The ABC's of Missouri

As we travelled across Missouri on Interstate 270 and 70, watching the scenery go by,




 





we noticed something a little odd.  Many of the signs for intersecting roads were single letters, (e.g. A, H, W)

 

or, sometimes double letters (e.g. KK, YY).

 

 

 

Jim speculated that since the first interstate project was in St. Charles, MO, perhaps back then they decided to name the cross streets alphabetically.  When they ran out of letters they doubled up, but soon they ran out of even the double letters.  We don't know -- this was just idle conversation. 



 

We Walked across the Mississippi, on Route 66

No kidding!

After another day of driving, we stopped for the night in Granite City, IL, just across the Mississippi from St. Louis MO. 

I'd like to shout out a thank-you to the friendly UPS driver who helped us with directions to our campground.  We stopped for fuel 3 exits (3 miles) before we had to get off for the campground.  Just as we were getting off I270, the traffic ahead was at a standstill (about 4:15 PM).  We knew getting back on the interstate would be a mistake.  We asked in the travel center store, but the girl didn't seem so sure of her directions.  When I spotted a UPS truck in the parking lot, I walked over and asked the driver for help.  He gave us directions "the back way", as I hoped he would, and we were able to travel the 3 miles in short time.

After setting up our home for the night,  we took off for the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, built in 1929, which used to take cars travelling on Route 66 across the Mississippi.   

Today, the bridge is preserved as a biking and walking trail. 

 

You have wonderful views of the river,

(this one's of the flooded shoreline area):

 

the I270 bridge,

downtown St Louis, including the arch

 

 

and adorable gothic style water inlets for the city of St. Louis. 

 

And we were lucky enough to have a great sunset. 

 

 

 

 

The bridge is a fascinating structure of geometric shapes. 

 

 

For more pictures of the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, and our further travel across Missouri, click Missouri

 

A Light is Out

It was another travel day and it didn't start out so well.  It had been raining during the night and was raining as we packed up the rig and readied it for the road.  Our destination was outside Indianapolis, about 150 miles away, where we would stay one night.  We planned on arriving early so we could go out and tour the scenic countryside and visit Columbus, which is supposed to have a lot of neat architecture.

 

We were on target with our plan to leave by 10.  We hooked up and were checking the lights on the toad, which have never had a problem.  The left tail light (brake light and turn signal) wasn't working.  After checking the cable connection and reseating it, Jim spent almost an hour trying to diagnose the non-working light, trying to determine where the signal was and where it wasn't.  Eventually he concluded that it was the coach wiring.  While we didn't want to drive w/o the turn signal, we didn't want to be trying to fix it in the rain.  So we decided to travel w/the running lights on and, since Jim doesn't do a lot of lane shifting, hope for the best.

 The drive went well and by the time we arrived at the campground the sun was poking through the clouds.  We set up camp and even though it was already after 5, took off for that scenic drive through the country.  Surprisingly, the road went through beautiful farmland

then up onto a ridge

with views we didn't expect to see in Indiana.  We passed through Nashville, IN, which appeared to be a very cute artsy town, but everything was closed. 

 We ended up in Columbus, and walked around this quaint town with wonderful varied architecture, from early 20th century mid-west,












to ultra-modern,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then we had wonderful vegan pizza -- perhaps the best we've had.

 

The light?  Jim studied the wiring diagrams and figured out that a fuse was blown.  In 10 minutes before leaving the next day, it was fixed and the light was working!

 For more pictures of Columbus, Indiana click Indiana

 

Family Days

It's a dreary Sunday at Caesar Creek, and we spent it indoors.  Unlike tent campers, who have to be outside, no matter what the weather, we're cozy inside our rig.  Jim's working on his presentation for the RV Safety and Education Foundation (RVSEF) conference (more on that later), and I'm hand stitching a leather steering wheel wrap for the rig's steering wheel.  How snazzy it will look when it's done, and the wheel will be more gentle on Jim's hands!

We've spent two lovely days with my cousins.  My older cousins, Shirley and Ken were glad to greet us.  We took them to dinner at a cute little natural foods restaurant  and then headed to Xenia, for the first "First Friday" celebration, which happens every month during Spring, Summer and Fall.  We met up with their son Steve, his wife Michelle, and their daughter Jocelyn and her friends.  It was fun wandering around looking at the craft tables, listening to music, and seeing the interesting architecture of the town.  Most of the buildings  are very old, except for a strip mall that was built n the 70's after part of the downtown was leveled by a tornado.  The K-Mart, Family Dollar and other stores are definitely out of place.  A new multi artist gallery opened that evening and we wandered through there looking at the art work and speaking to the artisans.  We also got to sample some delicious pastry  (a chocolate twinkie-like cake) from a vegan bakery soon to open in Xenia. 

On  Saturday we headed to the Air Force Museum's Celebration of Flight, to a concert given by the Xenia High School Band, in which cousin Jocelyn plays the clarinet.  After the concert, we met up with the rest of the family in  Yellow Springs, a cute artsy town that's a throwback to the 60's.   We checked out the shops and had a great dinner.

Tomorrow, we're on the road again.  We're heading to Indianapolis for a one night stop and then it will be on to St. Louis for another one-night.  We have decided to bypass sightseeing in these areas, since we have to be in Colorado Springs on the 13th.  We've checked the flooding conditions and where we'll be going, it's not going to be a problem.

Note:  I mentioned the RVSEF conference above.  This is a training conference for new RVer's and wannabe's.  We got our very first exposure to Rving at the 2010 conference in Bowling Green, KY;  we attended again in 2011 with our new motorhome, and this year we'll be teaching a class called "newbie to newbie".  The conference is in Colorado Springs from May 14th through the 18th.

 

We're on our way

We're finally on our way. We had several delays due to having too much to do and not having enough time to do it. But we finally got off yesterday, May 1. Last night we had our first experience "Walmarting", or as Jim calls it, "Wallydocking" (for you non-RVers out there, that's a reference to boondocking, or parking without all the modern conveniences of a campground.) We stayed at the Somerset, PA Walmart -- it wasn't bad. We managed to sleep, although it was pretty noisy as the parking lot was getting vacuumed and the late night shoppers were zooming in and out.

Tonight we're at the beautiful Caesar Creek State Park in western OH where we'll be hanging out with our cousins for a few days. 

Here are a few pictures, to give you a sample of our life on the road so far.

We start the day with Jim cleaning the windshield.

Then we head outside to take some pictures:

 

 

 

 

Off we go. Jim enjoys driving.

 

 And Sherry enjoys taking pictures of the scenery.

 

Until we're stopped dead ...

Sherry gets bored and starts taking random pictures.

Eventually, we reach Ohio and the end of the day's travels.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this little tale of our day.