Treasures of the Heartland with Walt, Harry, Ike & Lori

Aloha all,

what do Walt Disney, Harry Truman, David Hawley, Lori Moore and Dwight Eisenhower all have in common? In case you don’t know them all: Walt is my former boss, Harry and Ike are presidents, David is an AC technician & treasure hunter and Lori is Lori. What they have in common is that all of them enriched our last week on the road. So much so that I already feel compelled writing another blog post; before most of you had a chance to even look at the pictures of the last one. So let me tell you about these hometown heroes:

Even as a former ‘cast member’ of Walt Disney World, I wasn’t aware that Disney was from Missouri. But I can tell you, anyone who lives in or even just comes through Marceline, MO knows that this is Walt’s hometown. They converted their train station into the very informative “Walt Disney Hometown Museum” and named half of all places in and around town after him. If you have ever been to any of the Disney theme parks, you have walked down an idealized version of the Main Street in Marceline. Walt had such fond memories of his hometown that he wanted every guest at Disneyland to have the same happy, friendly experience. But while it’s easy to see the inspiration, the “Original Main Street USA” (as they call it in Marceline) is no theme park: Modern cars ruin any attempt to take a decent picture, several buildings are in disrepair, there is no music, no mice or ducks walking around and the lunch at the diner cost us about as much as a soda would cost at Disneyland.

At Walt Disney's Hometown Museum
in Marceline, MO

The Disney’s farmhouse, where Walt grew up, is outside of town. Someone still lives there, but Disney pilgrims like us can visit the reconstructed barn in the back, where Walt started his very first attempts at entertainment with shows for family and neighbors. His legendary “Dreaming Tree” has since died, but they were able to plant a sapling from the same tree, now known as “The Son of a Dreaming Tree”. We met a local showing his visiting friends the barn that he helped reconstruct. We talked to them for about an hour about all kinds of things, but most intriguing was their account of the Steamboat Arabia Museum, so we had to go there when we got to Kansas City. 

The “Treasures of the Steamboat Arabia Museum” tells two stories: The first story is that of the steamboat that sank in the Missouri river in 1856. All passengers were rescued, but all cargo was lost and so quickly covered in mud that is was soon forgotten by most. The second story is that of 5 regular guys who set out in the 1980’s to find the very same steamboat. None of them had ever done anything remotely like this. They knew the Missouri river had shifted since 1856, but when they started criss crossing the nearby fields with a magnetometer, they were surprised to find it half a mile from the river! They received good news and bad news from their first drilling samples. They confirmed that this was indeed the Arabia, but it was 45 feet underground and even worse, 30 feet below the groundwater table. They had to install 20 pumps to pump out water 24/7 while digging, spending 100’s of thousands of dollars, not knowing what they would actually find.

Just a few of the shoes they recovered
from the Steamboat Arabia

But when they reached the wreck, they say it was like Christmas every day: They opened one box after another, with no idea what they were going to find next. It just kept coming. When they were done, they had the largest collection of pre-Civil War goods in the world. Instead of selling it, they decided to keep the collection together and open a museum. We were in awe looking at the things they discovered. The Arabia had the orders from 14 different stores out west on board. Basically the 1856 equivalent of a Walmart store….a time capsule of merchandise, perfectly preserved under 45 feet of mud. Boxes full of still edible pickled fruits and vegetables, even bottles full of liquor and champagne. Where else in the world would you have hundreds of unused shoes from 167 years ago? Clothing, housewares, tools, even cans with a label “Fresh Oysters”, which I doubt is still accurate.

Amazing how well 45 feet of Missouri mud
will preserve stuff, isn't it?

There was a very nice guy at the museum who seemed very knowledgeable about every aspect of the history, the collection and the discovery. At some point, he mentioned that he was David Hawley, the guy who started the whole thing. I thought that was about as cool as if we had met Walt Disney at his hometown museum. What a cool adventure. I was glad that we were able to thank him personally for sharing it with the world rather than selling it off to the highest bidder. 

AC technician turned Treasure Hunter David Hawley

Instead of 1856 oysters, we ate some Kansas City BBQ with our friend Lori from the good old Royal Lahaina days and her boyfriend Rich. I even met another expat Hawaiian in the restrooms. They join us for a little while at our table, so it turned into a little, bitter sweet Hawaii Reunion.

Kansas City BBQ with a side of Aloha
Mahalo, Lori & Rich!

We also spent a day at the World War I Museum in Kansas City. I think I learned more from the excellent introductory film than I remember from all of my high school history classes. I probably paid more attention, too. Now we finally feel like we have at least a vague idea what that was all about. 

View from the WW I Museum to Kansas City

To cheer us up after reading all day about the war, we wanted to take one of our beloved historical tours at the Corinthian Mansion. Unbeknownst to us, there was also a fun concert by piano virtuoso and local celebrity Bram Wijnands scheduled at the mansion, which we got to attend for free as a bonus to our tour.

Corinthian Mansion (and concert hall)

We have been fans of Harry S Truman and members of his Presidential Library in Independence, MO since our first visit 5 years ago. They have just finished a complete update of the exhibits, so of course we went back for another visit. Especially as a German, there are so many reasons to be thankful for Truman. He was responsible for the generous Marshal Plan to rebuild Europe after the war and the Berlin Airlift. I just learned on this trip that when he served in WW1, he actually fought 40 miles from my hometown in Germany. For better or for worse, he is also the first guy who decided to use the atomic bomb. They had a special exhibit with pictures of trees in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that survived the blasts. Of course that made me think of our hometown Lahaina and our Banyan Tree, which is also fighting back after the fire. A somber, but hopeful reminder that life goes on, even after the worst disasters.

Harry Truman Presidential Library

As members we get e-mails from the Truman Library every week, telling us about events happening there. Now we were finally able to attend one of their “Cocktails and Politics” events. This one was organized by American Public Square, which seems to be a wonderful organization, trying to improve the tone and quality of the public discourse. You know, kind of like the Anti-Facebook. Yay, civility! The featured guests was the current governor of Indiana Eric Holcomb. Now I am pretty sure that I disagree with him on many issues, but boy do we agree with him on the need for civility and bipartisanship. Oh, and we met some really nice people over wine and pupus at the event.

"Cocktails & Politics" with Governor Holcomb

Dwight D Eisenhower grew up in a modest home on what used to be the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ in the small town of Abilene, Kansas. First we toured his boyhood home where the Eisenhowers lived with six sons. The house still stands there, exactly as it was when his mom passed away in 1946, but is now surrounded by his Presidential Library and Museum. We just happened to arrive there on Ike’s 133rd birthday. Eisenhower was so respected after leading the Allied troops to victory in Europe that both parties wanted him as their candidate. Supposedly, President Truman even offered to run as Eisenhower’s Vice President in 1948, had Ike accepted the Democratic nomination. But instead, Eisenhower ran as a Republican in 1952 and won easily. It probably helped that he advocated a middle way. I wish there would be someone this respected and this ‘middle of the road’ running today, ideally slightly younger than 133…

Boyhood Home of Dwight D Eisenhower

Today, we took a day off on a nice campground by a lake. We used that time to change up our plans for the remaining days. On our way to Maui next week, we will fly via Nashville to see Queen. They were my favorite band growing up. I haven’t seen them in 37 years and Sandra never saw them, so it’s about time. And then, on Oct 26th, we will come home, that’s about time, too!

A hui hou,

Chris & Sandra