The Genius Highway and St. Joseph Missouri

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After a good nights sleep in Topeka Kansas, it was time for @mrsbozz and I to put some more miles behind us and edge even closer to home. We were now on our twelfth day on the road or something like that and I think the desire to be back home was pretty strong in both of us.

Instead of heading due East from Topeka, we angled a bit North East taking some back roads to essentially skirt around Kansas City and eventually St. Louis. Which is good because although I was well rested, I was personally not excited about driving through big city traffic. The fact that I had to go through Gary Indiana again in a day was enough to have me on edge.

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Although taking the back roads can be a bit slower at times, it has certain distinct advantages. Views like the one above for example. I can't think of anything that screams middle America more than a farm field with a train and a tree covered hill in the background.

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Eventually we got closer to the train and @mrsbozz got this really awesome shot. She was pretty proud of herself after she took this one and exclaimed something like "I should get paid for this!". Perhaps I should set her up as a beneficiary on this post....

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Those back roads ultimately led us to St. Joseph Missouri which oddly enough was only one of three towns called St. Joseph we would drive through over the next two days. I stopped on the outskirts of town to get some gas in the car and as soon as I got out to pump I was hit with a very distinct smell.

Given the proximity to the farm fields you might expect it was crops or animal manure, that wasn't the case though. Instead, I was eventually able to place it as dog food. It seemed weird to me at the time, but eventually, it all made sense as we navigated through the town and found ourselves driving by a massive Nestle/Purina factory.

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Probably what St. Joseph Missouri is most known for is it was the start of the Pony Express. We ended up driving past the origin point and taking some photos while we were in St. Joseph. We didn't get out because we wanted to continue our journey as quickly as possible. Plus, it looked like they were running some kind of kids day camp at the facility.

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The Pony Express was a mail service that ran from St. Joseph Missouri to California. Believe it or not, according to Wikipedia, it only lasted for 18 months and was started in 1860. It helped reduce the amount of time it took a message to get from the East coast to the West coast by ten days. It may have continued for much longer if the telegraph hadn't been invented in 1861.

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Another distinct piece of information about St. Joseph is the starting point for Highway 36 across Missouri. Also called "The Genius Highway", Highway 36 has many towns along it's way that were the birthplace of famous inventions or prominent figures in history.

Sliced bread, Walt Disney, General Omar Bradley, and J.C. Penny all call one of the little towns along Highway 36 home.

As well as many others. You should check out that site above if you want to find out more!

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The trip across Highway 36 in Missouri culminates at Hannibal Missouri, birthplace of American author Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Located on the banks of the Mississippi river, Hannibal is a quaint "little" town. We actually bypassed most of it by staying on Highway 36 and not taking any of the exits.

We still had a bit to go before we ended up in Champaign/Urbana Illinois, home of the University of Illinois.

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This was only the second time that @mrsbozz has even driven over the Mississippi. She was pretty impressed with just how large it is. I can definitely see the romanticism of the river that made it the key factor in many of Mark Twain's writings. There's just something special about crossing over the river whether you are in the air or on the land.

One day I would like to head to Northern Minnesota and visit the location where the headwaters of the Mississippi river are formed. I think there is a sign there you can get your picture taken by.

We had maybe hoped to dip down into Missouri a bit further and visit Lake of the Ozarks, but it was too far out of our way. We will have to save that for another trip.

The stop in St. Joseph and the slow crawl across the Genius Highway was enough to qualify Missouri for placement on the map of states we have visited together.

It's hard to believe, but I only have one more post to share with you to finish up our 13 day trip out to Colorado. I'm already missing talking about it!

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Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced