Our Road Trips: October 2016

10/30/2016 10/18-30/2016

It has been a fun 2 weeks. We arrived at Arrow Rock State Park and spent the first day just relaxing, that is part of the reason we build those extra days into our stops. We are in a pretty spot, may as well appreciate it. We were also figuring out our agenda.

On Wed we drove through Arrow Rock, the historic town, and then to the Visitor's Center and walked through the museum there. Not much going on at either place but we watched the movie and asked a few questions and got a few answers...fun talking to the folks at visitor's centers. Then we drove the 14 miles back to Marshall, a small college town where my sister & brother-in-law lived in the early 70's and where they started their family. We had read about Jim the Wonder Dog too, so we stopped and visited the park dedicated to this amazing doggie. Here is the story if you care to read it: http://www.jimthewonderdog.org/foj_story.html We also stopped by & took pictures of the old hospital and the college where Larry taught, got some groceries & a pizza and headed back.

The next day we drove to Jefferson City to visit the Capitol and a few other gov buildings in the Sate Capital. We toured what was opened and headed back via a different route through the countryside. The Capitol tour was full of way bored middle school kids from southern Missouri. Fun to hear the take on the Jim Crow laws that started in that town. They don't seem to understand the issue.

The next day, we sort of goofed off most of the morning and then drove to Booneville and out to Boonelick...where we learned the name came from Daniel Boone's son Nathan, not Daniel. Then we went back to Booneville, walked out on the bridge over the Missouri and took pictures of the sunset. Then we visited the Fredrick Hotel and had a burger for dinner...very good.

The next day was moving day, on to St Louis. We are to meet 11 other couples. all from our 2014 Alaska Adventure, which will represent half of our group. We arrived about 2 pm and most of them had gone on a visit of the Gateway Arch & the Anhauser-Busch Brewery. So we visited with the rest who had arrived and waited for the rest to get back. We all got together at 6 for hors'douvers and re-acquainting. It was a fun evening, seeing everybody again. 9 states: NY, MD, FL, OH, WA, CA, AZ, SC, IL represented. It worked out great for us, basically on our way home to meet in StL. One couple was stuck on Ohio with a broke motor in their rig. They arrived later in the week to make the 13th couple, great turnout. Thanks to Bud & Helen for making all of the arrangements, it was fun.

We spent the next six days visiting, sitting around bonfires and sightseeing St Louis. We got 12 people to go to a dinner theater with live music, 4 of us played golf, visited a classic car display, went for a river cruise, went up in the arch, visited the breweries and went on a trolley tour, among other things. There is plenty to do in St Louis for a week and doing it with friends made it a fun week.

Yesterday was moving day again. We are now in Nashville for 3 nights and then we are headed south with a stop in Georgia and then to Florida. We plan to be home in 2 weeks. Stay tuned.

Steve & Barb Larson