Sunday, July 10, 2005
Pony Expressionism
THE SLEEP WALKING BEAR GANG
Sleep Walking Bear, Marty the Kid, and Ma Stock were now headed across northern Missouri with the Mormon missionaries hot on their trail. We were on our way to St Joseph, MO the rootinest, tootinest, cowboyingest, varmint ridden............well, it was the home of Jesse James until he done got shot in the back. Also, it was the starting point for the Pony Express and the beginning of the Wild Western frontier.
St Joe certainly seemed like a city that might indeed be quite proud of it's outlaw past. I'm not quite sure, if the city was on the upswing or on the downslide? Huge mansions in various states of repair or disrepair, if you will, were found throughout what seemed to be a much, much larger place than the 60,000 population sign would indicate. Although, much of the waterfront district was probably more of a relic from the city's rust belt past than a sign of current bustling commerce and prosperity.
Still, one could not be sure. The architecture was amazing! Although even the Sleep Walking Bear gang could not find the damn riverfront park. We ended up driving on a road that I was quite certain the type of place modern day ruffians would dispose of their victims. Of course, the road lead to what every God-fearin' frontier town needs today...........a casino! It cracks me up how if you put a casino on a river then all of a sudden it ain't gamblin' no more. True to it's waterfront past, the cards and gamin and hookers(well i doubt many of what clearly seemed to be a "senior" crowd were employed in that profession) were all down by the river.
Also, in this same general vicinity was something called Robideaux Row. Once again, Sleep Walking Bear has picture of New Orleans grandeur. Once again, the "gang" had a hard as hell time finding what exactly it was. We think we found it Sunday morning and, well, it was what appeared to be the first flop houses of the old west. Rub-a-dub row was not impressive.
The Pony Express stables and the statue memorializing what has to be a fascinating piece of American history were kinda neat. Jesse James home was pretty cheesy and I faked being shot in the front which I'm sure made any locals going by roll their eyes. I am ever so original at times.
Overall, St Joe was an interesting stop. It seemed like a place that was proud of it's rowdy and ribald history. It was also home to what clearly was possibly the biggest mental health hospital aka nuthouse in all of North America. Now, I have always figured you had to be crazy to live in Missouri and so they would of course need an extra large loony bin to handle everyone. Of course, a newer facility had been built and the old one had been turned into a prison, very charming, and a large chunk was a museum dedicated to the history and treatment of mental illness. Stick with what you now, Missourans!
On that note, we ditched the Mormons at the casino with the octogenarian hookers, loaded up the rifles, drank some whiskey, set fire to the town, robbed the bank and then spent the next hour driving thru the hills and hollers south of St Joseph across the damn river to Atchison, Kansas which was probably only about five miles away. If anyone was following the "gang" at that point, it was probably the folks runnin' the booby hatch. This is how the Donner party got started out on the wrong foot(which would later be an appetizer hahahaha) too I'm sure. But we made it to Atchison(finally), home of Amelia Earhart. Sleep Walking Bear told everyone that he got "lost" in her honor........
Sleep Walking Bear, Marty the Kid, and Ma Stock were now headed across northern Missouri with the Mormon missionaries hot on their trail. We were on our way to St Joseph, MO the rootinest, tootinest, cowboyingest, varmint ridden............well, it was the home of Jesse James until he done got shot in the back. Also, it was the starting point for the Pony Express and the beginning of the Wild Western frontier.
St Joe certainly seemed like a city that might indeed be quite proud of it's outlaw past. I'm not quite sure, if the city was on the upswing or on the downslide? Huge mansions in various states of repair or disrepair, if you will, were found throughout what seemed to be a much, much larger place than the 60,000 population sign would indicate. Although, much of the waterfront district was probably more of a relic from the city's rust belt past than a sign of current bustling commerce and prosperity.
Still, one could not be sure. The architecture was amazing! Although even the Sleep Walking Bear gang could not find the damn riverfront park. We ended up driving on a road that I was quite certain the type of place modern day ruffians would dispose of their victims. Of course, the road lead to what every God-fearin' frontier town needs today...........a casino! It cracks me up how if you put a casino on a river then all of a sudden it ain't gamblin' no more. True to it's waterfront past, the cards and gamin and hookers(well i doubt many of what clearly seemed to be a "senior" crowd were employed in that profession) were all down by the river.
Also, in this same general vicinity was something called Robideaux Row. Once again, Sleep Walking Bear has picture of New Orleans grandeur. Once again, the "gang" had a hard as hell time finding what exactly it was. We think we found it Sunday morning and, well, it was what appeared to be the first flop houses of the old west. Rub-a-dub row was not impressive.
The Pony Express stables and the statue memorializing what has to be a fascinating piece of American history were kinda neat. Jesse James home was pretty cheesy and I faked being shot in the front which I'm sure made any locals going by roll their eyes. I am ever so original at times.
Overall, St Joe was an interesting stop. It seemed like a place that was proud of it's rowdy and ribald history. It was also home to what clearly was possibly the biggest mental health hospital aka nuthouse in all of North America. Now, I have always figured you had to be crazy to live in Missouri and so they would of course need an extra large loony bin to handle everyone. Of course, a newer facility had been built and the old one had been turned into a prison, very charming, and a large chunk was a museum dedicated to the history and treatment of mental illness. Stick with what you now, Missourans!
On that note, we ditched the Mormons at the casino with the octogenarian hookers, loaded up the rifles, drank some whiskey, set fire to the town, robbed the bank and then spent the next hour driving thru the hills and hollers south of St Joseph across the damn river to Atchison, Kansas which was probably only about five miles away. If anyone was following the "gang" at that point, it was probably the folks runnin' the booby hatch. This is how the Donner party got started out on the wrong foot(which would later be an appetizer hahahaha) too I'm sure. But we made it to Atchison(finally), home of Amelia Earhart. Sleep Walking Bear told everyone that he got "lost" in her honor........
