Tag Archives: outlaws

Kansas to Minnesota

Posted on by kathousekelli70

This morning after a fabulous breakfast and great hospitality from our hosts, we hit the road again and headed out for Kansas City.

We are visiting Union Station, just across the border in Kansas City, Missouri.

What a grand old lady is Union Station, with beautiful architecture, ornate ceiling rosettes, grand chandeliers AND Harvey's – a restaurant that once upon a time was a Fred Harvey house. I have a bit of an obsession with Harvey Houses.

 

Now there is Science City and a current exhibit of Mummies showing but we headed for the 2nd and 3rd floor history exhibits.

Union Station as it is today, replaced a smaller Union Depot that had served the city since 1878. The bigger station was built in 1914 on a new site away from floodplains just south of the central business district.

 

Just a few facts:

  • Jarvis Hunt, Architect was hired in 1906 for the building of Union Station.
  • When it opened in October, 1914 it was the second largest train station in the country.
  • It takes up 850,000sq ft/79,000m2 of real estate
  • Each chandelier, of which there are 3, weighs 3,500pds/1600kg
  • The Grand Hall clock face is 6ft/1.8m in diameter
  • The ceiling height in the Grand Hall is 95ft/29m high
  • In 1917 during WWI peak train traffic numbered 271 – 1945 during WWII peak passenger traffic was 678,363
  • 1933 Union Station massacre made headlines Frank Nash (notorious gangster, bank robber and escaped convict) along with 4 of his hit men attacked the men who had come to take him back to Leavenworth. 5 men including detectives and FBI agents were killed.

There are fabulous old photographs, information boards and displays of artefacts on the two levels overlooking the Grand Hall.

 

Mementos from special exhibitions are also on display along with information regarding the National Memorial and WWI Museum. The view across the lawn and fountain area to the Memorial is mighty fine. Landscape designer, George Kessler, indeed planned a beautiful city back in the late 1800's-early 1900's.

 

With a visit to Harvey's for extra breakfast (lol, don't need lunch! Have a go at the size of Jack's pancakes!!) we rolled out the door and back to the car to head further North through Missouri and into the state of Iowa.

 

Iowa is another new state to visit. We took a quick pit stop at Lamoni at the Welcome Centre and Amish store. I thought the buggy and horse were a statue when I saw the buggy parking sign! Lol! The horse must have realised the blonde needed an acknowledgement and with a turn of his head I realised it was real!

 

How fabulous Amish stores are with all their homemade and harvested fruits, vegetables, grains, and spices. Jack scored some Fig Jam and we got some awesome licorice wheels, YUM!

 

I head to the other end of the store where there is a neat little cafe set up and more goods. In the meantime, Jack perusing the information stand, finds the John Wayne Birthplace and Museum brochure. Winterset here we come!

Born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, John Wayne is one of the most recognised western actor's history has seen.

 

This small museum has a theatrette, a gallery with costumes, guns and other items used in films he starred in. It has one of his last customised cars on display, a buggy and beautiful panels from the ballroom in The Shootist.

 

The wax statue and painted scenes of Monument Valley are excellent. Monument Valley lends the perfect western landscape to many movies. Director John Ford made John Wayne a star in 'Stagecoach' in 1939. John Wayne directed and starred in 3 other films in Monument Valley – 'Fort Apache', 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon' and 'The Searchers'.

 

John Wayne starred in 152 movies! (200 actually, including cameo appearances)

 

The sweet little 4 room house and birthplace of John Wayne sits on it existing site just round the corner on the same block as the Museum and Gift shop. It has been restored and includes period furniture of 1907 when he was born.

 

Then it was back on the road!

We need to be in Faribault, Minnesota y'all!

Kat xo

 

Oklahoma/Kansas

Posted on by kathousekelli70

After a feed at the chuckwagon (aka Dennys), Jack and I jumped in the buckboard and reined in the horses (aka Dodge van hp). We are headed for Abilene, Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. Well essentially the modern day version of it being the I-35 which runs all the way from Texas through Oklahoma and up into Kansas.

 

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail – the first cattle drive that headed north to Abilene. 1867-2017

 

We made good time and stopped in at the Dwight Eisenhower Library and Museum. The museum currently has an exhibit 'Chisholm Trail and the Cowtown that raised a President' and the library has two exhibits 'The Chisholm Trail: Driving the American West' and 'Eisenhower and the Great War'.

First up we watched a documentary on the Eisenhower years and about the man himself. Dwight David Eisenhower, known as 'Ike', was a formidable man indeed, one of compassion and decency.

