Madonna of the Trail, Council Grove, Kansas
When we set out on this vacation, our intentions were to visit a few political sites and maybe the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. It wasn’t until after we arrived in Kansas that I gave any thought to the westward migration … the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the California Trail. You know, Manifest Destiny and all that. Actually, I haven’t really thought about the pioneers in years, not since I was a little girl reading the Little House on the Prairie books. Well, that’s not really accurate. Sometimes I think about the horrors of the trail when I’m listening to my iPod and Natalie Merchant’s “San Andreas Fault” pops up.
Anyways, I was looking through our Kansas book and came across an entry for the Madonna of the Trail. This is a 10 foot tall statue which depicts a pioneer woman with two children; it’s one of 11 statues erected along the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails by the Daughters of the American Revolution – with the intent of paying tribute to the courage of the women who moved westwards. (Off the Beaten Path: Kansas) For some reason, I found this really touching and I persuaded the Coach to take a detour to Council Grove, Kansas, just so I could take a picture of the Madonna.
Let me tell you, this completely random decision was one of the best ones we’ve made so far! Council Grove apparently was an important stop along the Santa Fe Trail. We drove to the Kaw Mission State Historic Site, parked the car, and loaded the evil kitten into his carrier. The Coach agreed to haul the carrier along so that we could walk the Neosho Riverwalk. We made it down to the Neosho River crossing which was (at least, according to the flyer from the Council Grove Chamber of Commerce) one of the most documented crossings on the Santa Fe Trail. You can still see the crossing in the river!
After we crossed over the street to see the Madonna statue, I looked down at the cat carrier and saw that the Evil Kitten was having an asthma attack! WTF? Granted, it was 90 degrees out, but there was a breeze and the carrier is not one of those plastic jobbies. It’s a mesh bag with a hard bottom, so the breeze should have gotten into him. Poor little buddy! We’re not bad pet owners, I swear. (It’s obvious that the Evil Kitten could never be an outdoor cat.) The Coach took a short cut back to the car, watered the cat, and blasted the A/C while I finished taking pictures of the Madonna, the Guardian of the Grove, and the Post Office Oak.
The trip down to Council Grove got us more interested in the Santa Fe Trail, so you can imagine what happened when we saw that Independence, MO, was the home to the National Frontier Trails Museum. Yes, we stopped. We paid the $5 entry fee to wander through the displays this afternoon. It isn’t the most high-tech museum I’ve ever been in, but I enjoyed reading the various quotes from the men and women who travelled the various trails. I also learned that the Mormon Trail was completely different than the Oregon Trail. (Obviously, I was not a good history student in high school.) I also had the pleasure of listening to a mother misinform her kids about a display in the museum. Good grief – read the damn display before you start spouting off! {GRRR}
Who knew that Independence was the principle starting point for Oregon, Santa Fe, and California trails? Apparently you can still see the “swales” cut by the wagons as they worked their way out of town. That’s just so cool. Granted, we didn’t have a chance to go see them. We ran out of time and it was just so fucking hot today. How hot? So hot that the binding glue in my Missouri guidebook melted. Nasty!
