Kansas City

We were on the road for Kansas City by 8:30. This is the bridge that crosses the Missouri River on I-35  South.  Traffic was light so we made it to the World War I Memorial and Museum by 9:30.  The memorial didn't open until 10 so we drove around the downtown area a bit trying to locate the restaurant in which we planned to eat lunch.   

This is the World War I Memorial and.  The museum is fantastic.  We really didn't know anything about WWI but the museum uses technology, movies, displays, and artifacts to tell the history.

This display shows the type of artificial arm a soldier would be fitted with after WWI.

A tank from the First World War.  It is not much when you compare it to today's tanks.

This shows that the dog tags used were round.

Illinois men were the third largest number in the list of states who serviced in WWI.  Nearly 250,000 served.

World War I was a war fought in the trenches.  Over 35,000 miles of trenches were dug during the war.   The first three years of the war, the United States managed to remain neutral; although we produced weapons, ammunition, etc for those countries who fought.  It wasn't until Germany communicated with Mexico in hope of getting Mexico to attack the U.S. that we entered the war.

Poppies would grow up in the land between the trenches.  In 1915 a doctor wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields" about the field of poppies that grew across the battlefields and fresh graves.  The doctor himself died in the war.  After the war the handmade poppies were made and sold to raise money for disabled veterans.  Poppies are still sold today.

In order to enter the main area of the museum, you had to walk over a glass bridge over the poppies.  Carol was very uncomfortable walking on that bridge.  There are 9,000 poppies below the bridge.  Each poppy represents 1000 men who died in the war.

We spent nearly two hours in the museum but after two hours of reading and looking at displays, our brains shut down and refused to absorb any more information or facts.  We left the museum and drove to the old Kansas City Union Station.    You can walk through the station for free but there are some things that cost extra for a ticket.  The station has a section on dinosaurs and this dinosaur is being used to advertises that show.  Notice the mask on the dinosaur.  We had to wear masks when we were inside a building.  This day was a record, mask-wearing day for us.  

 

The interior of the station was beautiful.  The ceilings were very ornate.  It was built in the day when traveling by train was the premier was to travel.  It is still a functioning train station.  You can buy tickets for Amtrak trains that come into the station.   BNSF rail system comes through this station and Kansas City.  We saw a train filled with coal when we crossed this old train bridge to downtown Kansas City.  I read that Warren Buffet owns that line.  He says that rail cars are cheaper to run than semi-trucks  We saw a train filled with shipping containers and actual semi trailers.

This old train bridge  crosses the rail yard.  It is an original bridge built in the early 1900's to carry trains over other tracks.  When that bridge was no longer in use, it was moved to this location.

I was surprised to see this Western Auto sign on top of a building.  I did not know that Western Auto was still in business.  This sign may just be the last leftover from by-gone days.

We saw this old train section from the bridge.   The last car is an old dome car.

This display was in Union Station.  Kansas City is proud of their Chiefs.  We ate Kansas  City BBQ at Jack Stack's BBQ near Union Station.  It was very good.  I had to get a take-home box but Carol was able to eat all of his.  After lunch we got on I-29 North heading to St. Joseph.  It has been a good day.  We would like to come back to Kansas City on another trip.