Walking From Illinois to Missouri and Back on Route 66

 Granite City, IL & St. Louis, MO

Route 66 Selfie

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge

Today Donna and I drove across the Mississippi to Illinois and then walked back to Missouri on The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.  This bridge crosses the Mississippi just north of St. Louis and gets its name from the multiple rock ledges just under the surface of the water that made passage dangerous before the Chain of Rocks Canal was created.  Now barges bypass these shallow waters using the canal.

It's a really pretty place with a lot of trees and birds.  There is free parking on the Illinois side.  We were told there were a lot of car break-ins on the St. Louis side by different people so we decided to park on the Illinois side.

If you go, and you should, make note that there is a one way bridge leading to Chouteau Island.  There is a stoplight at either end that lets cars pass.  We were a little confused when we first pulled up and when we left we saw people turning around because they thought the light was never going to change.  Give it time, it will change.

The road to the parking lot is an Historic Route 66 highway and the bridge used extend this section of Route 66 across The Mississippi River.

There are also a few miles of nature trails on Chouteau Island, the island that we are on.

This is one of the two Water Intake Towers (Tower 1 built in 1894 and still in use) that bring water from the Mississippi River into the Water Treatment Plant and makes the water clean enough to brew Budweiser Beer.

There was info about The Mississippi River but now info on when you crossed the state line or about the Water Intake Towers.

Another shot of Tower #1

The Famous 30 degree bend.  This was created so they could firmly plant the pylons of the bridge in solid rock.

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge was on our St. Louis list for quite a while and we were looking forward to it but it ended up being way better than we expected.  

If you missed my previous post, We're Talking Baseball, check it out.  We saw The Cardinals stomp The Diamondbacks.

Local Flavor in St. Louis

 St. Louis, MO

A drumstick ice cream as big as your head!

Rout 66 Carl's Drive In

Today we revisited Carl's Drive In. We first went here on one of our road trips in 2015.  Carl's hamburgers are really great.  They are made by smashing the patty as flat as possible.  The patty is so thin that it gets nice and crispy on the edges.  It's a delicious burger.  We both got burgers, I also got a Chili covered tamale, and Donna got some fries for us to split.  She also got one of their homemade root beers which was good.  For dessert Donna and I split a Ronnie's Rocky Mountain.  It's a giant drumstick ice cream deep frozen solid as a rock.  

Getting our kicks on Historic Rout 66.

This is us trying not to look like tourist.  Pretty convincing hu?

It's really one of the best burgers I have had.

Sunday Brunch in the Park

We have arrived in St. Louis just as all of the "fair weather" events are starting.  Next Saturday is the 1st Summer Schedule Farmers Market and today was the first "Brunch In The Park" event.  The park is Tower Grove Park.  It's a little over half a mile away but it's a big park so there was a lot of walking involved.  We brought Francis and headed to The Piper Palm House.  There is a little window there that sells Biscuit Sandwiches but we were there for The Balkan Treat Box Truck and the 4 Hands Brewery Truck.  Balkan Treat Box is one of the top 100 Restaurants in St. Louis according to a few publications.  They have a crazy list of accolades by all kinds of national publications including Food and Wine, Eater, Esquire, and Food Network.

When we got there we jumped in line for the Balkan Truck and decided what to order.  We split a Pide which is a sort of flatbread sandwich (I will post a picture) and it was fantastic.  We also grabbed 2 cans of beer from the 4 Hands Brewery Booth and headed into The Piper Palm House to sit and eat.  Shortly after sitting we were kicked out because Francis was with us.  In our defense, there was nothing saying No Dogs and it was sort of an out door patio thing.  Oh well, we found a seat in the real outdoor area and continued eating our lunch while listening to the live music that was going on.

The people watching was fantastic.  All kinds of folks were out enjoying the "fair weather".  It's their reward for enduring what we assume is a fairly cold and windy winter.  It was still a little cold and windy for us today but we tried to blend in with our coats on while everyone else was in t-shirts and flip flops.  As we were finishing our lunch and beer we could hear the food truck workers telling people what they were out of.  We were glad we got there when we did.

New Brewery!  Well sort of.

In line for delicious grub!

It appears people pulled the tables and chairs out of the shade and into the sun

I know this looks good but it tasted way better than it looked.

