Day 10: April 26, 2018 Cool Concrete and Metal Comment via blog

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When I left th motel, I headed down the street to Nana Greer's Family Table where I had a huge breakfast served -- and probably cooked -- by some of the nicest little old ladies in the world.

A little north of Leon, this 1905 ten-sided barn can be seen from the Jefferson Highway but driving up the side road provides a much better view.

A few inquiries at the conference garnered the information that the elephant in Leon is named Sally and she is dressed appropriately for every holiday. Bad timing on my part to find her unclothed. When the Dairy Queen she was originally created for closed, Leon resident and JHA member Loring Miller bought her to keep her close to home. The town has really put some effort into this little park and it looks like some more sprucing up is underway with those murals up the street. Even though residents are correct in stating that both Winnipeg and Winnepeg can be found on the internet, they didn't make the best choice. They're not the first.

South of Leon, I slipped by some barricades to get a look at both sides of the closed bridge on Old 69 Highway.

There are quite a lot of JH banded poles in this area. The first one pictured is at the north edge of Davis City. The mural and second pole are in Lamoni.

I struck my first Missouri gravel about three miles into the state and another three miles brought me to the Eagleville town square. Rather than taking a chance, I avoided parking all together. The town center and a paved US-69 are just a couple blocks west. The gravel road continues south of town.

After about another mile of gravel and a mile of modern paved US-69, I turning onto this very interesting stretch of concrete. My first thought was that it was a single lane that had had a second lane added Maybe it is, but It was probably a two lane road with one lane atrophied through lack of use. The third picture is of a second section that I wanted to drive but did not after seeing a gate at the other end. The last three pictures are from a section on the opposite (i.e., east) side of US-69.

I know nothing about this house except that it's really old.

A couple of days ago, I would have almost automatically identified this former gas station in Bethany as a Phillips 66. But now that I've seen the Hastie Standard Oil station, I'm not so sure.

South of Bethany, two Jefferson Highway alignments split with one going straight ahead on US-60 to Cameron and the other turning right to reach Saint Joseph on US-169. It's a turn to the right for me.

A curve at the east edge of New Hampton allows a pair of old bridges to be seen simultaneously. On the west side, a gravel road leads back to US-136.

This is one of those rare places where reality exceed expectations. I knew about the sculptures north of Stanberry and had seen a few phictures but the number and variety still surprised me. With a rare combination of skill and artistic vision, Mark Jensen has constructed the metal menagerie over the last "10 or 15 years". For the moment, my personal favorite is the "mechanical bull" standing just beyond the dinosaur and looking into the camera in the second photo. It is a collection all by itself. When I told Mark I was driving the Jefferson Highway, he said he was expecting a large group on Saturday. That's how I learned what one of the stops on the conference bus tour will be. I'm looking forward to the return.

This collection is at the Tri-County Alternative Energy Education Center near King City. I don't know for certain but I'm guessing this will also be a stop on the tour.

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