Gateway Arch NP-Backtracking
I *knew* I had taken pictures during my 2010 trip to the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri. I found the ones posted here on my Facebook page. I’m still hopeful that I will find the rest on the camera I used or the computer to which I uploaded them. Unfortunately, the only things I can say about the visit are that I had also hoped to go on a riverboat tour on the Mississippi, but the river was flooded. None of the riverboats were offering trips to tourists. Also, there was an air show during my visit. The newstory about the show helped me place the date of my visit as July 4th. I got some photos of the show from inside the Arch–as well as of downtown St. Louis–and some from the ground. I hope that I will get a chance to go again at the…

The Singin’ Trekker on the Road!
: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Day1-293x300.gif" alt="Day1" width="293" height="300" />
I did a re-assessment of the trip and decided to delay departure until Tuesday and reverse the direction of my route. This would mean missing Trekfest, but with a four-day convention on the schedule and the possibility of attending another year, I could work with this idea. So,... I spent a relaxed 3-day weekend in Grinnell. RB's mileage hit 137K over the weekend, so she will hopefully make it to 140K before this excursion is over. Beyond doing a reshuffling of what I'd prepped for the trip, I didn't do anything but catch the newly released I4 movie at the local theater. After a couple of false starts, got out of Grinnell just after 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. RB's starting odometer reading was 136,037 miles. Since my goal was to get to Nashville, minimally a 10-hour drive away, I didn't plan many stops along the way. The one I did plan was Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa. It claims to rival San Francisco's Lombard Street for twists and turns, so I wanted to see it. Who am I kidding? I wanted to take RB on it.I set the dash cam, but it's new, and I didn't anticipate that extended use would result in the recording of the actual descent being overlain. Fortunately, I did take a few stills that are below:
[gallery size="large" type="slideshow" ids="93,101,100,99,98,97,96,95,94" orderby="rand"] The drive was pretty steady until I reached the outskirts of St. Louis and realized their evening rush hour was underway. Rather than get caught in it, I stopped for dinner. When I finally reached town, I was treated to this wonderful view of the Arch. I visited it a few years ago, so I'm settling with this view before I continued south.: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IMG_0021-e1467177827127-225x300.jpg" alt="IMG_0021" width="476" height="635" />
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Other than a wild--or incredibly long--delay on I-64, the drive was uneventful. Stopped for the night about an hour outside Nashville with a busy day planned for Wednesday. Started my playlist from the beginning. Lots of A's and started the B's just before I stopped for the evening. For me, the steady driving, accompanied by great music, really does make me relax.: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% / 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; top: 920px; left: 835px;">Save
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