Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis

Total miles traveled: 824
Stated visiteed: 5

The scenery through Illinois was pretty much the same: farms, corn, silos, until I got to the edle of the state and greenery gave way to concrete and skyscrapers. Finally after one bend in the road, the Gateway Arch appeared.

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I went insde the museum below the arch and was facinated with the artifacts collected from the settlers, farmers, soldiers and indians of the day. Unfortunately I didn't go to the top of the arch because the wait was 2 hours, and I had better ways to spend my time.

It was a strange feeling sitting underneat the arch outside. The Gateway to the West was the furthest west that I would be going on this trip.

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I had a late lunch at Laclede's Landing, a restaurant row nesr the waterfront, and then took the MetroLink to Union Station. It was an old train station converted to a mall and hotel. Very touristy, but the original structure was intact and renovated to it's former glory.

I was quickly bored with St. Louis. I had to get out.

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I took a detour to Bonne Terre, MO to visit Patty at the bar she owned, Crossroads. Patty screamed when she saw me, it was completely unexpected. She instantly introduced me to her friends as 'the girl I met in Chicago that I was telling you about."

I had a wonderful time visiting her and had the most fantastic filet mignon I've tasted in a long while. Yum!

By 10pm I was ready to head back on the road and took a winding, dark, lonely backroad back to the interstate. I looked out the sunroof and yelled, "WOW!" The view of the stars was amazing, like somone scattered sequence across the sky. Now, this was America.

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