It's Peculiar

Yes, we are in Peculiar, Missouri. Or "peck yoo lee ahr" as our GPS calls it. So, why are we in this Peculiar place in the Peculiar Park Place RV Park? It turns out, this is the park closest to Olathe, Kansas, that is reasonably priced. And the US government has shut down. We had reservations in a Corps of Engineering Park near Lawrence, Kansas, at $9 a night. But we didn't want to be kicked out at the last minutes, so we came here.

In case you are wondering, "Why Olathe, Kansas?" it is because John's ancestors came there in the 1850s and we are doing genealogy there. We are learning lots about "Bloody Kansas," the pre-Civil War years when pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces fought to determine whether Kansas would become a state as free of slave-holding. The fights were brutal, deadly. And did you know that John Brown, who was hanged for leading the failed attack on Harper's Ferry in 1859, leading to the Civil War, had spent time in Kansas in the mid-1850s, fighting pro-slavery forces? We didn't until this week.

John's great-great grandfather moved his family from Indiana to Kansas in 1858. A minister in the Christian Church, he probably came to support the anti-slavery faction in Territorial Kansas. The family lived right in the midst of all the border wars. How difficult.

We have visited the Johnson County History Museum (where Olathe, Kansas City and Lawrence are located) and Lecompton, the territorial capital of Kansas. It has been a real learning experience.

And there is more to come. We are doing this genealogy research while waiting for our new RV to be completed and delivered to the dealer in Chanute, KS. Today, we learned we will be waiting for up to 15 more days. Time for lots of research!

Back to the GPS. How do they make computers that can pronounce--or try to pronounce--the English language? Why does the computer say "peck you lee ahr" one time and "pee cuel yer" another? Anybody know?