April 28, 2009 St. Joseph, MO Jesse James et al

Carol's day started with an 8:50AM dentist appointment to repair the tooth that she broke last week. The good that came out of this was that her tooth is fine and she really liked the dentist. We didn't leave Independence until noon or so but that was fine because the trip was only an hour and a half. We are set up at Beacon RV Park in St. Joseph, MO. We will leave here in the morning for Greenwood, NE, just outside of Omaha. St. Joseph is a beautiful, hilly, historic town on the Missouri River. Many of the homes and buildings predate the Civil War. Sprinkled liberally around the central area of the town, nestled into the neighborhoods and hills, are a large number of churches. We saw the original offices and stables of the eastern end of the Pony Express. All of the Pony Express went west from here. The Patee House was constructed in 1858 to be a luxury hotel. During the Civil War, the hotel was used to store the offices of the original owners and operators of the Pony Express and the Provost Marshall of the Union Army. Both Union and Confederate Militia camped around the hotel during the war. Jesse James' house has been moved to the rear of the Patee House. This is the house that Jesse lived in with his wife for a short time and was killed in by fellow gang member, Bob Ford. Jesse had enlisted Ford's help to rob a bank in Platte City, MO so that he could purchase this house. Ford shot him instead to collect the reward and was arrested and tried for murder of Jesse instead of collecting the reward. We travel to Greenwood, NE tomorrow, just west of Omaha, NE. We are meeting two other MOC couples there for dinner and ideas of where to go and what to see in Omaha and during our travels west from there.