Journey's end Final post

Sunday Ococtober 4th

Good morning All,

Well we arrived home last evening at about 5 o'clock after driving from just east of Buffalo where we spent Friday evening at a Flying J Truck stop.  We left St. Louis on Thursday morning and stopped for the evening at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant near Springfield , Ohio.  Since this was all interstate driving, not much in the way of picture taking opportunities, just heading for home. It was 1147 miles from St; Louis which we split up into 3 days of pretty equal driving.

The only thing different was the weather. It rained all night Thursday evening and we drove in rain for most of Friday . It rained here last night and is foggy and rainy here now and the forecast for the week is also calling for lots of rain.   This is a BIG change for us.  For our entire trip we had rain a couple of times during the night and a couple of showers during the day that lasted 15-20 minutes and then right back to full sunshine. Friday was the first day of our trip that I. had to use the windshied wipers on the RV.

While it is too soon after our trip for everything to sink it Georgie and I both agree that it was a very worthwhile and rewarding trip and there is nothing that we would cut out if we were taking the trip now. Everything we saw and did was worthwhile.

While the rest of our great country has a lot to see and do, it is always nice to get back home. Vermont is also a very special and beautiful spot and we feel fortunate to live here.  The picture below is one of my favorite Vermont pictures and I felt it was an appropriate way to close the blog.  I hope you have enjoyed sharing our adventure through this blog as much as I have in writing it.  To future adventures!

Tom

This picture was taken a couple of years ago by my son in law, Scott Noyes and is along the Missisquoi bike path. Enjoy.

Tom

st louis sights

Wednesday September 30th

Hi All,

First of all - Happy Birthday to Tom. Sorry we are missing your birthday.  (we did talk to him this morning).

Well today is another significant milestone in our trip a it is the last day of "sightseeing"  . Tomorrow morning we will start the 3 day drive back to Vermont. In one way it will be nice to be home and on the other hand it would also be nice to just keep exploring.

Today we went across the Missisippi River from our campsite at the Queen Casino in Illinois to the St. Louis waterfront.  We had made reservations to take the tram to the top of the arch and also take a cruise on the river. you will note the sunny skies in the pictures, another beautiful day. We have really lucked out on the weather for our trip.  Looking at the Vermont forecast it appears our luck will be changing and we will be in for quite a bit of rain over the next few days.

So, some info about the Arch.  It is 630' tall and 630' wide at the bottom (outside of one leg to outside of the other leg).  The shape is an equilaeral triangle at each leg is 17' at the top of the arch.  The outer skin which is load bearing is stainless steel.

In the 19th century continued improvements in land transportation led the city to trun away from the river.  By the erly 20th century the once prosperous river district was virtually abandoned.  In the 1930's talks started on how to rejuvenate the riverfront district.  In 1934 a Jefferson Memorial Association was formed and President Roosevelt established this as a National Memorial Association which provided the feds to pay 2/3 of the cost. The war slowed things down and it was not until 1959 that groundbreaking occured.  The actual construction started in 1962 and the arch was completed in 1965. The tram to take visitors to the top of the arch was completed in 1968.

This is one of the tram cars. They are circular with a 5' inside diameter. each car holds 5 people and you are really squeezed together. I couldn't begin to sit upright because of no headroom. Eight of these units are connected together so that each tram carries 40 people. The design for these was unique because of the curve they must go on. It uses a combination of a ferris wheel and roller coaster track so that the cars stay level during transit. It is noisy and there is a fair amount of movement of the car. There is only a small window in the door which just looks to the interior of the arch. The door to enter the tram is only 2' wide by 4'6'" high so this is definitley not for someone with claustrophobia. It takes 4 minutes to get to th top.

Georgie in our car just before we started up.

Ditto me with bended head. We took the first tram of the morning and there were only the two of us in our car on the way up. Coming down we had 5.

A view from the top looking down at the docks where the boat we would be taking for our cruise was docked.

Looking across te river to Illinois. In the foreground is Queen Casino where our campsite is. The campground is at the top of the picture just above the green field.

Inside the arch at the top. Since we were first up for the day we had lots of room to move about. 10 minutes later when the next load arrived it got pretty crowed.

Downtown St. Louis and the old courthouse in the center. In 1846 The famous trial of Dred Scott and his wife harriet was held here. They were slaves and sued ffor their freedom amd won.  Later the Supreme Court declared that slaves were property and had no right to sue,  a decision that hastened the Civil War.