Next we went on a short guided tour through his Abilene boyhood home. The house is on its original site where the Eisenhowers lived from 1898 to 1946 when his mother passed away. There are still items within the home that belonged to the Eisenhower's.

 

He lived here from when he was 8 until he was 20 before leaving for West Point Academy. Six boys were raised in this home.

The blanket on the fainting couch was woven by the great grandfather who was a weaver. It is over 160 years old and still appears to be in really good nick!

 

The wooden box with the lid in the kitchen is a dough box. Ida made 9 loaves of bread every other day, to keep the boys fed.

 

Next we went into the Museum and spent a good amount of time in here. The first part of the exhibition was information that most of us cowboys and cowgirls know of the Chisholm Trail, its origins, the cattle drives, the cowboy's and how Joseph G. McCoy and Jesse Chisholm made it into the history books.

 

Chisholm, after marrying, had worked for his wife's father's trading post along the Canadian River in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). He also worked in a diplomatic capacity, brokering treaties with Indian tribes for the Republic of Texas and the United States Government.

Later after the Civil War, he went back to trading and essentially transformed the trails to be more usable by heavily laden wagons. He continued trading until he died in 1868.

McCoy after having been turned down from a few towns finally settled on Abilene, KS for his new 'cowtown'. There was a quarantine issue for Texas cattle at the time and after lobbying the Governor of Kansas got permission to create a corridor for cattle to be driven from Texas through to Kansas. Holding pens were built, paths were surveyed on the previously travelled trails that Jesse Chisholm had traded along.

It soon became the first of the cattle boomtowns. In a few years it had transformed from a small frontier town into a thriving boomtown.

The trail had been called many names and was finally officially recognised when the name was publicised in 1870. The Chisholm Trail was about 150 miles west of the old Shawnee trail. It was shorter and there were plenty of grazing grasslands and water for the cattle along this route and rivers were easier to cross.

 

Abilene, saw the usual well known figures flow through its streets such as Wild Bill Hicock, John Wesley Hardin, and more. Problems ensued with the cattle trade with cattle getting sick and the 'Texas tick' causing issues that essentially shut the cattle trails down in 1871.

It is said by historians that an estimated 3 million head of cattle made the trek from Texas to Abilene in a 5 year period. Safe to say Joseph McCoy's plans for a prosperous cattle business were indeed successful.

Whilst time and governance closed the cattle trails, the legacy of raising cattle and creating new agricultural ways has lived on for generations since.

One of Eisenhowers personal hero's, was a man named Thomas “Bear River” Smith who served as Sheriff in June 1870 until he met his demise in November of the same year. Smith had managed to tame the cattle town and was well liked. He policed mainly with just his spirit and a badge. He had outlawed gun carrying within city limits. His tenure was short lived when he was murdered during a homestead scuffle where his Deputy left him to fend for himself.

Into the next lot of exhibit rooms and there are lots of displays of Eisenhower growing up, Mamie his wife and beautifully displayed clothes of hers on rotating mannequins in climate control cases.

 

There are exhibits of his time during WWII and his exceptional leadership, D-Day, VE-Day, his presidential time etc. so much information, beautifully done and they are looking at changing the displays and renovating the museum. It will be an even more impressive museum when they do that. This is a Museum not to be missed.

 

The library across from the Museum had a, shall I say, more modern twist in a shortened version of the history of Chisholm Trail. There is also another exhibit currently being held there of Eisenhower and the Great War that we didn't see.

 

That my friends, is our quick history lesson and Museum visit for the day.

After a short stay with our Kansan friends Cooncan and Bertie Winchester we will head for Union Station in Kansas City before going on through to Morristown, MI.

See you on the trail!

Kat xo

https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov

 

Day In Cheyenne

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Last night we had a fabulous dinner with Wild Horse John, Saginaw Sue, Trigger Happy Ted and Misty Rider. A good catch up to start off our short stay in Cheyenne.

This morning was a leisurely start over coffee and then off to the country club for lunch on the deck overlooking the golf course.

 

A visit to the museum made for an interesting afternoon. Passing some of Cheyennes spectacular 1800's buildings, the Nelson Museum Of The West awaits.

 

With everything from taxidermy, firearms, Hollywood posters, Indian, cavalry, vaquero outfits, Spurs etc it is a fantastic exhibit over two floors, the third floor below – Lawmen and Outlaws display.

 

Gambling, guns and whiskey were the essentials for outlaws of the time or more likely is what caused the most grief in small railway and cowtown's of the west.

 

This a neat little museum and worth a visit if you are short on time, you can do it in a couple of hours.

We did get an extra personalised tour into the war bonnet room and the new exhibit acquisition room where they are organising new displays.

