Just thought I would share what can be down with just a day or so...

I had to go into my office in metro Kansas City on Saturday morning, but after working until about 1PM, headed north, stopping first in Leavenworth for lunch at Homer's Drive Inn.

I like the idea of Homer's better than I like the food. Started in the early '30s, the present location has been open since 1938. The ?drive inn? aspect is a cross between a drive in and a drive through. Folks pull up next to the restaurant and the car hop comes out to get their order, then returns with the food to go. Over all, the food was average drive-in fare. The malt was decent, the hamburger was nearly paper thin (though cheap).

Then on to Atchison, Kansas, the "Most Haunted Town in Kansas." I picked up my ticket for the Trolley tour at the Visitor Information Center and modest Historical Society Museum in the old Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe freight station.

Since there were three hours to kill before the evening tour, I visited Benedictine College (founded by Monks in 1858), the museum in the home where Amelia Earhart was born, and drove past many of the large ornate Victorian homes. Several of the homes that I photographed turned out to be on the tour that evening.

Then back to the Santa Fe Station, where I looked over the old railroad cars and steam engine in the adjacent Atchison Rail Museum while waiting for the tour.

The Chamber of Commerce started the Haunted Atchison Trolley Tours a few years back. They have grown so popular that a second trolley was purchased. The Travel Channel featured it in a segment in the past year.

Unfortunately the tour uses a taped sound track, but otherwise the one hour tour was quite entertaining. I am sure it is better after dark, the the 6 PM tour was the only opening remaining when I booked the tour, and at least gave me the opportunity to take photos during the tour.

Some of my photos and what I could remember of the ?hauntings? is at http://www.mightymac.org/atchisontour.htm

Following the tour, I drove past a couple of the homes for better photographs, then drove across the 76 year old Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge to Missouri and on another 40 miles to Saint Joseph, Missouri.

After a late supper at Boudreaux's Louisiana Seafood and Steak in downtown Saint Joseph, I settled in for the night at the Best Western.

Sunday morning I visited the nearby communities of Savannah and Maryville, before returning for lunch just outside the Saint Joesph city limits. Galvin?s Dinnerhouse is a small out-of-the-way restaurant which was mentioned on a local radio show last week.

Galwin's began 765 years ago as a Phillip's 66 gas station. The Galwins raised chickens in the back and started selling fried chicken on Sunday afternoons. Today the much modified restaurant (with different owners) is a delight.

The front reception area looks like a 1890's bordello parlor (I don't think that was the image they were trying to inspire), but the rest of the restaurant is elegantly decorated. Everyone coming to the restaurant has reservations, but I took a chance coming at noon, just as they opened, and was able to get in.

The restaurant does not have a printed menu, serving only fried chicken, steak, a couple of fish dishes and pork chops. The pork chops need to be ordered when the reservation is made, as they take two hours to prepare.

I had the signature fried chicken. It came with soup, choice of salad, bread, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans and choice of sdesert. The tomato basil soup (which I would never of selected) was wonderful. My spinach salad with warm honey mustard dressing was a lovely presentation, as well as delicious. It came with an excellent cheese biscuit on the side.

The chicken was as tasty as I have had, though the (4) pieces were tiny. None of the servings were very large, but with so many items, I wasn't complaining. The corn was the best I have had in 25 years.

When it came time for desert, I wished there were more people with me, as every desert sounded good. I settled on the baked fudge with ice cream, nuts & chocolate syrup. Wonderful! Other choices included Amish cream pie, peppermint ice cream, cheese cakes, and a custard that sounded divine.

Galvin's is located at 6802 South 22nd (State Route 371). They have limited hours. I only checked for hours on Saturday & Sunday, which were 5-8:30PM Sat and 12-5 Sun. Reservations are available at 816-238-0463 The chicken dinner was $13.95 complete. Other items ran from about $17-25.

After lunch, I headed down to the museum district, visiting the outside of the home where Jesse James died, the Pony Express Memorial and The Pony Express National Museum, before heading home.


Keith