Book Tour to Joplin, MO (Days 2-3)

Tuesday, September 29, 2026
5:33am Wake up. Facebook. Temp 63F.
6am Double check that you can't take the flight to Chicago from the Joplin airport instead of driving an hour south to Northwest Arkansas (layover too short to make the connection to Pittsburgh).
6:15am Workout.
7am Breakfast. 
8am Do some remote patient care. Temp 64F.
11:45am Cross the parking lot to the Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen for chicken pot pie for lunch. Temp 84F.
12:30pm Catch ride to campus. 
12:55pm Meet with the University president.
1:20pm Driving tour of downtown Joplin. Yes, THAT Joplin, MO, site of the costliest tornado in US history that killed 161 people and left a mile-wide swath of destruction through the center of town in 2011.
1:45pm Stop at The SalTea Sloth for fancy iced tea. Temp 83F.
2:05pm Arrive at Joplin Mineral & History Museum.

Grease monkey cans!

Above: rocks that glow in black light.

Below: "If It Can't Be Grown, It Must Be Mined" -- including something take goes in the filling of Twinkies (?!)

Above left: Junge Baking Company display case.

Above right: One of a series of Godey's Lady's Book plates that tell the story of a nun. In this one, "She decides to die in spite of Dr. Bottles." (Dear reader, she did not die--at least, not then.)

Above: antique furniture; below: hand-made paper dolls.

The National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum is just an alcove with changing exhibits, but it reminded me of nothing so much as the Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum in Gatlinburg, TN.

Above: someone's private collection of tricycles and pedal cars, on loan; below: period image of "The Goat," which is reportedly the first motorized fire-fighting vehicle in the country (1906).

Above: Bonnie & Clyde 1) were fashionable and photogenic and 2) had a shoot-out in Joplin in 1933.

Finally, there was a whole room devoted to Route 66, which runs through Joplin on its way to Tulsa, through Phoenix, eventually to Los Angeles/Santa Monica.

3:45pm Stop at hotel to pre-pack and grab lecture materials. Temp 85F.
4:20pm Find a comfy spot in the honors and global student lounge to review lecture.
6pm Give public book talk to 61 people. (Recording still pending.)

7:28pm Head to dinner at Wilder's Steakhouse with 3 historians, 1 literature scholar, and a biology instructor.
9:39pm Close down the restaurant. Temp 74F.
10:11pm Lights out. Temp 73F.

Wednesday, September 30, 2026
1:02am Too hot.
2:04am Too cold.
3:12am Not yet.
4:15am Alarm.
4:30am Check out and wait for ride to airport while "Country Roads" unironically plays on the hotel speakers. Temp 74F. 
5:58am Clear security. Stop by the Crystal Bridges mini art gallery. Temp 70F.

Above: Irwin Hoffman (1901-1989), Lace Makers, Puerto Rico (1944)

Below: Jean Bales (1946-2004), Untitled (1970s-80s)

6:38am Take window seat 15F. Process photos for my blog and do patient work.

8:40am Touch down at O'Hare. Raining. Hello, Block I in the terminal! Temp 64F.

9:26am Assume window seat 11F. Discover there is no wifi so you can't prep charts for afternoon clinic. 😤 Play Tetris and then pivot to outlining another article due by the end of the year.
10:am Finally take off from Chicago.
12:37pm Land in Pittsburgh. Pick up bag and eat leftovers in car while driving to clinic. Temp 72F.
2pm See patients.
4:42pm Leave clinic ASAP to get a snack before writing notes and signing paperwork. Temp 76F.
7:15pm Reunite with Dear Husband over dinner at the local watering hole. Temp 70F.

10:15pm Time to drop into bed! Temp 65F.