Kansas City, MO

We left the comfort of Caroline and Phil's home in the Chicago suburbs and made a pitstop at Trader Joe's for some food for the day's trip to Kansas City.  While we were at TJ's we found out about a breakfast place not far away, so we had to stop and have some eggs, coffee, and such.
Our lunch at an Illinois rest area was simple--see the pic to the right.  We improvised napkins by ripping off sections of a Trader Joe's bag! So much for carefully planning and packing.
Illinois is a big state, so much of today's ride was just getting through to our crossing point on the Mississippi River--Hannibal, Missouri.  Just over the state line we pulled out some Munson's Chocolates (from CT) that Juan and Roe gave us for our trip, and ate the 'T' and the 'P' that Boris was holding on to.

Pav got us through Missouri to Kansas City.   Along the way we hit a few thunderstorms and even caught a hint of a rainbow.  [Don't know if you can see it in the picture below.]

Bridge crossing the Missouri River 

As Pav was driving, I was searching on HotelTonight for a place to stay for the night.  One of the nicest things about this trip we're on together is how easy-going we are when it comes to finding places to stop, to stay, and to eat.  Of course, we've had the good fortune to stay with friends along the way for several nights, but this is the third night where we've had to locate a place on our own at the last minute.  Anyway, HotelTonight had a great deal on a room in the oldest part of Kansas City--the price had just been slashed from $125 to $71, so I couldn't resist booking it.  From there, we did a Google Maps search for restaurants in the area and settled on a place called W.C. and B. (Westport Café and Bar) which is a French bistro just up the road from the hotel.

Rather than ordering two entrees, we opted to go for some apps and garnitures--

Pea ravioli in lemon parmesan sauce, Ricotti gnocchi drowning in browned butter, creamy polenta, haricots verts, and pommes frites.  We had a delicious white wine named Little James' Basket Press from the south of France, and now I have to find it somewhere in California or Connecticut!

Today (Tuesday) we will be visiting two museums--the Liberty Museum which houses one of the largest collection of World War One memorabilia in the world and the Arabia Museum which is an original 1800's steamboat that sank in the 1850's and 'reappeared' in a farmer's field in the 1990's!  We're going to miss the Nelson Museum, because it's closed Tuesday.  We'll have a full report on the day's events in an upcoming post.