Sedalia Missouri

11/16/01 6:13:24 PM Pacific Standard Time

A yr ago when I was making plans & writing letters for this trip, I got a letter back from Susan Mergen saying she'd help me when I got to Sedalia. So we've kept in touch during this trip.
One day last wk while Susan was getting a massage, she mentioned that I was walking across America and would be spending a couple days at her house. The lady was very interested because she too has epilepsy. So she & Susan made an appt for me and on tues at 9am I went in for a free 1 hr full body massage! Boy was that nice! The massage really felt wonderful!
Later that day I gave a talk at Whittier Alternative School. They really seemed to enjoy my stories and followed along closely with my talk about epilepsy. I also gave a talk at Ewing Vocational Center where I addressed 80 adults with developmental and physical disabilities. EVC is the states largest workshop for adults with such disabilities. The audience was quite interested because many of them have personal experiences with seizures. A reporter from the Daily Newspaper was also in the audience reporting on my visit to the State Fair City.
Sedalia was founded in 1860 and quickly became a railroad town. The Pacific Railroad, Lexington & St Louis, and the Sedalia, Warsaw & Southwestern all came through here.
Sedalia was also the home to the King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin. One of his most famous pieces of music, the Maple Leaf Rag, was composed & published in Sedalia. Each yr Sedalia holds the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, the only pure classical ragtime fest. in the world.
Today (th) I walked 18 miles to Syracuse. Susan was going to come & pick me up after 5 and bring me back to Sedalia, but at 4:30 Elizabeth
from Knob Noster was driving by and she drove me back instead. She had some business to do in Sedalia today and figured I'd be walking out in that area, and sure'nuff she found me! That was a nice suprise!
On friday I'll take the Amtrak from Sedalia to Kansas City, then Peggy from the Epilepsy Foundation will pick me up and take me to McPherson on sat or sun. Susan is letting me leave my cart & stuff here over the holidays.
Y'all take care and have a great day! KB