Kansas Barbeque, Sunday, 9/7/14

Sunday, September 7, 2014

 We left the hotel this morning at 8:10 a.m. and headed south on I-29.  We contacted Daniel (our former inn mate) and told him we were near Kansas City and made plans to meet him and his parents at Bass Pro Shop in Olathe, Kansas about 11:00 a.m.  Our timing was impeccable as we both pulled into the parking lot at the same time.  After hearty greetings all around, we walked through the store for a few minutes and posed for a picture with Daniel which he immediately sent to all the other inn mates.   

We followed our hosts to Smokin’ Joe’s which is one of their favorite barbeque haunts.  Dan Sr. ordered everyone lots of ribs, French fries, and smoked ham sandwiches which were delicious.  Chuck thought it was a treat to have some real Kansas barbeque.  After eating and visiting for quite a while, we were invited to follow our friends to their home in DeSoto, Kansas which was about a 15 minute drive from the restaurant.  We enjoyed looking at all the plants and flowers in their yard, and we met one of the family dogs.  Kerri (Daniel’s mother) shared a pot full of plants with Cindy which are called “Hens and Chicks.”  Kerri assured Cindy that she could not kill these succulents, but Cindy is going to give most of them to her mother as she has a green thumb and loves all succulent plants. 

We all piled in Dan’s truck and took a tour of the cute little town and saw the school where both Kerri and Dan Jr. attended kindergarten in the same classroom.   We drove to a city park which is adjacent to the Kansas River, and we walked around a bit and admired the scenery.  There are evidently some huge catfish in the river as evidenced by the catfish heads which are nailed to a nearby telephone pole.  This custom has been going on for years, and the locals apparently use the pole as some type of trophy wall.

 
We took our leave of the Hoschouer family at 3:00 p.m. and drove south to Springfield, Missouri.  We checked into our hotel room at 6:00 p.m., and Chuck immediately turned on the television to watch some football.

Downtown Desoto, Kansas