Road to Loudwire Music Festival, Day Nine: Kansas City BBQ

The inaugural edition of Loudwire Music Festival is set for June 26-28, 2015, at Grand Junction, Colorado. Ahead of the fest, we’re hitting the road in a 2016 Kia Sorento, traveling the states and finding new adventures as we make our way from New York City to Grand Junction. Where will we go? What will we see? Who will we run into? Follow along right here at Loudwire to find out, and make sure to keep an eye on #RoadToLoudwire on Twitter and Instagram.

Last night (June 22), we found ourselves in the heart of downtown Kansas City at the astonishingly beautiful music venue known as the Midland Theatre. Our entertainment for the evening? Billy Corgan and his "acoustic-electro" presentation of Smashing Pumpkins tunes. It was an intimate experience, though Corgan definitely seemed to miss the passionate rock that a full band would provide him with. Regardless, it was a show like we've never seen before, and one of many things that we enjoyed in Kansas City.

After a great night's rest, Steve and I got up this morning, ate a hearty breakfast, finally did some laundry and quickly found ourselves at ... you guessed it! A record store. But not just any record store. This was Mills Record Company, a relatively new vinyl spot in KC that has established itself as one of the premier shops in the Midwest. In fact, within two years, the store doubled its size -- and we're guessing it's only going to get bigger.

Following our exploration at Mills, we hopped back in the Sorento -- which is doing a great job handling the weight of our ever-expanding record collection by the way -- and headed just a few blocks to a brand-new barbecue joint, Q39. Now, you may or may not know, but Kansas City is well-known for its barbecue. We were a little suspicious of a new restaurant only because the city is full of so many others that have been around for decades.

However, with two plates full of brisket, sausage, onion strings and more, we were not disappointed. Just check out that photo at the top of this story!

After lunch, we made a solemn visit to the National World War I Museum and Memorial which features the iconic Liberty Memorial. If you ever find yourself in Kansas City, we highly recommend taking a tour of this museum; make sure to add it to your next road trip itinerary.

By that point, Steve and I were still dragging a bit from our over-filled stomachs, so we headed to the local coffee producer, the Roasterie, for a much-needed caffeine fix.

Now, we're on the road to Manhattan, Kan., home of Kansas State University. It's about a two-hour drive from Kansas City, but we figured we should put some miles on the Sorento tonight so we can get closer to Denver! That's right, tomorrow morning, we're going to hop on I-70 for another 500-mile drive, this time to the Mile High City. We'll spend a little less than a day there, and then we're packing up the Sorento so we can get to Grand Junction and start the Loudwire Music Festival celebrations.

It's hard to believe, but the Road to Loudwire is almost coming to an end!