Marais des Cygnes Road Trip
So, I woke up this morning with a 'hankerin' to go mosey down yonder'. With "down yonder" being open for discussion. This means I was itching to hit the road in my jeep with my trusty Nikon D3100 in hand and commit some photography.
I quickly decided to head down to the Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Area because I've been wanting to get some up close and personal photos of hawks, eagles and some of the snowy owls that are supposed to be in the area.
Much to my chagrin, I crossed the Black Gates into Mordor and headed down Hwy 69. I took the exit for La Cygne Lake thinking that the Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Area must be close to the Lake, right?
The first thing I noticed was that La Cygne Lake was dominated by the La Cygne Power Plant.
That seemed odd.
I headed west on the levy road past the Power Plant looking for signs for the Wildlife Area, but didn't see any. All I saw was this intriguing sign that made me thing of my friend Meesha.
When I hit the Missouri Line I knew I was on the wrong path and headed back west until I saw this sign.
OK, maybe it's down there somewhere.
So I head down a series of gravel roads and encounter what should be seasonal, La Cygne Lake camp grounds and a Marina. Should be pretty empty in January.
WRONG!
What I saw was Lovecraftian creepy.
It was what can only be described as a shanty town of every variety of camper, trailer and old, defunct RV permanently moored to utility connections with very sketchy looking mounds of duct tape, bungy cords and whatever else was available.
They clearly were no longer "mobile". Many of them had actually built additions on to their RVs.
It was on the opposite end of Lake La Cygne as the huge power plant. Very South Park.
I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want the zombie-like, nuclear-mutated gill-people to come oozing out of their pods and sacrifice me to Dagon.
But you can see a similar settlement in Midtown Miscreants post on the Mayfair Trailer Park.
They have a virtual settlement there where the Marina is the equivalent of City Hall.
Here is why.
If I'm reading that right, it's basically $15.00 for 1 year's rent and $14.00 for a full Utility hook up. No mortgage. Just a couple of minimal RV Park charges and they live lakeside all year round in their cozy RV city.
Weird!
I got the hell out of there without being turned into sacrificial Fish God bait and found the Marsais des Cygnes Wildlife Area!
Only to find that it was CLOSED!
Or so I thought. Had I bothered to go to their website, I would have seen that it was only the HQ Office that was closed. The rest of the area was open and I could have spent the afternoon there, if I wasn't such an idiot.
Oh well! It's an adventure, right? I had seen signs pointing to a Massacre Sight of some sort. Had no idea what it was. Figured it must have been Native Americans killing settlers or settlers killing Native Americans, something like that.
I was wrong. It was a much more recent Civil War massacre.
Story in a nutshell, pro slavery assholes rounded up a bunch of anti slavery folks and slaughtered them in a ditch like animals.
The State Historical sight is laid out well. On the way to the sight of the Massacre, there are placards explaining what led up to the Massacre. 
The emotional heart of the site is where the pro slavery vigilantes stood and gunned down the anti slavery victims who were lined up in a ravine.
It looks like there was some sort of plaque remembering the event, but some fucktard stole it. Probably for it's weight in scrap metal.
On the way out of the site are placards recording what happened after the slaughter.
It's a very secluded site and you can feel the weight of what happened there. But what's weird are the picnic tables and benches and weenie roasting stations.
DAD: "HEY HONEY! Round up the kids! It's a beautiful day! We're going to have a PICNIC!"
WIFE: "That sounds fun! Where are we going?"
DAD: "Let's go to that place where a gang of rabid, racist, bigots mercilessly slaughtered a bunch of anti-slavery liberals in a ditch! I love that place! It's so beautiful and peaceful!
WIFE: "We'll make S'Mores!"
DAD: "I'll get the bratwurst!"
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5 comments:
Should have went to Trading Post is an old Lady there who runs local history and museum and lives there. I have a friend who lives there in the town that really is called Trading Post.
I use to fish all over that area down there years ago wish I had known you was going down could have helped you find some interesting things to look at.
Google Lewis and Clark Village, MO 64484, XO. It's a little lake area west of I29 between st joe and weston. I ran a route through there last winter, must have been a dozen baldies up there.
I’m shocked that there actually is 5% beer in America. I can understand why the pantywaist, milquetoast Yankee Libruls feel that it is advantageous to advertise that they have '5%' beer though.
From whence I come, 5% beer is for women - and Asian women at that! Despite our lack of sufficient alcohol dehydrogenase, we cope well.
Non-Librul men drink Tactical Nuclear Penguin.
The Antarctic name, inducing schizophrenia, of this Uber-imperial stout originates from the amount of time it spends exposed to extreme cold. This beer is initially double barrel aged for 14 months; maturing in the deep, rich oak of Scottish whisky casks. After this epic maturation the beer is then frozen, then frozen again, then frozen yet again.
This is an extremely Non-Librul and manly beer, it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance. In exactly the same manner that you would enjoy a fine whisky, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost.
If my reading of American history is correct, were not the “gang of rabid, racist, bigots’ Democrats and the “anti-slavery liberals”, Republicans? Though I do recall there may have been a few Whigs involved in the mix as well. I can’t be arsed to research it further though.
Aquarians:
You must be reading "Here Comes Trouble"!
Zagmeyer
I think you might be reading the prices on that sign wrong. I think there is a yearly park fee but the other fees are overnight camping fees....but who would want to camp there given what you saw?
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