Atchison, KS

     Lori and I have discussed going here for a while.  Being that Amelia Earhart was from here, we thought it would be a great place to visit.  They sure do tout it as it's claim to fame.  

     We took K-7 thru Leavenworth (another destination someday) there.  A decent drive with gentle curves and hills.  We stopped off at the visitor center/train depot.  They had a nice little museum about the town, with a nice, and informative history of the town and various aspects.  Good displays/exhibits also.  They had a map/brochure of the town with points of interests marked out.  It's an older town with lots of stately homes.  Most of the homes on the map are privately owned, so you obviously can only see them from the road.  On the way out we ran into a small group going in, but had stopped to admire Lil Blue so we got to talking yet again.  Lori let the wife get in the car, and she absolutely loved it, but her husband was a retired UAW member, so him not so much, until we talked.  I explained to him that it was designed by Ferrari engineers, which he wasn't impressed by stating it's not American.  Well, as I explained, that Fiat owns Chrysler now, and that this is a European car...not Asian, he finally warmed up to it.  UAW folks don't really care for cars from Asia...but I guess European cars are ok for them.

 Gargoyle House

Amelia Earhart's house is a museum though.  Sadly when I was researching, I thought it said entrance fee was only a couple of bucks, but turned out to be like 10 or 15 per person according to the sign on the door, so we didn't go in.

     We left there, and went to the main down town hoping to find a good, locally owned place to eat.  No such luck.  The main downtown area is mainly 3rd or 4th hand thrift stores, full of clothes mostly, law offices, and a consignment store where nothing really caught our eye.

     Heading back home we took hwy 59 like we were going to St. Joseph, until we reached 116 east.  I mention this because the speed limit is 55mph, and it's a twisty, hilly road which was so much fun to drive.  Just be careful, we came up over 1 rise to see a huge tractor with dualies on the back taking up 3/4ths of the road.  Let's just say the Fiat has great brakes 'cause I had to test them right then and there.  We continued on until we hit 371 south into Platte City/Tracey, then turned onto 4th street/State Hwy N heading south until I435 to 45 hwy into Parkville.  We stopped there for lunch which also was really good and browsed the antique stores that were in the center of the original town.  Parkville was worth the trip, but the only real good thing about Atchison I feel is the visitor center museum, and the road we took out.