A road trip with Harry and Bess

A look inside the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
Gregory R.C. Hasman photo

I have never met Harry S. Truman.

I was born in 1981 and he died in 1972, but I feel like we are kindred spirits.

We both believe in agreeing to disagree with people just as long as it is done with respect and courtesy. But most importantly, our biggest commonality is the love of the open road. 

"I like to take trips -- any kind of trip," he said. "They are about the only recreation I have besides reading."

Harry S. Truman sure loved to travel before, during and after his presidency.
Gregory R.C. Hasman photo

Truman loved roads all his life.

Decades before he became commander-in-chief he was president of the National Old Trails Road Association.

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum 

For those reasons and the fact that I need to get back into reading and writing for recreation more often I decided to reread Harry Truman's Excellent Adventures: The true story of a great American road trip two times this week. 

The book chronicles the 1953 cross-country trip Truman and his wife Bess Truman took from Independence, Missouri, to the East Coast in their beautiful 1953 Chrysler New Yorker. 

"Driving not only satisfied his need to keep moving; it also helped him gauge the country's mood," author Matthew Algeo wrote.

Among the stops the Trumans made were to Hannibal, Missouri; Decatur, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; Wheeling, West Virginia; Frostburg, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and New York City where they met people of all walks of life including friends and political foes. 

Of the places he stopped at I have only been to Independence and New York City. Admittedly I would love to take a two-lane Midwest run through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio one day and revisit some of the spots Truman did. 

But for now I will live vicariously through Algeo, who did an excellent job at chronicling the journey and mixing it with historic anecdotes and his own experiences. 

Algeo also does an excellent job of taking the reader back in time when mom and pop businesses and two-lane highways ruled the roost. At the same token, the author's trip back to those places today help show what happened as a result of the creation of the interstate and the proliferation of corporate chains, and what time has done to some places across the country. 

As for Mr. Truman, the way he treated many people was something to admire. Even if he was tired from a 200-300-mile drive in the heat. He was in another era, but being courteous and respectful goes across party lines and timelines. 

Truman had his political enemies, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and for a spell, Herbert Hoover. But in the end, as Algeo points out, they either made up or grew to have mutual respect, which is what it is all about. 

We only live once. It is what we do with it that counts. Exploring the open road and reading are two worthy activities that I need to do more of.

President Harry S. Truman's final destination

Gregory R.C. Hasman photo