Busch stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals play

The domed building is the stadium for the NFL St. Louis Rams.

Looking down river with Illinois on the left

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. The lighting was subdued and the room so large that the flash didn't help much.  This is in a very interesting museum called The Museum of Westward Expansion is beneath the Arch and charts the history of the Americam West from the Loisianna Purchase in 1803 to the closing of the frontier in the 1890's.   You get to see how the American Indians and settlers lived, Exhibits show artifacts used by farmers, buffalo hunters, miners, cowboys and others  played a role in the westward expansion.  The layout of the museum was unique in that it was layed out in concentric circles. The outer ring being the early 1800's and each successive inner ring being a later period of time. So you basically just kept circling the museum and moving in to the next cirlce each time around. If you look closely, you may be able to see the tiime periods posted at the ceiling level.  The outer ring was of particular interest as it chronicled the formation and explorations of the Lewis & Clark expedition up the Missouri River and ultimately though Oregon and the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.

A couple of bridges from our cruise. The furthest one was the first bridge over the Mississippi at St. Louis built in the 1860's. The design of this bridge caused a lot of controversy with many engineers saying it would fail the first time any weight was put on it.  They said the bridge was built upside down and that the arches should be on top. Obviously they were wrong. The bridge has two levels. The top for cars and the bottom for trains.

If you look closely at the top of the arch you can see the windows that we were looking out of.

Our cruise boat, the "Tom Sawyer"

This is the same Robert E. Lee that led the Confederate soldiers in the Civil War.  He designed rock placements in the river in the shape of inverted V's (called chevrons) that diverted the river's current towards the St. Louis shore and thus kept a deeper channel open for shipping.

You just can't get it all in the picture!

picture taken from up against the base

ditto

This was in the Lewis & Clark portion of the museum and was of special interest to Georgie and me as during our trip while viewing some of the sights, especially in the canyons and moutains, we would remark to each other what it must have been like when the pioneers and explorers came across these areas for the first time. I think probably thier first comments were much more basic like "Oh Shit!"

a full size wagon. not sur if this is a repliaca or real. It appeared to be pretty worn, so might be actual.

I don't know much about this one other than it was of a real old vintage and pretty crude construction.

Well I guess that is it for now. I don't know whether there will be any further updates or not. Perhaps some added pictures if something niteresting appears on our trip home, but we are not planning on any sightseeing from here on in. 

It has been a blast and hopefully this blog has provided you some opportunity to join with us in enjoying our journey. Thanks for reading.

Tom

St Louis, Missouri

Monday September 29th

Hi All,

Well we decided to bypass Kansas City and Independence, Mo and head straight to St. Louis. We left Oklahoma City yesterday morning (Monday) and had planned to stay last night at a Wal Mart in St. Robert, MO as St Louis was too far for a one day drive.  The Wal Mart parking lot was a zoo and was also on quite a slope so we moved instead to a Cracker Barrel that we passed on the way to the Wal Mart.  Of course since we were staying in their lot overnight we had to go in for dinner :).  I had to really twist Georgie's arm!
Today we are at a campground that is part of the Casino Queen casino which is actually in East St. Louis, Ill. We are across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. From the window of our RV we can see the arch. Tomorrow we have tickets for the tram ride to the top of the arch and also for a cruise on the Mississippi.

On Thursday we will start our drive back to VT, 1156 miles which we plan to space out over 3 days, getting us back home on Saturday.  We will stay in Flying J's or Wal Marts along the way. The trip will take us northeast to route I- 90 along Lake Erie and then New York Thruway, etc.

No photos to share today as there was not much in th way of scenery. The travel was all on interstate (40 & 44) and just straight, some rolling hills and farmland. We are seeing more green and even trees now!

I will have some pictures tomorrow night and then that will probably be it.

Tom

exploring Oklahoma City

Sunday September 27th

Good morning all,

The blog entry below covers our tour around Oklahoma City yesterday. There were 3 areas that we visited:

Stockyard City, Bricktown Historic District, and the Oklahoma National Memorial which was the site of the April 19, 1995 bombing.  The narrative for these will be among the pictures.

First up is Stockyard City and the Cattlemen's Cafe. 

