Westbound Day 7 Springfield, IL to Overland Park KS 396 miles

The temperature in Springfield IL this morning is -8.  From the view out my hotel room window it looks like there is some wind.  I'm not sure what this huge industrial complex is but it's pumping out heat into the clear sky.
For Grove family members you will be interested to hear I spoke with our cousin Sharleen Robison (she is Dutch and Ruth's oldest child) while I was in Springfield IL.  She let me know we have a cousin serving in Iraq, William Cloyce Grove.  As you can see he has the middle name of his grandfather whom we all knew as "Dutch" rather than Cloyce.  William also shares the nickname Dutch.  This is what the family calls him just as the family called his grandfather Dutch.  Sharleen confirmed that all her life she had been told name the Grove family was Pennsylvania Dutch and my research has confirmed that too.

Downtown Springfield IL on this frigid Sunday morning was empty.  Like most downtowns there were no retail businesses to speak of.  It seems the primary business of downtown Springfield is state government, it is the capitol.  The Lincoln Museum is not open on Sundays so I was certainly the only tourist in town.  According to my father's birth certificate his parents lived at 1205 S. 8th St. which is in neighborhood now designated as Aristocracy Hill.  I couldn't really see from the residences any aristocratic homes.  The house my grandparents lived in at the time of my father's birth in 1925 is gone and this 1950's era professional building stands in its place.
From Springfield I headed southwest over state highways to Roodhouse in Greene County.

Roodhouse IL is the town my Short ancestors come from.  I have not done research on this surname.  It was provided to me but I thought since it is on my way west I should pass through.  Roodhouse has a population of approximately 2300.  It has seen more prosperous times.    I found one cemetery  but could not find any Short graves.  Donald S. Short and Lawrence Short are listed on the veterans memorial in the town square.
From Roodhouse I headed south to Altonville and crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri.  The river appeared choked with ice and had a small channel of moving water but I saw no ships in the river.

The drive east to west on I70 in Missouri is one I have made many times but not since the early 1980's.  St. Louis suburbs have sprawled  even further west.  The most striking feature of this drive is the spectacular view of flat, cold terrain.  You can see for miles in any direction.  This makes it easy for you to find yourself going 80 mph without realizing it.  I was bored on this drive and having the Pats lose along the way did not help matters.

I knew I was getting closer to Kansas because the sunset was spectacular.  Here is how it looked heading west at 70 mph in Emma MO at 5:30 pm January 10, 2010.

Parker, KS is about 60 miles from Overland Park.  I will conclude the Grove migration there as Parker is where William and Sarah settled in 1873.  I have an appointment to get in to the Parker Community Historical Society in the morning.  Depending on how much is there I may spend a second day if not I will go on to Wichita.

Continue to read the blog as I will be posting events on the reverse trip west to east and I will be taking a different route.  I also will be posting facts about the trip and observations I have made along the way.