St. Louis to Oklahoma City

Elevator Operator on Windsor Stool

Our trip all the way across Missouri today--unfortunately the 495 miles we had to cover did not allow us to detour to Canton, Jani's hometown--taught us some interesting things: Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, MO, and Will Rogers lived in Claremore, OK. But what got Alan going was the friendly guy at the Oklahoma Visitors Center who guessed, somehow, that Alan was from NY. He asked, "Do you know Mickey Mantle?" Once Alan had recovered to gasp, "My hero!" our friend said, "He grew up in Commerce, OK. My great-aunt's family and his were close friends, and the two of them were kids together. My aunt was kind of a tomboy. She taught him to throw a ball." How happy we both were to learn this bit of baseball and feminist history!