Cattlemen's Café opened its doors to hungry cowboys, ranchers, cattle haulers and the like in 1910. The Stockyards City area was a beehive of activity back then, as herds of cattle were driven to Oklahoma City in an unending stream to satisfy the East's growing demand for beef. By 1926, Stockyards City was the home of two major meat processors and the area became known as "Packing Town." It was in 1926 that H.V. 'Homer" Paul took over Cattlemen's, already a well-known establishment among the area's thousands of workers. Cattlemen's was one of the few places that stayed open after sundown. Because of this, it also attracted a very colorful clientele. During Prohibition, it was known for its home-brewed 'liquid delights.'

The cafe is being featured on an upcoming Food Network show.  This poster was in the window.

The cafe was smaller that we expected and although there were tourists there, there were also a lot of locals. I had a great T bone steak.

Since this was a Saturday there wasn't much activity going on at the Stockyards.We were told that on Sunday it would be very busy with all the trucks coming in with cattle for the sales that would start on Monday.

This scene is along the Bricktown Canal in downtown Oklahoma City.  The river is being transformed into a seven mile long series of river lakes boredered by landscaped area, trails recreational areas and in the downtown area by shops ands restaurants.  There are boats that you can take along the canal and get on & off at various stops. When completed it will be similar to the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas.

Time now for a little history.  Between 1866 and 1889, while traveling through Oklahoma territory, the ranchers realized the territory was not only closer to the railroads but a good location for raising cattle as well.  There was a large parcel of land that was never given over to the indian tribe- the Unassigned Lands.

President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation that opened up the Unassigned Lands and on April 22, 1889 about 50,000 home steaders gathered at the boundaries. At noon a cannon roared and hordes of people streamed over the line on wagons and buckboards, horseback, on foot, and even on bicycles into the two million acres of land and made their claims and, overnight Oklahoma City grw out of the plains.   The settlers who entered to claim land before the offical start of the land run were called Sooners.hence the state's nickname.

This is a larger than life series of sculptures that is still being added to that depicts the start of the race for the land on April 22,81989.

Look closely in this picture and notice the hoofprints in the bank of the river, a nice touch to the sculpture. Thes pictures weere taken from a canal boat ride we went on.

The cannon to signal the start of the land claims

Along the canal, Toby Kieth's restaurant/bar called appropriately " I love this bar"

Our next stop was rather a sobering expereince which was the scene of the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. 168 lives were lost that day including 19 children who were in a daycare in the building. Ther perpretators, Tim McVeigh was excecuted in 2001 and Terry Nichols is imprisoned for life.   The above picture is of a large sign onsite.

The light colored jagged wall on the left is part of the original building wall. None of the building is now standing except for some of the foundation walls.

Each victim is memoralized with an individual chair facing the refelcting pond. Each bronze and stone chair rests on a glass base etched with the name of a victim. By day, the chairs seem to float above their translucent bases. By night, the glass bases iluminate as beacons of hope.

In hte background is part of the original foundation wall of the Murrah Building

One of the two Gates of Time.  This one at 9:01 represent the innocence of the city before the attack. The gate at the other end at 9:03 the moment lives were changed forever.

The chairs are arranged in nine rows, one for each of the nine floors of the building. They are placed according to the floor on which those killed were working or visiting.

The chairs are on the footprint of the building and where the reflective pond is was N.W. Fifth St. at the time of the bombing.

This is along the street outside of the memorial. Some of the items appear to be from way back and other things appear to have been added more recently. One in particular caught my eye. It was a picture and note left by a victim's daughter. It had pictures of the daughter's children that grandma never got to see and the daughter talks about her children in the note.  Makes any problems I have seem pretty insignificant!

Well that is it for now, sorry to leave things on such a sobering note. We are heading further east tomorrow. As of yet not sure if it will be directly to St Louis, MO or via Kansas City,Mo.  Independence, MO is near Kansas City and we are debating about stopping there to visit Harry S. Truman sites in his hometown.

From St. Loius, it is 1156 miles to home. 1656 miles from here in Oklahoma City.