 

Then across the street into the military uniform display, what a collection! Mostly uniforms from actual military members and displayed with their name plate and photo! Such amazing collections!

 

A little saunter later down the road we arrived at The Plains Hotel for a rest and a beer. Yep, a Saddle Bronc for me, always got to try a local brew, well it comes out of Sheridan which is still Wyoming.

 

That takes care of today, won't be much to report tomorrow until we are at the airport!

Cheers

Kat xo

 

The Gamblers 2016

Posted on by kathousekelli70

'It's the most wonderful time of the year…….' Come on, couldn't help but throw in a Christmas tune there! Haa Haa Haa

Last weekend was The Gamblers, Christmas Club Championships. It was 'the season to be jolly' with two stages set up on the one range, 26 Cowboys and Cowgirls put their rigs on ready for some action.

 

They set to 'rocking around the Christmas tree' alternating the posse between a stage with movement and a stage shot all from one position.

 

Many of us were 'dreaming of a white Christmas' as the temperature crept up to 39C/102F. However, as cowboys and cowgirls do, we keep having fun whatever the conditions!

 

Of course, the usual banter and laughter is ever present, along with some steely glares. (The latter has to do with safety's on unfamiliar shotguns, she says rolling her eyes, sigh)

 

Getting into the final couple of stages and its 'do you hear what I hear?' Thunder and lightning is starting to roll in and with metal baffles overhead it's time to hurry this posse up and get done before the storm comes through.

'Joy to the world' ….the day is done…..let all….pack up….your gear (were you singing that to the tune? 🙂 Haa Haa)

'O come all Ye faithful' inside for the rest of the festivities. We all gathered for the after party with the Budweiser flowing and the chatter getting more animated. A spectacular feast as always prepared by Mrs Claus and her elves (aka Trixie, Prairie Joy and OK Carrol), full of ham, chicken, egg, potato, watermelon salad, prawn and mango salad followed by scrumptious tarts, cheesecake and pavlova! Well done ladies, well done!

 

Oops! Nearly forgot the decorating assistants Marlboro Man and Lucky Strike Lass for the set up of tables, tinsel and Bonbons!

 

Entertainment for the evening was performed by Rex Rhinestone and his fiddle with accompaniment on the spoons by Marlboro Man. Most excellent!

 

Onto Awards and thanks must go to Chuck and Pearl Starr for preparing them. Our leader, Dug Deeper, made announcements and did the honour of presenting awards. Congratulations to everyone!!

 

Ricochet (Jackaroo) came 2nd in Silver Senior, 1st Place congratulations to Johnny Behan and 3rd Place to Mad Mick.

 

In Lady Wrangler category congratulations to 2nd Place, Ex Sighted, 3rd Place, Tequila Sunrise.

 

Overall winners for The Gamblers, were Mad Dog Tannen and Tequila Sunrise.

 

For the 'Outlaws' (non club members), overall winners were Painted Mohawk and Amazing Grace (Kathouse Kelli)!

 

Thank you to all The Gamblers for a great time as usual!

Feliz Navidad!

Kat xo

 

Kentucky Gold!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

After we finished in Dayton yesterday, we headed South and took a slight diversion through Carrollton and onto an intersection on the highway at Clermont and Bardstown, Kentucky.

Heading East to Bardstown (totally not knowing where we were going at the time) we happened into Bardstown only to realise we were destined to be in this spot!!!

Bardstown, after all, is the heart of Bourbon country, we are right in the midst of the Bourbon trail, including Jim Beam, Four Roses, Barton 1792, Heaven Hill, Willett and Makers Mark distilleries. With other famous ones further away.

Staying at the Bardstown Parkview Motel for the night, caught up on the blog from the past few days, worked out adjustments for patterns for a certain town suit (Crossdraw Jac), pinned some corsets ready for stitching and started writing a couple of articles.

This morning we headed 'downtown' to the Visitors Centre, seeing some amazing old buildings, this area has been here since 1780!

 

We first went up to the Civil War Museum, a beautifully displayed collection according to civil war eras. They have so many fantastic prices from this period it is incredible. This rivals the one we saw in Baxter Springs a couple of years ago.

 

The Bardstown Village, a recreation using original buildings from the surrounding area is amazing, just didn't get to see in all the buildings as it was raining!!

 

Back up the hill to see the 'Women of the Civil War' Museum and War Memorial Museum, both with much interest and artefacts as well.

 

From here it was back down through town (we had walked about 2 blocks and usually a block is a mile), heading to the car and to the tavern. Well it was lunchtime!?!

The Old Talbott Tavern is amazing! 125 varieties of bourbon is there claim to fame, however this beautiful old building and the tavern have been in existence since 1797.

