Day 5 – Trip home

Monday morning was spent very leisurely. After checking out we went next door to the Springfield Tourist office and got more brochures and suggestions for breakfast. We went across the street to a little café attached to a local grocery store. This is apparently the place where all the retirees gather for their morning coffee klatches. We were the youngest there, other than Macy, the toddler everyone knew. It was very amusing to watch everyone greet everyone else and talk about their week, calling the waitresses by name and the waitress knowing exactly what they wanted. It was a great breakfast, and cheap too.

Our first stop on the way home was Wilson’s Creek Battlefield. We spent a good amount of time in the visitors’ center and then did the driving tour. The suggestion is for 1.5 hours…Hah! We spent that and still could have done more as we didn’t walk the trails to the different sites off the road. It’s a great site and, of course, the weather was perfect with a hint of fall on the trees.

We then drove to Carthage to visit the Civil War Museum there but it was closed. Another cute little town. Their courthouse looks a lot like the Ellis County courthouse. So we then headed over to the Carthage Battlefield which is only a little park with a couple of interpretive panels.

After that it was time to head home. We did stop for lunch at a little truck stop. Got Kimberly home about 7:00. I arrived home about 11:00 and it was still 80 degrees.