Remember those field trips we used to take with the kids--a day spent on a school bus with a lot of rambunctious kids eager to learn anything unimportant, but anxious to explore everything? Well, when you reach Senior-dom, you can take field trips too! We did last week, because we had an errand to run down I-70 to Columbia, to take some old sewing machines out to PET.
Personal Energy Transportation is located in a huge old warehouse on the edge of Columbia, off Route B, and they are a non-profit organization founded to provide mobility services to people who have lost the use of their legs due to polio, landmine injury, amputation, etc. all around the globe, so far reaching into 90 countries. They also send used wheelchairs, walkers and crutches to fill the same needs. And they recondition and spruce up old sewing machines, and ship them out to women in these countries, who want to establish a sewing business in their own homes. I packed up a bag of fabric, and a bag of sewing notions, some new, some extra of mine. They do an amazing job, using all volunteer help. Check out www.giftofmobility.org
Anyway, on our way home, we passed the exit to Arrow Rock, and decided to take it to explore. Arrow Rock is an historic old town perched on the Missouri River bluffs. It is the home of George Caleb Bingham, and his original house, built in 1837, has been lovingly restored and tended. The StateVisitors Center has a fantastic museum, with scale models and actual parts of the Boonslick Salt Mines and Licks, a riverboat, and antique furniture. We explored the original courthouse, about the size of a small garage, but it actually had a side room where people had to stay overnight, to await the arrival of the judge and jury members for trials. We ate at the Huston Tavern, another old building, from 1834, and have to say it was a wonderful luncheon, served by friendly waitresses. My favorite part of this trip? We took a "golf-cart tour" of the town and the buildings, our docent was fantastic, and we learned so much about Missouri's famous artist. Plus the added thrill of traveling in a golf cart! On our way home, we finally made it to downtown Blackwater, another place whose exit we always pass on the highway, commenting, maybe we will go there someday! Resolution for the future: take some more exits and explore more interesting places.