 

We tried the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale which is spectacular at 8.2%abv and coupled with their signature BBQ pulled pork sandwich is divine. Christie was amazing, sharing some history with us.

 

The Jesse James bourbon was only named and brought to the tavern because Jesse James once stayed here. There are also bullet holes in the walls upstairs where he fired off his gun.

Some bourbons may have catchy names but really only for naming and if less than two years are not actually a bourbon anyways.

We took a quick trip up the stairs of the tavern and there it was, bullet holes from Jesse James gun after a loss or feud during cards into the now, very charred murals.

 

We hit the road and headed out to the Four Roses distillery. Why did we pick this one you may ask? Well, as far as we knew, it wasn't that commercialised, we liked the look of the bottles and….we just had to try something different. For $5 each for the tour, it was very interesting and well worth the stop.

Our tour guide was Debbie, last run for the day, so really we had a personalised tour with only the two of us on it.

The Four Roses brand came about in the 1880's (or some time thereafter) so named after the southern belle he married when she turned up to a ball with four roses on her corsage. (That's the story in a nutshell, there's more too it and more romantic than my account)

 

Apparently around 1958 it was purchased by an overseas company, however in 2003 and later years it was repurchased. Now all labels are made and bottled in the US again.

The distillery is in Lawrenceburg, the distillate is sent here for barreling and bottling. Before its trucked out, the sampling there is confirmed with the original before sent here, sampled again here to confirm. It is barrelled at 120 proof. Barrel aging occurs for 5 years. The white oak barrels are used once only.

 

The nozzles are where the distillate is put into the barrel. It takes 45 secs to fill and a poplar wood bung put in. Poplar, provides no weight or colour to the bourbon. It is then stencilled with barrel head information. Ie: their brand name, tax number, county number etc. Two tankers, 280 barrels a day. Then out into the rick houses for ageing.

The charred inside of the barrels are from a 1 to 4 level. Once used, some barrels get shipped off overseas for whiskey to be aged in. The barrels are made in Lebanon, Kentucky and Missouri.

Chill filtering occurs for the yellow label and single barrel where the fatty acids are filtered out. 66% of flavour will come from barrel and 100% of the colour will come out but you will lose colour when filtered, so to avoid losing too much colour they soak the filters in bourbon and ash also! Smells bloody divine.

Bottling now is mostly automated but the single barrel bottles are still finely labeled (by hand) with the 'mapping your barrel' markings. Like a latitude and longitude marking of where the barrel was stored in the rick house.

As the Japanese market is still number one, different labelling is provided for the 80 and 86 proof that is shipped out to them.

 

They try and bottle out, same as quantity in. Approx 200 bottles from ea barrel, 280 barrels a day!!

There are 20 rick houses, 4 new ones coming, hold 24,000 barrels, each sits on 1 acre of land. The moats are so if one was to catch fire and roll out, it will only go into the moat, same reason for having buildings set so far apart. Single level 6-7 degree difference in natural or ambient temperature, if taller than they can get a 37 degree difference. Mother Nature is the only thing governing the barrel control on ageing.

Ahhhhhh, the smell as you walk into the rick house! Look down the walkway, yes it's a walkway! 69 barrels in length.

 

Yes, the barrel handler guys, actually walk this narrow walkway down the rick and make sure they are bung side up.

 

We had 3 samples of bourbon at the end of the tour, you get to keep the glass and of course we bought a couple different bottles and souvenirs.

 

From here we did a quick trip to the Jim Beam factory, took some pics and I know his would be a sensational tour too but we've done the Jack Daniels one and really wanted to do something different. No offence, as we do drink it often.

 

Here's cheers! With whatever you're drinking!

Kat xo

 

 

http://fourrosesbourbon.com

Http://jimbeam.com

 

Jesse James, Missouri

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Travelling through Missouri we see a sign for a Jesse James, Wax Museum.

On the old Route 66 and adjoining the Meramec Caverns, once a hideout for Jesse James.

 

Jesse James and his brother Frank joined the Civil War in 1861 at a very young age. Whilst serving in the war they basically learnt to kill. They met Bloody Bill Anderson and William Quantrill thus becoming part of the Quantrill Guerillas rogue gang.

 

Meramac Caverns near Stanton, Missouri was one of Jesse James hideouts, famous now from Route 66 days. The entrance to the caverns able to fit 300 cars and a dance floor! I'm sure that's NOT what Jesse and his gang were doing back then!

Now this little museum is about….well maybe….that Jesse didn't die early on but that he lived to be 103, passing away in 1951. His cook and other gentlemen attested to this around the time of his 102nd birthday. Including a Colonel that he had known during the Civil War and around the time of his supposed 'staging' of his death.

