Meandering Magees: Kansas City Surprise!

Boy, what some people will do to be in our blog. . . .

I mentioned a surprise in my last post. The surprise was on our brother-in-law Greg. Mike’s sister Karen planned a 50^th birthday getaway for Greg. They boarded a plane in Kalamazoo on Sunday with Greg having no clue where they were headed. Their plane landed in Chicago, with Greg thinking, “Ok, it will be nice to spend a few days in Chicago.” Instead of exiting the airport, Karen led him to another gate. When he saw the destination, he thought, “Kansas City? Kansas City? Of all the places we could go, you picked Kansas City?” Unbeknownst to Greg, WE were in Kansas City! When they got off the plane, instead of the town car Karen said was waiting to take them to their hotel, Mike and I were waiting (in our best chauffer imitation) to whisk them away to Basswood Campground!

We are so excited to have company – even better that it is family. Mike is enjoying some male companionship and I’m catching up on all the family happenings. Over a year ago, when we started planning this adventure, several people expressed an interest in joining us at different points along the way. We encouraged that because it is always more fun with others. For varying reasons, no one was ever able to meet up with us – until Sunday! We spent the evening grilling steaks and watching Greg continually shake his head, saying, “I can’t believe I’m here.”

Two things fell into place for the birthday visit – Greg loves history as much as we do, so our plans to visit the Truman and Eisenhower Presidential museums were perfect. And he enjoys the Detroit Tigers, who started a 3-game stand in Kansas City on Monday.

We began Monday at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, which is just outside Kansas City. Except for his overseas service in WWI and his Senate and Presidential years, Harry Truman lived his entire life within a 30-mile radius of independence. He had no college education, yet with leadership abilities honed on the battlefield, a decisive decision-making personality and a no-nonsense attitude, he rose to the highest elective office in our country. Truman took a job at a bank out of high school, left that to help his father on the family farm, enlisted when World War I broke out, returned to Independence and opened a business with an Army buddy, lost the business in the Depression, was elected a local judge, then senator, then vice-president and became our 33^rd president when Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945.

Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan in WWII remains a controversial one. Many believe Japan was close to surrendering and the bomb was not needed. Others defend the decision, believing it saved thousands of American lives that would have been lost in a land invasion. Truman knew nothing of the existence of the atomic bomb until his first briefing as President. He warned the Japanese government of catastrophic results if they didn’t surrender. They ignored his warning.

Another decision Truman made was not universally accepted. He was the first head of state to recognize the newly established Jewish state of Israel in 1948.

Upon returning from the war, Truman married his childhood sweetheart, Bess Wallace in 1919. The couple moved into Bess’ mother’s house in independence. It remained their home until the former president died in 1972. (Bess continued to live there until her death 10 years later.) The house at 219 N. Delaware is open to the public, but unfortunately for us, it closes on Sundays and Mondays, so we just saw the outside.

Harry and Bess exchanged over 1,300 letters over the years. He always wrote her a letter on their anniversary and several were on display. Bess did not like the Washington social scene and spent a lot of time back in Independence when Harry was in Washington. Many of the letters were from this time.

President and Mrs. Truman, along with their only child Margaret and her husband Clifton Daniels, are buried in the courtyard at the museum.

This was our third presidential museum/library we have been to on our trip. Truman’s was the most interactive for school-age children. Very informative and interesting for adults, but had many hands-on activities for kids.

The library opened in 1957 and Truman went to his office there every day.

After leaving the library, we drove around Independence, seeing their home, the courthouse where he worked as a judge, and the drugstore he worked in while in high school.

Then we headed to downtown Kansas City to sample their famous barbeque. On a suggestion from brother Jeff, we were looking for Jack Stacks. We found it, right next door to a German bar/restaurant. This couldn’t get any better as Greg is of German heritage! We stopped here for an appetizer of sausage and sauerkraut and spaetzle (like dumplings). He loved it. Well, we all loved the food.

Jack Stacks was right next-door and the BBQ lived up to its hype. We stuffed ourselves with fall off the bone ribs along with wonderful and unique side dishes that left us so full we didn’t even get a hot dog at the ballpark. That is un-American, isn’t it?

Our evening at Kauffman Stadium, home to the Kansas City Royals was perfect – except for the final score, with the Royals beating the Tigers 3-2. It is a great ballpark, the weather was perfect (shirt-sleeves, even when the sun went down) and terrific seats on the first base line.

All in all – a wonderful way to celebrate Greg’s 50^th birthday!