Those were our adventures for the weekend.  If you missed my previous post you can find it here.  We had another foodie adventure down in Mehlville, MO.

Paying $7.75 for a $5 Turnpike Toll

 Kansas City, MO

MO Missouri less problems!

In Search of a Cool Tulsa T-Shirt

The other night we were exploring Tulsa and we figured out that the state bird for OK is the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  They are really cool birds and we have enjoyed seeing them since we crossed into Texas.  We learned that FC Tulsa's (Tulsa's Soccer Club) logo is a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in an Art Deco Style.  What could be better?  We decided that Donna needed to have a t-shirt so before our drive to KC we stopped by a couple of Dick's Sporting Goods because we heard they had stuff.  Well we found this cool scarf but Donna doesn't need a scarf so we are opting to buy a T-Shirt online and have it delivered.  More on that when we get it.

Here is the awesome logo

Here is the awesome scarf we found and chose not to buy

So yea, this meme applies

Tulsa OK to Kansas City via The Will Rogers Turnpike

We marked the shortest course to KC from where we were and it wanted us to take the Will Rogers Turnpike.  I didn't think much of it, only that it would cost $5 to save an hour on the drive and it passed right by the OK/MO/KS tri-point marker which was a plus.  We head out on our trip and everything was going smoothly.  We noticed the turnpike only really had 1 pay toll booth if you took it the whole way.  You have to pay exact change to get off before the booth and you got refunded money if you got off after the booth but before the end of the turnpike.  It's all fairly simple until you pass something you want to go back and see.  Donna and I have a rule that if you are road tripping and pass something, it's okay to turn around.  We flew past what we thought was a normal rest stop until we saw it and then had to circle back to experience The Will Rogers Archway!  It's sometimes called The Will Rogers Archway Oasis.  Anyway, we had already paid our $5 when we blew passed the archway so we had to get off, get $2.50 refunded, get back on going the other direction, Pay $5, then get off at the archway.  

As you pass under it, you can see people sitting in chairs eating food.

The stairs to the "above the turnpike" area

Part Food Court, Part Souvenir Stand, Part Public Art, and all cool!

Will Rogers is there to rope you into buying something

I always love looking down on the world

People heading Eastbound and people heading Westbound meet in the middle

There is also Historical Info on the Archway

The Archway used to be taken up by a McDonalds and is still referred to as "The Worlds Largest McDonalds" in some references but now the McDonalds only takes up part of it.  Before McDonalds bought in The Archway housed a Howard Johnsons.  

Donna and I took turns using the restroom and exploring the space while the other took care of Francis outside.  After our visit we had to continue on the turnpike in the wrong direction.  We got off at the nearest exit and got refunded $2.50 and then got back on in the proper direction and got charged $2.75 at the toll booth.  That is how we ended up paying $7.75 for a $5 toll.

Our First Tri-Point

We continued on the Will Rogers Turnpike until it ended in Missouri.  This was our que to get off the highway and drive about a mile to the OK/KS/MO Tri-Point Marker.  You have heard of 4 corners right?  There is one of those but have you heard of State Tri-Points?  There are 61 state tri-points!  The tri-point was down a dirt road between the highway and a casino.  There was no one else there so we were able to take all of the photos we wanted.  You can read about all of the tri-points here.

The old monument built in 1938 was a bit off the mark when they looked at it again in 2004

This is the new marker

Standing on 3 states at once!

The Rest of the Drive

After the tri-state marker stop we stopped briefly at the Missouri Welcome Center and then pressed on to our Kansas City Airbnb.  

MODOT using office supplies for personal use again

The Rest Stop / Visitors Center had a great mural that took up the entire wall

Inside was someone helping and lot of pamphlets.  I got the official MO State Map, 2 State Park guides, and the Visit Kansas City book.

They even had wireless public phones!

We got to the Airbnb and unloaded the car.  We had to pay for street parking while we made about 13 trips to the 3rd floor using an elevator. Tomorrow we will lock down a monthly parking garage.

Our Airbnb is really nice and the climate control is great!  We won't be sitting in an 85 degree place!  It even came with a welcome bottle of bourbon and a roll of quarters to get us started on parking or laundry or pinball!

After settling in we went for a walk.  We are going to have a great time here in KC.  I am looking forward to our time here!

Mark Twain

Circular Thinking

If you missed yesterday's post check it out here.  We were in Tulsa OK exploring the town.