It was said to be proven that the exact 8 markings on Jesse's body were examined and identified in 1951. A Mr Turilli (having written a book and given many public accounts) knew Jesse James for 2 years, otherwise records show he did die in 1882.

Included in the Museum are some gorgeous antique artefacts and wax figures. The antique post office was apparently the most frequently robbed in the state of Missouri.

Jesse's first daylight bank robbery took place on Feb 13, 1866 he had already done plenty prior to this. It was also the first recorded bank robbery in US history. The stolen amount was reported to be in excess of $60,000.

The man using the name J. Frank Dalton (take from those names what you will!) living in Lawton during 1948 and at the age of 100 claimed to actually be Jesse James. There is no actual record of a J. Frank Dalton.

(This picture from Wikipedia and I very briefly read the bio there)

There is a photographic aging picture without any digital change, just morphed, definitely looks like a much older Jesse James that's for sure. Truth? Or Fiction? You be the judge.

Kat xo

P.S. Unfortunately could not take any pics within the museum. The price to enter was a bit much for what it was but very, very interesting to say the least.

https://adventuresofjacknkat.com/2014/06/16/st-joseph-missouri/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Frank_Dalton

 

Lincoln County Cowboys

Posted on by kathousekelli70

In the morning light a posse of 16 cowboys and cowgirls rolled into the Crossroads Gun Range of Cushing, Oklahoma.

The sun beat down from a bright blue sky, later giving way to an Oklahoman breeze. With a tip of the hat and the pledge of allegiance, a six stage shoot out got under way.

 

They listened for how the shootout would take place, gathered their guns and ammo to take down the targets as the stage was set.

 

There was laughter, disappointment, cussing and messing with some.

 

At the end of the day, the cowboys and cowgirls came together for dinner and regaled each other with their tales – all the while with smiles on their faces and looking forward to the next time they came together at the next corral.

I'll be your huckleberry.

Kat xo

 

Saturday…What More Can I Say?

Posted on by kathousekelli70

I don't think too many of us performed at any sort of fantastic shooting ability (except for Winchester who took out first place, cogratulations) today but did well at getting up to more cheek than necessary.

With only 3 women shooting today, we got up to more no good than usual and certainly enjoyed ourselves doing so. 😉

Mostly Pearl Starr and myself giggling on the sidelines or in the background!

 

A few cheeky comments thrown in for good measure with Prairie Joy.

 

Well maybe this group was up to no good too or telling lies!

 

Jack also managed to have a short play just with pistols to check his form. He wasn't particularly happy about speed but hello! He hit all the targets AND it's still early days buddy. All in good time, all in good time.

 

Great stages again by Mad Dog Tannen, no procedural for me today, so that was a plus but still a few too many misses for my liking and 8 stuck in the rifle……ouch!!


Everyone had fun and by 4.00pm we had finished 6 stages.

Dinner, drinks and more banter ensued. Gotta love any day out on the range!

Kat xo

 

Practice, Practice, Practice

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Clearly that's what I need to do more of after today's effort, or at least pay attention to instructions!

Misses – 2, Procedurals – 1, Pistol Reloads – 2 very messy and uncoordinated, Shotgun inadvertently opening – 1 and probably a bit ragged on rifle on 2 stages.

Despite this, raw times were good but that makes not one iota of difference if you have all the other stuff going on, now does it?

 

Loads of fun as usual, plenty of laughs and good company, what more could you want really.

Congratulations to Mad Dog Tannen for taking out top honours at this weekends Gamblers club match and to Ex Sighted and Prairie Joy for clean matches!

Next club match in two weeks!

Cheers

Kat xo

 

Gold Coast Gamblers Club Champs

Posted on by kathousekelli70

The beginning of Feb saw a group of Cowboys and Cowgirls get together for the Gold Coast Gamblers Club Championships for 2015.

It was a hot and humid day for the 23 that showed up for some fun and action.

 

Five stages were shot and then it was time for pack up, dinner, bragging, drinks and awards.

It came down to inlaws and outlaws – seeing as there were some that weren't club members.

Jack and I were both awarded our trophies for our category wins in the Pat Garrett Champs. For the Club Champs, Jack finished 2nd in Seniors and 8th overall. I finished 1st in Lady Wrangler and 2nd overall.

 

As usual it was lots of fun, laughter and having digs at each other.

Congratulations to the overall Club Champions (the inlaws) for 2015 being Mad Dog Tannen for the Men's and Trixie for the Ladies!

 

They deal in lead friend,

Kat xo