Business in the Midwest

	My first business trip in many years took me to Atlanta for a conference. It rained there from the moment I arrived until my plane took off on the way out. For just a few minutes on Monday morning, the sun tried to break through creating some amazing light and the view of downtown Atlanta in the distance.
	Wednesday morning it was dry in Sparta, Illinois. I'd met two of my colleagues at the St. Louis airport the evening before. We were to install our company's product at a customer site today.
	The site turned out to be a network center in the middle of an Illinois cornfield. It was in the middle of nowhere. (Do you know how cold a cornfield is at 8:30 in the morning at the end of October?)
	We drove back to St. Louis at the end of the day and crossed the Mississippi River. My partners headed home while I boarded a flight to Kansas City.
	I had a couple of hours to myself the following morning before my customer meeting. I headed to Independence, Missouri, about 30 minutes from Kansas City, home of President Harry S. Truman. Here's the courthouse in Independence Square, Harry Truman was a judge early in his career and walked the five blocks from his home.
	Truman's house is a nice house in a neighborhood of nice houses. Mrs. Truman gave it to the Government when she passed away. It's now a National Historic Site administered by the Park Service.
	A few blocks away is the Truman Presidential Library.
	There's a replica of the Oval Office in the White House as it looked when Truman was President.
	President Truman and his wife are buried in the courtyard of the Library.
	After a very successful customer meeting, I wanted to sample some Kansas City Barbecue. According to Tripadvisor.com, the best barbecue is LC's - it's a little hard to find, not much to look at when you get there, but I smelled it from 1/4 mile away.
	There isn't much atmosphere, the styrofoam "dishes" are stacked on the counter, the formica tables are clean, and the paper towels are ready to be used for napkins. Tripadvisor was right - this is the best barbecue I've ever had - I even took home a quart of their beans!
	As I left, they threw some more smoke wood on the fire. It sent a giant cloud of smoke through the neighborhood. This was a successful trip from a business perspective and I managed to have a little fun time to myself as well!