Blue Goose ~ Day 288

March 11, 2015 ~ St. Charles, MO to Boonville, MO

I am always relieved to be out of urban traffic, but first I found a Starbucks relatively close to the motel and settled in for a couple of hours trying to catch up with this blog.

It was a gorgeous day as I drove north to Clarence Cannon NWR, at least 50 miles, and found the access road closed. Four guys in orange fluorescent working vests were standing by their trucks, eating sandwiches. Yes,  ma'am, they said....You can get onto the refuge. All I had to do was call the office and "they will send a truck out to pick you up..." which option I declined. The guys were friendly, working on a railroad crossing on the road, the only one into the refuge...or so they told me.

Annada, MO, across the street from the closed
road to Clarence Cannon NWR

So I spent a couple of hours driving most west through the Missouri countryside on roads with no shoulders, up and down gentle hills, past farms before finding a motel in Boonville. The owner, the East Indian woman at the desk, was friendly, efficient and slightly curious about me traveling alone, telling me I had "guts." She laughed and acknowledged she is afraid driving four miles home after dark.

I switched rooms here also as the first one looked onto the back of another building. The second room was perfect with open farm fields and a western exposure. I love finding these small independently owned motels (even though still connected somehow to national chains) where the owners take pride in their property. The rooms were small but clean and updated. This woman was lively and talkative with bright red lipstick and a sly smile. She had been in the US for 32 years, living on the East Coast at first and then moving to Missouri to be closer to a sister. I don't know if she was currently married but I assumed she was. I think she mentioned grown grandchildren as a reason they moved on....they were no longer needed for baby siting.

On her suggestion, I went downtown to Maggie's Bar and Grill where I had a Reuben sandwich. The place was a typical dark small town popular bar,  very noisy with good food, slow service, seating for 40 at tables and 8 at the bar, families mingling with the regulars. The food was good and cheap; the noise comforting rather than annoying. Boonville is on the Missouri also with the grand Frederick Hotel at the end of the street. I wished I had known about it and checked out staying there. Several magnificent large homes were set back from Main Street just before the small business section and at dusk, all seemed extraordinarily tidy and appealing.

Missouri Gothic
(I think this grand old place was uninhabited but sometimes, it's hard to tell...)