Hello everybody. This writing, Tuesday night, finds me in St. Louis; anyone want to meet me here? (yes, I am wildly funny as a matter of fact).

After Monday’s marathon (Ogden, Utah, to Lawrence, Kansas), we drove minimally today, as you probably figured out. We toured the University of Kansas (which mysteriously goes by KU) and then proceeded to Kansas City, where my primary objective, as you know, was checking out the Negro Leagues baseball museum.

Suffice it to say it was fantastic (my wife even liked it, and she’s lukewarm on the National Pastime). The best part was this big area they call the Field of Legends, where at each position is a life-size bronze statue of a Negro League great — Buck Leonard at first, Josh Gibson at catcher, Satchel Paige on the mound, etc. You could walk out onto the field and look each man right in his determined eye; it was inspiring.

Adjacent to the place is the American Jazz Museum, and we went ahead and visited that too, even though neither one of us is much for jazz (I’m a rock and roller, and my wife isn’t really into music in general, though she is a pretty good guitarist; figure that one out). The main reason we went is because you could do both museums for $10 (as opposed to one for $8), but really, it was pretty interesting. Kansas City is proud of its jazz heritage and culture, and the museum was really well done, with lots of interaction.

Before entering either museum, we followed the recommendation of locals and walked a few hardscrabble blocks to eat lunch at a place called Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque (check out my Facebook page for a photo). Ensconced in a red-brick building with a classic sign out front, Bryant’s really looked the part in a city famous for its barbecue, and it didn’t disappoint.

Turns out John McCain is something of a regular; he and Palin visited the place during the campaign, as photos on the wall attested.

OK, by the time you read this (Wednesday afternoon, if I have the blog’s future-publishing function figured out), I’ll have visited the Gateway Arch and the Anheuser-Busch brewery and be on my way to Louisville.

As always, thanks for reading, and special thanks to those of you have commented on my pics and postings on Facebook.

PS — If you like fireworks stands and porn shops, you’d love traveling I-70 between KC and St. Louis. There’s one of each every few miles.