26-27 September

St Louis Missouri

“It winds from Chicago to LA, more than 2000 miles all the way” - so the classic Route 66 song goes. Winding through hundreds of small communities, the original Route 66 became, literally, the main street of the USA. It simply joined up the “dots' of sealed roads that ran through each of the towns in a wide southern arc from Chicago in the north to LA on the Pacific coast.

Going up the St Louis Arch today, we met a family with a couple of kids who had taken 8 hours to drive from Chicago to St Louis. We have taken three days! On the way we have seen some of what travellers in the 1940s and 1950s would have seen. Sadly, many of the small towns along the way have suffered as the result of the Interstates that progressively replaced the single lane highway of the '30s and '40s. Dwight, Odell, Atlanta, Williamsville and many others have become almost ghost towns.

On the other hand, towns closer to bigger cities have done well. Springfield IL. is a good example. Abe Lincoln was elected from here and the great man is buried in a fittingly magnificent tomb in the city. Museums and other attractions associated with Lincoln and the Civil War attract tourists to this progressive little city. (If you ever go there, don't miss the Lincoln Museum and the “Ghost of the Library Presentation” - How do they do it!!?

Our Sunday afternoon ride into St Louis was easy and we found our downtown motel immediately. The Green Bay Packers (football) were in town to play a local St Louis team so there were plenty of people in the city. We wandered out for a late afternoon recce and came across the Gateway Arch. WOW. One of the many jaw dropping sights the US offers! You can actually ride a VERY small, 5 seat, enclosed, pod, 630ft to the top. So why not? What a view!

St Louis is a city of about 2.8 million people. But unlike most European cities of that size, it is very manageable and it is easy to drive, even in the centre of town...well, so far.