Day 38, St Louis

Gallery

Ran again this morning. Very hot and humid, showers were nice after the ups and downs of the hilly bike trail. Hit the road for St. Loius.



Walking along the Mississippi offered a bit of a breeze. We started the morning with a riverboat cruise on a steamboat style old fashioned riverboat. We learned about the commerce of the river and some St. Loius history. There were some neat operations on the Missouri side where barges were being loaded or unloaded. Dirt, grain, salt, who knows what.





We walked to the arch and went to the top. Despite what someone told us, it was very cool.



The "elevator" is a train of 8 tiny space capsules, each with barely enough room for 5 people to sit.



One capsule took us to the top -- 630 feet up (a week or two ago they lost power and some unlucky tourists were stuck in their time capsules for 2 hours. Yikes.). This is what we looked like after 3 minutes in one!



The observation deck was cool. It was arch shaped (floor and ceiling) and you could rap your knuckles on the outer shell of stainless steel on the top. I think you can see the curvature of the earth from that height (or is it a camera trick?).



We walked 16 blocks to Union Station, an old railroad hub renovated into a mall/hotel. Got some frozen custard and popcorn and headed back.

On the road towards Indianapolis, we stopped in Collinsville, IL. This is a 3 star city -- one star each for the excellent BBQ place (Bandana's), the Waffle House, and the frozen custard place (Culver's). We stopped at each for an early dinner(s). Then back on the road.

Tonight we're staying in Illinois's Lincoln Trail State Park, 15 miles from Indiana. Laurel is having aggressive feelings towards IN, home of the Colts. Watch out Peyton!

We went rollerblading along the 5 mile loop around the lake. Lots of huge hills. It's so humid, you drip sweat just standing still. It must be like 4000% humidity and there's no breeze.