Day Off

Several people have asked us to post some pictures from our weekday vacation last Wed/Thurs. We took a leisurly drive through rural Missouri to Arrow Rock, MO for our first trip off the farm since Spring. It is the site of one of the first major settlements in Missouri. At one time it was at the head of the Sante Fe trail, serving as a major jumping off point for western settlers. Below is a running photo shoot w/some links if you want more info.

Jim the Wonder Dog, Marshall, Missouri. The plaque speaks for itself.



The Down Over bed and breakfast. So named because from Arrow Rock you can go down to New Orleans, or over to Sante Fe.



In the 1830's the Missouri River took a very different course than where it is today. It swung a mile or so further west to Arrow Rock landing, at the base of the arrow rock where flint could be procured, and just down the bluff from the town of Arrow Rock. The photo on the left is Arrow Rock landing today, dry unless the river is flooding. The photo on the right is the river bank today, much as it might have looked back then.



Spring where travelers filled their water barrels before heading out on the Sante Fe trail. The trail was used more as a commercial trade route than as a path for settlers.



Arrow rock, with flint layer in the bluff.



Tavern in the town of Arrow Rock.



From the Arrow Rock museum. Back then it was possible to feed a 100 member CSA with a lot less plants.



DuPont experimental farm for corn and soybeans. The sign called it the "corn pipeline." Other signs we say along the road exhorted how a certain brand of seed would yield "More Ethanol Per Acre." Doesn't sound like very appetizing crops.



Grain bins in Malta Bend, MO.



Space age water tower near Waverly, MO.


On the veteran's memorial in Lexington, MO.



Lafayette County Courthouse with cannonball stuck in it's column from the Civil War battle of September 1861.