Category Archive

The credit card machine kept disconnecting. I didn’t have cash, or my checkbook. “No problem,” said Perry Foster, “mail me a check.” Perry Foster’s Bar-B-Que embodied all that is good about humankind: Trust and harmony and world peace. Oh, and … Read More

  It’s hard to overlook Ray’s Diner. On Broadway in downtown Excelsior Springs, Ray’s low-slung exterior shouts the words “Ray’s Famous HamburgerS” stretched across the diner’s face in mismatched hand lettered fonts over an awning that screams in candy cane … Read More

We took a series of concrete ribbons to New London to roam the Ralls County Courthouse. Built in 1861, its Greek temple look was adapted from the Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson. The courthouse cupola copies the belfry … Read More

I took solace up the hill where a giant water tower-sized root beer mug hovers over the Mark Twain Dinette. They serve giant tenderloins, too, and root beer floats, and Maid-Rite burgers and plenty of photos of the dinette’s namesake, … Read More

The back entrance to Waynesville is guarded by Fort Leonard Wood. But the sentry along the east approach is the world’s greatest frog, if size means anything. Sure, to most observers it looks like a giant rock outcropping, but to … Read More

She had a good run, this old tree, harboring ten thousand birds and squirrels. Now she’s barren, seems to clutch the sky in despair. But stop. And listen. She’s alive with the staccato sounds of woodpeckers  who have rented her … Read More

Vintage 1913 round barn just northeast of Kirksville now resonates to the blues. Somewhere Robert Johnson is smiling.