Lady Liberty in La Junta, Colorado. -- Photo by Pat Bean
- Redbud blossoms say spring — Photo by Pat Bean
“Education is learning what you didn’t even know, you didn’t know.” — Daniel J. Boorstin
Travels With Maggie*
I stopped at La Junta, Colorado, to see the Koshare Indian Museum, but it was closed. Instead I took a walk in the City Park adjacent to the museum, where I was surprised to see the Statue of Liberty.
Of course not the real thing, just a miniature replica presented to the city by local Boy Scouts. Why was it here in this small town that sat on the banks of the Arkansas River (which by the way I had already crossed several times since leaving Texas just six days ago) and in the path of the old Santa Fe Trail?
This inquiring mind needed to know. It was the homework I set myself for the evening.
La Junta, I learned first, had its beginnings as a construction camp for the Santa Fe Railroad, which, when completed, marked the beginning of the end for the Missouri to New Mexico foot path. After the railroad work was completed the construction camp almost died, but then the railroad built a depot and roundhouse at the site and it bustled once again.
In 1881, the camp was incorporated and named La Junta, which in Spanish means the junction.
As to the Statue of Liberty replica, I learned there are over 200 of them scattered around the country in 39 states. Iowa, with 27, has the most, with Kansas coming in a close second with 26, and Missouri, with 25, taking third place.
The statue in La Junta is one of 17 for Colorado. A complete list of the statue sites, just in case you have an inquiring mind, too, can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/4q5a7gw
The statues were Kansas City Scout Commissioner J.P. Whitaker’s idea for celebrating the Boy Scouts’ 40th anniversary in the 1950s. Anyone with $350 plus the cost of freight for the 290-pound, 8.5-foot tall copper statues could get one.
Homework completed, I was once again a satisfied traveler.
A road trip is so much more than just traveling down the road taking in the sights with the eyes. The brain needs a bit of stimulating vistas to make it a complete travel experience. Well, at least that’s the way I prefer to travel.
*Continuing Day 6 of the journey, April 24, 2011
The education quote is so true. As my husband would say, “I didn’t even used to know that.” Me, I’m a slow learner sometimes, and education can be learning all over again what I already knew.
Glad you are back on the road.