Lamar, Missouri,
Not on GPS and no one has gotten the memo.
Except the Super 8 Motel. They created Lamar Heights to make the hotel GPS-able. it's a very nice one and conveniently across the street from the graveyard where my family is buried. Chance loves to run around there and mark the graves.
Many of the towns in the Plains have Victorian era courthouses with a downtown square and half the businesses empty. They are the most picturesque 'Meet Me in Saint Louis' town squares, except after George Bailey decided to instead- have a life.
Wyatt Earp's uncle's family all lived in Lamar. They are all buried there. Wyatt's first law job was in Lamar as a constable. He met and married his first wife here, Urilla Sutherland. She died suddenly of typhoid fever in Lamar while pregnant with Wyatt's first child. Her grave is hidden, out of Milford, Mo. Wyatt is weirdly enough, buried in South San Francisco.
President Truman was also born here. My mom grew up in that house. It was owned by the Earp family when my great, great grandparents lived there. It's a museum now and one of my goals was to bring back a candy dish that lived there with my family. It was my only actual family inheritance from my mom's side.
Saying goodbye to my only family heirloom
There are no restaurants, except at the gas station, Tractors. It has been said to be the best BBQ south of Kansas City and has a full bar. Their Margaritas are great but not as good as the chipped Bbq brisket dinner. I ate it like a starving orphan. Then pie.
There is not one iota of gentrification in this completely 1800's era semi-abandoned town as are all the towns, seemingly, on the plains. Besides the grand Victorian courthouse, a thirty's Deco movie theater, the Plaza, is the crown jewel of the square. It, fortunately, was lovingly restored by the nice family that runs it today. My mom would have seen her first movies there. Our Gang, Fantasia. but Shirley Temple was her idol. She would have watched every Shirley Temple movie in that theater when it was brand new.
The other place my mom hung out as a kid was at the roller rink. It's a great bar now named the Gallows. It still has the beautiful oak floors. The owner, Boyce is a very hip Missourian with a two beaded, braided mustache about one foot long. He lived in California too. The beads bobble when he talks. He loves hanging at his bar, performs in his own bands there and drives everyone home in his bus so they don't get DUI's. He doesn't drink much. He's the coolest guy in town. Everyone else farms and eats. You can get good pulled pork sandwiches there.
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