Homeward Bound – Day 2: Sioux Falls to Kansas City

Todays’ bug count: Over 200 for the third day. The warmer temps are bringing them out in droves.

I awoke this morning a little before 6:30 am, got up and went to the window and saw that the skies were clear and lots of sunshine starting out the day. I showered, dressed and went down for breakfast. After breakfast, I scanned the US Today newspaper and got my things together to get ready to leave. I had noticed on my Outlook calendar notifications that I was supposed to have my annual stress test today. I thought I had cancelled everything for the six weeks I was to be gone, but apparently this one slipped my notice. I waited until the Dr.’s office opened at 8 am and checked to see if I really had an appointment or was it just a reminder to me. Yes, I had an appointment, but they had a conflict and couldn’t do it today and supposedly had notified me. I guess there will be a message on my answering machine when I get home. I checked out and left Sioux Falls a little after 8 am to drive to Omaha and then Kansas City.

The drive to Omaha was non-eventful, other than the slow downs for road construction every so often. You could tell looking to the sides of the road that the area has received a lot of rain the last few weeks. I arrived in Omaha around 11 am and made my way to the Pettit Bakery just north of downtown. Bart Pettit, a friend of mine in Dallas is from Omaha and his family has been operating the bakery since the 1950s. At the bakery I met Bart’s older brother Bret. He asked if I was going to take some of the water from all the rain with me. I told him I would if I could. I spoke with him for a few more minutes and then purchased some goodies to take back with me and some to consume on the rest of my journey to Kansas City.

Scenes along the Road to Omaha

Pettit Bakery

I got back to the car with my “booty” and headed on toward Kansas City. The temps were now approaching 80F, so I relented and turned on the A/C for the rest of the trip. The road to Kansas City was similar to the first half of the trip with evidence of a lot of rain in the area as seen from the swollen streams and water standing in the fields. I arrived at the Comfort Inn in Platte, MO on the north side of KC.

Scenes Along the road to KC

 I checked in, unloading my things for the night and checked on the BBQ places from “Diners Drive-ins and Dives” program. I decided to eat at the Smokin Gun BBQ in North Kansas City as it was the closer of the four I had to choose from and it was over 20 miles from the hotel. Since I hadn’t had lunch, other than my snacks from Pettit Bakery, around 3:30 pm I headed out for the BBQ place. Samantha navigated me there just fine and I arrived just before 4 pm. I beat the crowd, because I was the only customer at that time of day. The restaurant is in a non-descript building on a street that has industrial/commercial business. A hole-in-the-wall type place. Inside the front door are numerous trophies for cooking competitions and along one wall were displayed ribbons for cooking awards in various contests.  I ordered the BBQ combo BBQ which has ribs plus a choice of three other meats, of which I chose brisket, pulled pork and sausage. It came with two sides which I chose as onion rings and potato salad. They brought it out in a basket and set it before me. It looked good. I was a little disappointed though. The brisket had very little smoky flavor, tasting more oven roasted. The sausage I didn’t care for as it seemed more like an Italian sausage rather than smoked sausage. The pulled pork and the ribs were pretty good. The ribs had some sort of seasoned dry rub which was mildly spicy but made my head sweat! The BBQ sauce was pretty good and if not for it the meats would have been pretty bland. The potato salad was pretty good and the onion rings were OK. My opinion is that if this it representative of KC BBQ, then give me Texas BBQ any day! Maybe it’s like the difference between Mexican food and Tex-Mex.

After dinner it was about around 4:30 pm so since I was near downtown I thought I would check out some landmarks, etc. The riverfront park was just a few miles away so I had Samantha navigate me in that direction. Unfortunately when I got there the road was closed and under construction. I looked at my KC map and decided to see if I could get to it from the other side of the park. Sadly, that side was also closed at the River District area.

From there I had Samantha navigate me to the WWI memorial and museum arriving just before 5 pm. The museum closed at 5 pm so I walked around the memorial for a while. After that I head back for the car to return to the hotel which I estimated would be around 6 pm. I had to go through downtown KC to get to one of the highways to get me back. At one point I noticed the temp near downtown was 91F. It’s been over a month since I was in temps like that when I was at Death Valley National Park. I better start getting used to them because it’s not going to get any cooler as I get closer to home.

WWI Memorial

Downtown Viewed from WWI Memorial

I arrived back at the hotel around 6 pm and went to my room to settle in for the evening. Tomorrow I will drive to Springdale, AR to stay overnight before heading home on Saturday. I could drive straight home tomorrow, but I have an opportunity to visit with Bill Phillips and his wife Kim. Bill and I worked together the last 5 years I was with Mars before retiring and I haven’t seen him in over 4 years or so. It will be good to visit and catch up. I may make a detour back to the WWI museum in the morning and visit in on my way since it’s only a 4 hour drive to Springdale.

See you down the road!