Day One
The Fat Boy Summer Road Trip started out with a day of flight from PDX to Kansas City.
After my arrival we went to dinner at a local spot called Nick & Nino's Pub. I Continued celebrating the #OldFashionedFortnight with a strong but decent Old Fashioned made with Makers 46. For an appetizer we had the Fried Trio, a combination of fried pickles, fried zucchini, and fried green beans. Dinner was a 16oz Rib eye, served with mashed potatoes and fresh sauteed veggies. The rib eye was perfectly cooked and seasoned, in addition to being tender enough that I didn't realize I was using my butter knife until the second bite.
The atmosphere at Nick & Nino's was great, with friendly staff and live music from a decent band. Not a bad start to the adventure.
Day Two
Our second day started on base at Ft. Leavenworth for Maj. Michael Cooper's graduation from the United States Army's Command and General Staff College. It was great to be able to be here and see Coop reach another milestone in his military career.
The keynote address was provided by Gen. Abrams, Commanding General, U.S Army Forces Command. His address focused on the bonds forged by graduates with each other and with graduates from the 93 nations represented in this year's class, the threats they will face in a faster paced global environment than his generation of staff officers had to deal with, and the relationships that would change to the organizations graduates would return to or be joining.
After graduation breakfast was in order, so we headed to downtown Leavenworth to a restaurant that opened just a couple years ago in the old railroad depot, appropriately named The Depot.
My breakfast special included a biscuit with gravy, crispy and perfectly fried hashbrowns, two eggs, and two slices of crispy bacon. The biscuits were flaky and amazing, gravy was peppery beauty. One of the best classically dine breakfast Atos I've had in a long time. Definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in Leavenworth, KS.
That evening we went out to celebrate before leaving town, and spent must of our evening at DraftCade in Kansas City's Zona Rosa mall. Featuring 60 taps of craft brew goodness, classic pinball and arcade games, and a decent bar menu it was a fun place to hang out.
From there we headed out to local dive Arthur's for karaoke and drinks with some old friends to end the night.
Day Three
Day Three dawned with a delay after finding that the Uhaul had been stolen from the parking lot over night. After a three hour delay to file the police report and track down a replacement trailer we were finally on the road to St. Louis and a home cooked meal with the Golden family. Bob worked for Coop in New York, and I met them on our last trip West three years ago. Since then they have become good friends.
We arrived to advance amazing meal and great time catching up with the whole family. We stayed up until after 3am laughing and talking around the fire out back. It was the perfect end to a day that started out so crazy.
Day Four
We woke up and had a light breakfast before heading out to see a little bit of the city. We stayed at Anheiser-Busch's Grants Farm. The historic home if general US Grant's in-laws it became the country home of the Busch family in the early 1900's.
We expected to see the Clydesdale horses so famous for pulling the beer wagons. We didn't expect to find camels, elephants, buffalo, and exotic birds.
From Grants Farm we headed downtown to visit the Arch.
the old courthouse in St Louis
We were all hot and tired so headed back to Bob and Rinku's house for dinner. On the way we grabbed pizza from local favorite Imo's. Featuring a cracker thin crust and light sauce it is unique but a nice might take on a take out staple.
Day Five
We left St. Louis after a great time catching up with the Golden family and headed south to Memphis. Along the way we stopped at Stonie's Sausage.
Snack stix and sweet bologna were my favorite finds, but a great selection of meat and sausage aft decent prices.