40 per gallon!  But wait, the story gets better!  We looked out the windshield the next morning and noticed that Wal Mart had raised the diesel price to $4.09 over night!  We never get in on that kind of bargain!!!

We had not planned to spend two nights in Nevada, but we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to visit several historical cemeteries.  In a few minutes we will head to Prescott, IA

That is all for now.