Tom

trip to Oklahoma City

Friday September 25

Hi All,

We arrived in Oklahoma City about 4 today after a relatively easy drive from Amirillo. The driving was all on Interstate 40 and not much in the way of hills or curves and in fact, not much of anything.  Tomorrow we will do some exploring here in Oklahoma City and plan to visit Stockyard City, the world's largest stocker/feeder livestock market Besides the livestock there are all sorts of shops to provide products for the "real" cowboy.  There is also a restaurant there that as been in operation for 80 years called the Cattleman's. It open at 6AM! 
At a quick glance it appears there is a lot to explore in Oklahoma City.  Where to next??  I am not sure other than it will be in a continued easterly direction.

Below are a few pictures from our drive today. Not thqt they show you much, but that is the point of why we haven't been taking many pictures or attaching them to the blog. I expect we should get some good pictures tomorrow.

This is a rig that came in to our campsite in Albuquerque. It is a HUGE 5th wheel with a 4 door cab custom tractor on th front with a big fancy 3 wheel motorcycle stored just behind the cab. All custom painted so that cab and trailer matched. 

As I said, not much to look at, long straight and flat

ditto

double ditto

This shows how desperate we were for pictures. On several billboards prior to getting to this spot, this cross was billed a the largest one in the western hemisphere. I have no idea what the reason for it being there is.  This does bring up a point though about billboards. They are everywhere and lots of them. We have noticed this in several states. It really makes us appreciate Vermont's no billboard laws!

A good place for a wind turbine farm as the wind really blows across these flatlands.  It pushes the RV around pretty good.

Well that is all for now  Most likely a new update tomorrow night.

Tom

Thursday September 24

Hi All,

Well we left Albuquerque yesterday morning (Wednesday) as planned. Our stop for the night was in Amirillo , Texas and then today we were going to head on to Oklahoma City where we plan on spending a couple of days.  Since this was to be just an overnight stop we went to the Flying J in Amirillo but they didn't have any overnight parking for RVs so we stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot instead. This morning while reading the local paper we noticed that the Tri-State fair was in progress in Amirillo and a PRCA (professional) rodeo was going to be there tonight.  So having the flexibility of the RV we decided to stay and go the fair and rodeo.  We located a campground about 1 mile from the Wal-Mart and only a couple of miles from the fairgrounds.
The fair was much smaller than the one in Albuquerque, but the rodeo arena was great and the rodeo itself was actually better than Albuquerque with more competitors and events.

Sorry no pictures. The trip here was pretty basic with either desert or flatlands with some green which is diferent from what we have been seeing.  We are also dropping down in altitude- now at about 3600 ft. Nothing to really take pictures of. We did see some more pronghorns and what we think was a pack of coyotes.

Tomorrow on to Oklahoma City. 

Tom

Old Town Albuquerque - Monday September 21

Hi All,

Finally with this post I will be back up to date with the blog. Today (Monday) we went to an area within Albuquerue that is called Old Town.  This is where Albuquerque was first settled in 1598 when a group of 600, led ny Spanish soldiers,  along with many domesticated animals moved from Mexico to what was then called "New Spain".

Today this is a nice quaint area, primarily a tourist area and yet not over done, with lots of shops with native wares, good restaurants and nice parks.  For part of the afternoon, I sat in the park and Georgie checked out the stores. There were also natives sellling their  wares off of blankets placed on the ground.  This day eneded up being a nice change of pace. We had a good mexican meal and Georgie got some nice items.  Everyone is VERY friendly with no hustling ot high pressure sales tactics.

Near the entrance to Old Town is a full scale depiction of the 1598 move from Mexicoa to "New Spain". This is quite a remarkable sculpture that really tells the story and hardsjhips of those in this journey.  Around the sculpture there are palques with the names of all of the families involvedin this initial journey. The above portion of the sculpture shows the soldiers.

A moher on a burro with a small child in her arms. In the background a man on a horse urges oxen to pull harder on a stuck wagon. Rememr now that this is all life size and takes up quite an area.

Mom & child

The oxen team pulling a wagon

The rider has a rope to the stuck wagon and also has to deal with some unruly steers

mothers and children

A stck wagon

Another life sized sculpture nearby the other one

My Amigo!!! :)

natives selling the wares

La Hacienda where we had a nice lunch in the outside seating

One of the courtyards with many shops. Note all thr red chilis hanging in front of each shop.

Well folks, that is all for tonight. I am now up to date. Most likely no update tomorrow.  Tomorrow is laundry day and figure out where we go next. We will be leaving Albuquerue on Wednesday.
Tom