Grand Tour - Missouri, Kansas, Illinois - Day Seven

Amy and Marilyn

After coffee with Anola and Peter, I returned to Grand Court to pack up and say goodbye to Mom. Today we were to drive to Clyde to visit Sr. Paula and stay over night at the monastery.  However, before we left Kansas City, Marilyn felt the need to stop at a Russell Stover Chocolates stores and "get some chocolates for Mom" - the Mom in Buffalo.  That is where we met Amy who told us some of the history of the company.  A quick check on Wikipedia provided more information. Russell Stover and Chris Nelson invented Eskimo Pies in Onawa Iowa 1920.  The product was immensely successful.  Stover sold his share to his partner for $25,000 and moved to Denver where he and his wife created Russell Stover Chocolates which has become the third largest chocolate manufacturer behind Hershey's and Mars and accounts for 60% of boxed chocolate sales in the U.S.  Initially the product was called "Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Chocolates."  They moved the company to Kansas City and in 1969 is was purchased by Louis Ward whose family still owns it.  We helped the local economy with several purchases including a logo ball cap and a couple of umbrellas.

Eventually we got on the road to Clyde and arrived in early afternoon after lunch.  We sat with Sister Paula in a sunny courtyard where the temperature got pretty close to 80 degrees.  The trees displayed more color everyday and we were treated to quite a show.  To the right is a view through the wisteria arbors as the late afternoon sun illuminated the turning trees.

We had dinner at A & G, Paula's favorite restaurant in Maryville.  OK, truthfully there aren't all that many restaurants in Maryville but A & G is very nice.  Apparently Marilyn and Paula approved of thier martinis!  We came back to the monastery where we watched "Of gods and men."  We had seen it once before and in fact we had given Paula a DVD of the movie.  Its impact was not lessened by having seen it previously.  After we watched it, we sat and talked about it.  While the rest of the world was watching the presidential debate, we were spending time in the world of a Trappist monastery in Algeria in the 1990's.  From what I read in the press the next day, we made the better choice.

You can view photos of the Clyde Motherhouse by clicking here.