Ready for some fresh air and campfire stories? We’re heading to Watkins Mill State Park the 1st weekend of October, and we want you there! The Mendons have already secured Site 42, so come join the neighborhood for a weekend of trails, history and hanging out. The Details: • Where: Watkins Mill State Park (26208 Co Rd RA, Kearney, MO) • When: October 3-4 • Pro Tip: Weekend spots require a 2-night booking (Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday). Don't Wait! State Park sites fill up incredibly fast once the weather turns. If you want to camp, head to the Missouri State Parks...

Musical guests: Whatever a Moon (https://whateveramoon27.wixsite.com/whatever-a-moon) Featured speaker: Leigh Elmore, The Rice Tremonti Home The home and surrounding six-plus acres is located alongside the Santa Fe Trail. The oldest standing frame house in Jackson County, Missouri, the Rice-Tremonti Home, along with Aunt Sophie’s Cabin, have borne witness to the sweep of American history. With beginnings as a waypoint on the Santa Fe Trail and as a jumping off point for emigrants to Oregon and California, the wooden house endured the ravages of border warfare and the Civil War. With a history spanning 182 years, the Rice-Tremonti Home has an important...

October's book is "Night Watch" by Jayne Anne Phillips. Please bring a snack to share. In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has forced himself into their world. There, far from family, a...