Day 37: There is Something Good in Kansas

We were in no rush this morning. We took our time before heading out to see more of Kansas City. I had no idea Kansas City would be so cute.

The Country Club neighborhood

I was a little confused about the mission style architecture, but it was so cute, I didn't care. Kansas City is very vibrant. We were excited to see the older downtown area, so drove to check it out. After one street closure, we could see something was going on. They were having a rail parade? That sounded boring, so we did an about face and decided to head to lunch.

More activities in Kansas City- Breast Cancer Awareness- they dyed the fountain pink

We almost got derailed on our way to lunch, but managed to stay in control . We skipped Bacon Fest

Our lunch destination was voted the #1 BBQ place by both Zagat's and Yelp. As we pull up, I see the line out the door. It was only 11:30. I suggest we move on, but James (who doesn't wait in line for anything) was excited to stay. It did smell good outside.

Oklahoma Joe's is a gas station/ convenience store/ bbq restaurant.

We finally make it to the front of the OUTSIDE line. Yes, the line continues inside

Great sign. Our wait was almost an hour

This was the special- the burnt end sandwich. They only have it on special day/ times. Right before we placed our order the guy added this to the specials. Burnt ends are the edges of the brisket. It is extremely tender and still has all of the seasoning from the outside edge. It was awesome. Don't worry- we only ate a couple of the fries, but they were great too.... old bay seasoning

Also awesome was the Z Man. This is what almost every review mentions on Yelp. It was brisket, provolone , onion rings and their bbq sauce. It was incredible.

I was happy we stayed, but I may need larger pants. We were leaving straight from here to St Louis MO. I pull out the map and we get on the highway. But wait- what? Somehow we were back in Kansas. We crossed into Kansas City KS from Kansas City MO. How did that happen? It turns out Oklahoma Joe's is in Kansas! We were excited to find out that there is something good about Kansas after all.

Mile 6965: Leave all of the Kansas Cities

In just 4.5 hours, we are entering St Louis

Nice touch. Not every city welcomes us

A view of the arch from our hotel. We got a great deal on Hotel Tonight, but it was stressful. You don't know what's available until noon the day of your stay. We used it a couple times and it has some nice hotels.

We walked around St Louis for a bit.

St Louis also turned out to be a cute city

Look at all of this culture... the world's largest chess piece. The sign you see on the right shows you the scale. 

James ducked into this place called Culpeppers. I was confused about why, until...

Yeah. Virginia Tech was playing. This is James not caring about Virginia Tech. I'm not sure his words and actions were aligned.

After another tragic Virginia Tech game, we head out to dinner.

We went to a tapas restaurant called Taste

It was terrific weather, so we sat outside. Isn't this cute?

We needed some greenery, so we ordered the chopped salad. All that white stuff was blue cheese. I'm not a fan of blue cheese, so I was hoping I could eat around it. No luck.

I know, we were doing so good for a while there. My new trick is to put my iphone where the plate will go. It backfired this time. This was amazing. It was a little masa cake on the bottom, barbacoa (shredded beef) on top, with red onions, cilantro and queso fresco. Yum.

Tomorrow: A close up view of the arch and then on to Louisville, KY