July 1, 2014
Tuesday

HAPPY CANADA DAY!  (Even though we are in USA)

We rested pretty well during the night and got up and packed our things back into the van. After breakfast we headed to St. Louis, MO. We drove up The River Road. It is a beautiful drive as it follows along the Mississippi River.

There were miles and miles of cornfields and soybeans. The corn is planted so thickly you can barely see the rows. George said we were in the corn belt and I believe him. The fields go for miles and miles as far as you can see. It made me appreciate farmers even more. They work hard for their money. Whew!

We decided that SURVIVOR should drop a few contestants in a cornfield to see if they could navigate their way out. They would find me at harvest time, a dried up, bleached skeleton.

As we neared St. Louis we got a glimpse of that beautiful Mississippi River. She is running full right now with all the rain and spring run off. We saw several areas today where there was some flooding. Parks, parking lots along the river are underwater. Newspapers say that she is still rising. Due to this area being in a flood plain, there are huge levees and berms built up around farms and homes to protect them from possible
flooding.

Today we also got to visit Chester, MO the home of another famous character, Popeye the Sailor Man,  We saw several really nice statues of characters from the show. Chester takes pride in her native son.

As we entered St. Louis, we had the maps and atlas ready to take us to the St. Louis Arch. Needless to say, our plan went awry when we found that our exit was closed due to construction. Not good. Here we go down a highway with no idea what to do. Finally, after much cussing, discussing, and Caroline's expertise with her phone GPS we got to the parking deck....hmmm we did go the wrong way on a one way street. We were probably called stupid tourists. LOL

I have a fear of heights. OK, I've said it. I have dreaded this day but have kept it to myself. I psyched myself up about going up the Arch. I said, no one has died, it's not going to fall down, etc". As we entered I see children everywhere all excited about going up. We go through security, get our boarding passes, and get in line. Soon it is time for us to get in our little pod/tram to go to top. I compare it to 5 people getting into an over sized washing machine. We had two new friends from Denmark after the ride. Up we went. It was like riding an elevator/roller coaster. I felt safe the whole way. I had told myself that if I got to the top and was too terrified I would just ride back down. Guess what? I loved it. Absolutely breathtaking. There were small rectangular windows to peer out. All went well and I survived. OK, confession time, I prayed that God would get me through it. He did take my fear away.

Downtown St. Louis
from Arch

Tugboat on Mississippi River

We traveled on to Hannibal. Beautiful drive continuing down the River Road. Topography changed back and forth, flat land and then hills with winding roads and of course glimpses of that beautiful river.