St. Louis

When we started planning this trip a couple of years ago and were looking at places we wanted to visit St. Louis wasn't even on our radar. This city was picked by the boys as they had learned in school that St. Louis is “The Gateway to the West” and they decided that our journey really should begin here. They were right, it was an excellent place to start. Driving through the cornfields of Indiana and Illinois the land is flat and you can see for miles. The boys spotted the Gateway Arch when we were still several miles away on the highway and were thrilled to find that it really does lead you right into the city of St. Louis.

We had reservations at the Casino QueenRV Park in East St. Louis Illinois, directly across the Mississippi River from the Gateway Arch. While the park itself was not much more than a giant asphalt parking lot with a small playground, the view of the arch from almost every spot was spectacular. This park was also located within a short walk to a Metro Link station and the arch was just one stop away, which allowed us to leave the King parked and use public transportation to get around.

The Jefferson National ExpansionMemorial is home not only to the Gateway Arch, but also to the Museum of Westward Expansion which contains artifacts from the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, through the Dred Scott Case. There are also a number of Native American artifacts including a life sized tipi. It's a nice museum, but the boys went through it fairly quickly.

After the museum we headed into one of the theaters to watch “Monument to the Dream,” a short film about how the monument was made. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the same architect who designed Kleinhans Music Hall in our hometown, it is the tallest man made monument (at 630 feet) in the country. Construction took 2 ½ years to complete and the arch opened to the public June 10, 1967.

Next, we headed for the tram to take a ride to the top! Luckily, each tram car holds 5 people, so we were all able to ride up together. The cars are pretty small, kinda noisy, and clank from side to side as you ascend through the legs of the arch. There are several observation windows at the top and the view is spectacular! On a clear day you can see for miles in any direction and the boys loved picking out the various buildings and trying to find the King in the RV park across the river. We took our time, looking out all the windows in each direction, taking tons of pictures.

The tram ride down from the top of the arch seemed to go much faster. We had time for a quick snack before heading into another movie, this one about Lewis and Clark and their expedition into the new territory acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. A very well made movie, it's hard to imagine such a journey across the Rocky Mountains and all the way to the Pacific Ocean without maps or roads to help guide you there.

Finally, some thoughts on the city of St. Louis itself. It was totally not what I expected, but did remind me in many ways of home. I was surprised to find a waterfront city, in it's heyday a boom town, with no recreational boating and very little public waterfront access. When asked, we were told that this section of the Mississippi is too narrow for recreational watercraft and is also a commercially busy shipping lane. All day long we noticed one barge after another being pushed up or down the river. Apparently, recreational boating is available several miles north, in a wider section of the river that has been dammed up. Also, as you can see from the pictures, while the city of St. Louis is prominent on one side of the river, with it's shops, museums, restaurants and attractions, the Illinois side of the river is devoid of things to do, save for the one casino where we were staying. It's filled with open fields and heavy industry and brought to mind the US and Canada, separated by Niagara Falls and the Niagara River.  While Buffalo's waterfront does offer several recreational opportunities, there's still room for so much more improvement, and St. Louis seems to be in the same boat.

Ironic

I took this picture at the Metro Link station this morning...

Really, whomever is pushing this button needs to just knock it off.  It was 102 degres today, and it's going to stay over 100 all week as we head through Oklahoma.  Did I mention it was in the low 80's at home today.  Blissfull...

The extreme heat is messing with the AC and the fridge in the King.  The AC unit on the roof did take a hit from a sizeable branch during that thunderstorm in Columbus, but was working when we got to St. Louis.  By this morning however, it was clearly no longer capeable of producing cool air and when we got back tonight after a day of sightseeing in the hot sun the King felt like an oven.  We turned it off and gave it a rest and now it does seem to be cooling again!!  Hurrah!!  We are going to see if we can have someone take a look at it this week, just to make sure that it can keep us cool in the desert.

We really enjoyed the Arch and the National Park here in St. Louis.  I have a lot of thoughts about this city, and found it to be similar to our own hometown in many ways, but tonight we were busy packing up as we want to get on the road early, before it gets super hot.  For now, here's one of my favorite pictures from today, a cool picture of the shadow of the arch I took while we were at the top.

