The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (Shotgun Spratling)

To read part one of Shotgun's cross-country adventure, click here.

After leaving Denver Saturday afternoon I made my way across Colorado and Kansas to Kansas City, then headed north to Minneapolis.

Before leaving the Denver area, being in no particular rush to get to Kansas City in the middle of the night, I headed downtown. I wanted to check out Coors Field since it was raining Friday when I left B’s Ballpark Museum. I also wanted to try Tomayo, a restaurant ESPN’s Adam Schefter recommended to me on Twitter. However, Tomayo doesn’t open until 5 p.m., and I didn’t want to wait around Denver for another hour, so I just grabbed a Qdoba burrito to appease my stomach.

The drive to Kansas City was painfully boring. Besides seeing a potential tornado, there was nothing by farmland. My GPS told me to take Highway 36, which turned into the longest stretch of splattered bugs and small towns I’ve ever encountered. The Pony Express Highway was not quite express but it didn’t really matter because no museums or sites of interest are open at 3 a.m. There was no big rush.

After a three-hour nap at a rest area that didn’t have bathrooms, I woke up covered with a layer of sweat, ready to get back on the road. I strolled into Kansas City around 8 a.m. and headed to the National World War I Museum. I was not seeking any particular research from a WWI museum. It was just the only place of interest open earlier than noon on a Sunday.

I spent a couple hours perusing the museum's various uniforms and weapons and learning more about the atrocities of trench warfare. Coincidentally, each of the local museums had a small exhibition set up for teachers to learn more about the museums in the area and how they could be useful teaching tools. Here I was able to meet Dr. Raymond Doswell, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum curator.

Doswell gave me information about books and papers I might want to read about Eddie Klepp, the most well known white guy to play in the Negro Leagues (Klepp is the topic of my historical fiction novel). Doswell also gave me pointers on how to best approach the story in order to give it the authentic feel I am shooting for.

I then scooted across town to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, where I spent the next five hours remembering everything I had previously read and studied while also learning several new things. It was also stunning to see some of the pictures I had never seen before, including one of a teenage Hank Aaron prior to getting on a train to join the Indianapolis Clowns Negro Leagues team. The museum typically takes between one and three hours to tour. It is definitely a must visit for any baseball fan.

Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures inside the museum, so I can't showcase the cool things I saw. They also do not have a research section like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown does. That would have been perfect for my journey, but I’m hoping the research center in Cooperstown will fill that need.

After grabbing barbecue at the famous Arthur Bryant’s, I visited Kauffman Stadium (beautiful stadium…too bad the Royals play in it) and Arrowhead Stadium before embarking on the northern turn of the trip, driving up to Minneapolis.

Driving through Iowa, I ran into the largest thunderstorm I’ve ever witnessed. I had been watching the lightning brighten the sky for about 30 minutes prior to realizing I was driving straight into the storm.

For more than two hours my car was bombarded with sheets of rain pellets and winds that reached over 60 mph, according to the weather updates relayed over the radio. My car lurched from side to side due to the strong winds, and lightning turned the sky into a flashing lights show with a constant flickering and series of flashes that made it appear to be daylight for seconds at a time. Once there were four separate lightning bolts that hit the ground simultaneously, which gave a solid four or five seconds of pure light in the night sky.

Thankfully I made it through safely. Astonishingly, within three miles of crossing into Minnesota the rain had completely subsided.

Part Two Tallies
- Full Meals: 3
- Hours of Sleep: 10
- Miles: 1,010
- Non-Destination Stops: 6
- States: Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota
- Rivers: 9
- Big Rig Trucks Passed: 26
- Pictures Taken: 239
- Fast Food Restaurants on US-36 from Denver to KC: 7
- Fast Food Restaurants Not Named Pizza Hut on 514 miles of US-36: 3
- Different Songs Heard By Rihanna: 5

Totals
- Days on the Road: 4
- Full Meals: 4
- Hours of Sleep: 20
- Miles: 2,045
- States: 9
- Rivers: 11
- Non-Destination Stops: 12
- Big Rig Trucks Passed: 175
- Pictures Taken: 509
- Casulties of the Road: 2 (toiletry bag left in Denver, elastic
waistband in pair of velor pants)

Interesting Fact of the Day: At the ripe age of 44, Hall of Famer Smokey Joe Williams struck out 27 batters in a 1-0, 12-inning shutout win over the Kansas City Monarchs.

Cool Person of the Day: Kari from the QuikTrip in Platte City, Missouri. Kari was friendly, helpful and recommended a quality, creative fountain drink mixture. Her son is also studying journalism (Springfield College), so she hooked me up with a couple of coupons for free QT fountain drinks for the rest of my journey.

Quote of the Day: “It is not the honor you take with you but the heritage you leave behind.” - Branch Rickey

To reach reporter Shotgun Spratling, click here.