Gary cooking in the garden, meant to be a nice day!!
Springfield Missouri, the cultural centre of the Ozarks is a modern sprawling township. Historically there are several points of interest which will require exploring in the future. There is differing opinion as to how the name came about but as far as I know the township has always been called Springfield. The town sits on the Springfield Plateau, part of the Ozarks. I expected the backdrop to the town to be towering mountains, great vistas, lots of Brown and Grizzly bears. Actually it is very flat and when we drove in and around the edges of the plateau parts were rolling countryside whilst others were more bluffs and semi rugged. I would not have termed the plateau region as mountains and we did not go far enough south east in Arkansas to see the Boston Mountains which look more a typical. The scenery was pleasant though and I enjoyed the ridge roads not only for the scenery but they kept me awake - some of the interstate roads can be so boring as a back seat passinger.
Springfield achieved notoriety when Wild Bill Hickok shot Davis Tutt Jr in 1865 over gambling debts - in the town square. Did not find the two brass plaques in the pavement showing the supposed positions of the two men but the event was recorded in the newspapers of the day. Must have been a wild town then, very sleepy now! The square is rather larger than I imagined and still has some of the original buildings which were around in Hickok's day. It is hard to imagine the "wild west" when you can view two and three storey buildings today which have not changed from the 1860's. Yes there are metalled roads and more street furniture/infrastructure when originally then the street was probably board walks, hitching rails and a dusty roadway but it is still hard to visualise. Took time to have lunch in the microbrewery and had a Mudhouse Ale. The brew was infused with coffee grounds during the brew stage and boy did one get a whiff and taste of the coffee. The grounds are sourced from the Mudhouse Coffee shop three door up the street.
Before that in 1861 the Battle of Wilson's Creek was fought between the two armies in the American Civil War - seen as the first major conflict west of the Mississippi. The Confederates won the day but as we know lost the war. The Battle of Pea Ridge in early 1862 consolidated Union hold over the state with further skirmishes over control of the town taking place until the Second Battle of Springfield in January 1863 where Union forces won the day. This is one of the items of interest to explore next time.
One of the facts that I was surprised over when looking at the Internet for the Cherokee Indians was that one of the routes for the Trail of Tears (1838) passed through Springfield area. Locally the road is known as "the old wire road" more from the time the telegraph was installed. This route was a military road between the garrison at Fort Smith, Arkansas and Springfield. By 1858 the overland stage coach was using the road for travel west to California.
Ever interested in anything to do with trains in the USA the news that the railroad was coming to town would have meant prosperity for the local businesses. The Missouri Pacific (Pacific Railroad) reached Springfield in 1848 and was the first railroad to cross the Mississippi - a tremendous feat of engineering in those days. Later on it was known as the St Louis San Francisco Railroad (Frisco Railroad) and when I visited the Transport Museum there was several steam trains there which plied the Frisco route. Did not see many trains whilst in Springfield so again need to find the station and put my mack on. We did see twice the coal train crossing the roadway, over 100 wagons long so held up the traffic - train was carrying coal to one of the two power stations on the outskirts of town. The local contractor is building a fancy flyover so that in future traffic will not be disrupted - progress for you, must not hold up the driver, nil patience these days.
As I said the town itself is sprawling. Each of the businesses are located in their own plot of land complete with car parking area. We visited several strip malls which are similar to some of our 'out of town' shopping areas and had the pleasure of visiting Wal-Mart on more that one occasion. Gary took me to several tool/DIY shops, Lowe's and Grizzly's (check out their web site) stand out, the latter for their quality. One of the comments that Gary made was the lack of a decent electric drill. He believes that this is due to their electric system being 110v but I still question how do you drill into concrete and brickwork? Well in the majority of homes it is all wood, no brick or concrete. If there is a brick facade then this is only for show and not structural. Another difference in building technique is the almost universal use of small oblong shaped felt roofing tiles in lieu of slate or composite material. I suppose when you are prone to hurricanes etc the last thing you want flying around is heavy roofing materials, plus a wooden frame will bend and stress more that a brick built structure. We also visited Bass-Pro - have a look at a few photo's I took on a separate part of the blog - wow!!!!!!!