Columbus, Ohio

It's been an absolutely crazy busy couple of days since we left Buffalo Wednesday morning, pretty much on schedule. We were fixing and tweaking and packing things right up through Tuesday afternoon, when we finally called it quits and decided that if we didn't have it, we would do without it. I took some pictures of the inside of the King before we left:

We also had some friends and neighbors stop by for a visit and to see us off. We have great neighbors!!

Our first days drive went pretty well. The boys were great and we got to Columbus, Ohio in one piece. It was great to see some of my cousins and their kids and my Aunt and Uncle. We had a wonderful visit and packed a lot of fun into a couple of days. We spent a whole day at COSI, an awesome science museum in downtown Columbus. Once inside, we shoved all 4 cousins into the hurricane simulator:

They loved it. Then it was back outside where they had to work together to use a giant lever to lift a car. They did a pretty good job:

We saw lots of other exhibits too, but one of their favorites was the space exhibit, where they each got to land a lunar exploration vehicle in the simulator.

I really enjoyed the Water exhibit, which had this giant statue of Poseidon and lots of neat things you do, like float plastic balls in the fountain and watch sound waves move through the water in these neat bronze bowls:

Friday we spent the day at the ColumbusZoo and Aquarium. We had a great day and saw lots of interesting animals, some that were even native to the zoo...

But, it was hot. Really, really hot. Like 103 degrees hot. And the older kids and cousins wanted to go through

 “justonemoreexhibitcanweseethegorillasinthecongoplease!!”

 But the little dude was just done, so the husband headed for the front gate with him for ice cream while I went trekking through the Congo with the tweens and teens. Just as we were finishing up the husband shoots me a text that says there's a huge thunderstorm about 30 minutes away and could we please move it because we need to get going. Sure enough, huge storm, tree limbs down, power outages, perhaps you heard about on the news. Luckily, we had left the King back at my Aunt and Uncles house, and weathered much of it in their Subaru on Route 315. We had left a couple of windows open, and the cushions were a little wet. Luckily there was no other damage and everything was dried out by the next morning. My Aunt and Uncle never lost power, but my cousin was still without late this morning when we left. Hope it's back on by now.

So today we headed further west, stopping at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to see the NationalMuseum of the US Air Force. It was very interesting and had lots of planes to look at.

It was also a great way to break up the drive. We're all hooked up at our first official campground of the trip, just west of Indianapolis and will be heading for St. Louis in the morning. Please hope for clear roads and sunny skies!!

Arrrrr, We Be Leaving Soon!

Pirate Ian has been cleared by the neurologist and is ready to go!

We were able to get an appointment with a wonderful neurologist yesterday who asked a ton of questions and looked at the little dude's MRI. Officially, it seems that he has an over active immune system that, while fighting the virus that was making him sick last week, attacked the myelin coating on the number 6 nerve that controls eye movement in his left eye. It will heal, given time, but as the myelin has to re-grow completely, it could take 4-6 and even possibly 8 weeks. He will have to have a follow up MRI when we get home, but there is no reason why we can't enjoy our summer plans. In the mean time, he has to wear an eye patch on and off over the good eye, so that the left eye doesn't become lazy as it heals. The doctor also told him to say Arrrrr a lot and to maybe look into getting a parrot. If he calls me a scurvy wench I'm totally leaving him at Alcatraz.

So, the countdown is back on and we're inside 3 days! We have a few more reservations to make, a couple of things to fix and a whole lot of packing to do. The only major thing still not working is the oven. The husband called again yesterday and they believe the parts may come in on Monday. I believe we will be traveling without an oven...

We finished up the last building project a few days ago. Since we put in the jack knife bed, the aisle was too narrow for the original ladder we had to get up to the bunk above the cab, so the husband and the little dude designed and built a new one. They did a great job and it looks really cool! The little dude loved helping to varnish it.

The next couple of days will be spent looking over what we need to take, what we want to take, and what we can do without. We have lots of packing to do. The boys are looking forward to some museum time with their cousins as they have been told that the science museum has a Mythbusters exhibit right now!! How perfectly cool is that!

In Limbo

Another school year has ended.  This year the teen finished middle school and will be heading off to high school in the fall, and the middle guy graduated from 5th grade today.  Middle school here we come!  Next year I'll have one kid at 3 different schools.  Let the good times roll!  I took some pictures at 8th grade graduation last week and this one is my favorite, the teen with his 5th grade teacher.

They were just about the same height when he was in her class. 

