Before we could get to Missouri we had to drive through
Illinois.
At a few stops we had trouble getting the car to start.
We first stopped in Memphis and got a starter solenoid just in case. We
pulled in to get gas right before St. Louis. The car took
forever to start. Once we got it started we went across the street to O'Reillys Auto Parts. The people were so nice. They
tested our battery and it was dead. Here is Phil installing the
new one..
We took this picture as we entered St. Louis. As soon as we
crossed the Mississippi River
we were in Missouri.
To park an RV is a trick in big cities. We
called ahead and they told us where to park. Unfortunately for us, St.
Louis is having a huge 4th of July fair on the riverfront. A lot
of streets were blocked. We managed to get down to the right area and
even though the tilt was big the location was great and the price was free!
The arch was built in the 1960's, stands 630
feet tall and is made of stainless steel. It is part of the
National Park System. There were a lot of employees present and
we had to go through metal detectors to get in. Once inside
there is a museum and a ride to the top from the North or South side.
You have to climb into these VERY small capsules built for 5 and ride to the
top. .
Here are some views from the top. It is very
narrow where you look out. On the right is a view of
Illinois from the top of the Arch. Here are Will, Madeline, Colleen
and Patrick in front of the windows. In the bottom corner is the old
Busch stadium on the right and the new one being built on the left side of
the picture.
Hey look - there is our RV!
Ok ready to go back down! Next we went into the
museum of western expansion. It was really well done. They
had a time line of every year from the early to late 1800's.
Every year you could see who was President, which territory became a state
and other pertinent history. They also had a section on the Lewis and
Clark expedition. Below to the left is William Clark's quote about the
Pacific Ocean. Will is checking out Thomas Jefferson who made the
Louisiana Purchase.
We aren't able to hit any baseball games this
trip. We did get to visit the old Busch Stadium and see
the new ballpark that was under construction. They are literally
building this right up against the old stadium. The old stadium
is center field of the new stadium. Bottom left shows the new
one against the old. Bottom right shows the new stadium close up.
It is suppose to be done in April 2006 - I don't know...
Above to the left is the closest we got to
inside the ballpark. We looked through the fence and the
Cardinals were taking batting practice. Jim Edmonds hit one
right at us into the upper deck! As we left, we caught Ozzie
Smith doing his thing.
We found an Old Spaghetti factory to eat dinner at. It was good.
Then it was back to the RV and on the road again.
The drive through Missouri was so pretty. There were
so many rolling hills with farms, barns and crops. It reminded
us a lot of Iowa