Talking of tornadoes Ginger was able to point out where damage had occurred several years ago and it was very clear to see the path by looking at the age of the trees. In one area there was a house slap bang in the middle of the tornado path. The new roof was evident as was the repairs to the side of the house - frightening really what nature can do.
Ginger also showed me photos of an ice storm they had in 2007. Whole branches had been torn off of the trees due to the weight of the ice. Incredible photos of all around her neighbourhood and of her trees in the garden covered in layers of ice/snow/ice that caused all the limbs to sag and droop. Further afield she was able to identify whole rafts of trees where all the top growth had been broken off and with the new growth, had lost the natural symmetry that a tree normally has.
Over the final couple of days I was treated to an afternoon 'doing' the garage sale circuit, in and out of private residences looking at what they did not want - talk about junk but as Ginger said every now and then you find something that is on your list and is a bargain, especially from sales of an elderly relative. We also spent time in visiting several more flea markets (antique & bric-a-brac stores). Most are well laid out, full of all sorts of goodies a lot of what I would have thrown in the recycling boxes and waste bins but somebody must buy it! We did go to a new store which I would estimate was 60% UK but lower market stuff, plenty of heavy furniture which surprises me as I would not have thought the average American would have in their house.
We also visited the local nature centre and had a pleasant walk. the first treat was to watch hummingbirds at the sugar feeders, plus there were a number of other birds on the feeders such as gold finches, Ginger saw a tree creeper but I missed it. Did video whilst I was in the centre but blog site not happy with it for some reason I am not able to fathom. Whilst on the trail we had the delight in watching a muskrat busy feeding just feet from us. Every now and then he would disturb a small frog that was nearby, then Ginger spotted a snake. Well I was looking for a 25 foot long monster and took awhile to see this tiny 6" long creature amongst the water weed.
Further round at the bridge we saw a heron plus several turtles in the water. The smallest one must have been a couple of inches long and was very busy on the river bed, closely followed by several fish. Crossing over the bridge we were confronted with a wide swathe of plants, mostly yellow flowers but many varieties. From the leaflet this is recreated prairie and was common around the Springfield area before the europeans arrived. Plenty of insect life to be seen especially dragonflies and also a single white tailed deer, browsing on the greenery, again close to the trail. We did not walk the whole area but what i saw was well laid out, the plants growing in front of the lakeside hide needed cutting back but on the whole a good nature trail.
Further round at the bridge we saw a heron plus several turtles in the water. The smallest one must have been a couple of inches long and was very busy on the river bed, closely followed by several fish. Crossing over the bridge we were confronted with a wide swathe of plants, mostly yellow flowers but many varieties. From the leaflet this is recreated prairie and was common around the Springfield area before the europeans arrived. Plenty of insect life to be seen especially dragonflies and also a single white tailed deer, browsing on the greenery, again close to the trail. We did not walk the whole area but what i saw was well laid out, the plants growing in front of the lakeside hide needed cutting back but on the whole a good nature trail.
It was very nice to meet Ginger's parents, both at their farm and later on when they visited Springfield along with Ginger's brother and family. The 2G's had planned an outdoor feast but the weather decided for once to change and Gary was left to use the Bar-b-Que in the rain - hence the snorkel. Bought a bottle of sheep dip, ex Old Peculiar brew master and a bottle of Laphroaig. Enjoyed both! Also met some good friends of the 2G's Tom and Rebbie, plenty to laugh about and we did polish off a fair quantity of alcohol; Ginger's white russians going down very well.
Must not forget Andy's Frozen Custard: don't know the recipe but on a day when it is in the high 90's it is a must. Plenty of flavours to choose from and one gets a large tub all to one's self - yummy.
Well I am sure that I will have forgotten some juicy tit bit of information gleaned whilst with the 2G's on our travels, so for now it is cheerio from Springfield and hello to Boston. Many many thanks for Ginger, Gary, Alek and the four pussy cat's hospitality and for putting up with me.
P.S. for my next visit:
Local Civil War museum
Local railway station to see trains
Andy's Frozen custard
Rosie's Ice cream
More cave tours
More Springs
More camping & float trips
Kansas
Boston Mountains
etc etc etc
Thanks Guys for a great time
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