Here's my favorite picture from today, the middle guy at his award ceremony with Grandma and Grandpa.

And another one of the middle guy with all three fabulous 5th grade teachers.

We are down under the one week mark until we had originally planned to leave, but right now all our travel plans are on hold.  The little dude is feeling much better, but is still having problems with one eye.  We took him for an MRI on Monday which indicated an abnormality in one nerve leading to one of the muscles that controls his eye movement.  The pediatrician said it could very well be caused by whatever virus he had last week, and that it may go away on its own, but that he needs to see a pediatric neurologist before we leave.  The earliest appointment they were able to get is not until July 2nd, so now we hope for a cancellation to get him in sooner.  Keep your fingers crossed that we can get him in and that he's soon cleared for travel.

12 Days

WoooooHooooo! We passed our New York State inspection and the King is ready to go!

**so, apparently the original picture I had here was of the registration, not the inspection. Here's the inspection sticker...

In a little twist of irony, the husbands truck did NOT pass inspection and needed some repairs, so on Monday he had to head out and pick the boys up from school in the motor home. Anyone who has ever tried to navigate a busy school parking lot at dismissal knows it's hard enough to dodge buses, pedestrians and other parents in a regular sized vehicle. It's impossible to be inconspicuous in that situation in a 27 foot, 1985 motor home and apparently he drew a bit of a crowd. The boys thought it was awesome though, and would probably enjoy this type of ride everyday!

We haven't exactly had a problem free week though. The little dude wasn't feeling great last weekend and by Monday night he had a sore throat and headache so we knew he had something going on. I took him in for a strep test, which came back negative, so we figured whatever it was would run its course in another day or two. It didn't, and yesterday afternoon he appeared to have developed some kind of eye infection, so back to the pediatrician we went. They quickly ruled out an infection or an injury, as he had spent most of the week laying on the couch, but were very concerned that his eyelid was drooping and he couldn't follow a moving object with his left eye. They called and sent us to an Ophthalmologist last night and now we are waiting for an insurance referral for an MRI early next week. The doctor we saw believes that whatever virus was making him sick earlier in the week is now affecting the nerves that control the muscles around his eye and as the virus clears up, his eye will too. The MRI is just a precaution, but could hold us up depending on what they find. He's feeling better, though we'll be keeping things on the quiet side this weekend. Tonight the husband took the teen to scout camp for the weekend and the middle guy was at the fifth grade pool and pizza party, so the little dude and I snuggled on the couch, popped some popcorn and watched a movie. It was a nice way to spend an evening, and we're hoping to get back on track early next week! Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.

I have finally finished up some new cushions for the King, they came out pretty well, with some help from my mom and dad!

We will be cleaning up and setting up the inside of the King this weekend, and I'll try to get some more pictures! We're hoping for a more uneventful last week of school and a trouble free departure in just 12 days!

I Love the Mailman

Because today he brought me lots of fun boxes!!

I had some fun on Amazon.com this weekend!  There were a few things we needed and a few others that we thought would be fun to have, and for the most part the shipping is free.  The teen helped open the boxes after school.  I bought this tea kettle for the husband.  It weighs next to nothing and he'll be able to use it on backpacking trips with the boy scouts.  I also bought a collapsible drip coffee maker to satisfy my caffeine addiction.  And we learned last year that a single pie iron just doesn't cut it for a family of 5, unless you're good with spending about 2 hours cooking dinner over an open fire.  I found a double one that should speed up the dinner preparations considerably.  It came with some pretty interesting recipes that we're looking forward to trying!

Of course, with three boys in scouting I have several bags of boy scout popcorn in the house and the air popper gets a pretty good workout many Friday nights.  But, this summer we won't always have electricity, so I was really excited to find this

   It's an old timey, shake it over fire, long handled popcorn popper!!  It took the husband a little bit to figure out how to attach the handle, but when taken apart it stores in a pretty small space.  Can't wait to try it out!  Finally, I bought a package of 4 travel bugs to use when we go geocaching. 

We're going to start one off here in the Buffalo area this weekend, plan to start another one in the south west, one in California, and the last one in the plains on our way back east.  It should be interesting for the boys to follow them and see where they go!!

The King is heading back to the mechanic on Monday for it's New York State inspection.  Hopefully we get the a-okay that everything has been safely repaired and we're ready to go.  Keep your fingers crossed that it passes