CHILLICOTHE & CLINTON, MO

We continued our dash south, trying to keep ahead of the chilly weather.  Our plan was to make our way through northwestern Missouri to Tulsa, Oklahoma, so we could catch some of the Arabian Horse Nationals. 

First stop in Missouri was Chillicothe - "The Home of Sliced Bread".  Our campground was one of our strangest.  The owner was a very nice guy, who had bought an old mobile home park and was converting it to an RV park.  We were one of two trailers there - but I honestly don't know if he could have had many more.  He has a lot of work to do.

Not too bad a location!  We had horses in the "back yard"

And a nice view out the side windows. 

Downtown Chillicothe was walking distance from the campground, so we spent our morning walks roaming the town.  It really is the home of sliced bread!  The story is that Otto Rohwedder from Davenport, Iowa, had the idea for a bread slicer.  After many setbacks, he was able to get it built (it was five feet long and three feet high).  He traveled the country for years trying to sell it and finally, in 1928, Frank Bench of the Chillicothe Baking Company bought it.  Needless to say, it was a great success.  The bakery's bread sales increased 2000%!

 

The other thing that Chillicothe is known for are the murals on many of the buildings. Many of them show what the town was like long ago.

This was scenes of the old time fire station & equipment painted on the side of the current Fire Department building.

An old bank lobby

The Milwaukee Railroad

 

In the center of town there was Silver Moon Plaza, a pretty little park flanked by murals and neat old buildings.

The Milbank Mills mural in Silver Moon Plaza

I loved these window murals  - notice the Piano teacher & Farmer in the upper left

They are husband & wife - I loved the music connecting the two.

 

Most of the murals are very well maintained.  We were lucky enough to see the newest one being painted on the local library.

This is how it's done!

 

From Chillicothe, we headed south to Tightwad, Missouri - just west of Clinton.  The campground was very wooded & near prime fishing and hunting areas.  We were pretty lazy here as we have been traveling a lot, but we did venture into the town of Clinton. 

The County Courthouse was in the center of the square.

There were great old buildings around it,

and a pretty park area.

I loved this clock outside the old railway station.

We had some rainy days while we were here, and the weather was turning cool, so we were ready to move further south.