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Published: July 23rd 2017
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We left the KOA by 9:30. Our goal was 9:00 but we did not make that.
At the first gas station we stopped, they had Frostys for 50 cents. So the girls took advantage of the price. Grace got Auntie Anne pretzel bites. These are creeping across the US.
Our first stop was the Fudge Factory in Uranus, Missouri. Alex and the girls were making all kinds of puns all day. It didn’t help that on the way to Uranus, we passed a road sign for route PP. Some of the roads out here are labeled by letters instead of names. Alex thought it was great we went by PP on our way to Uranus.
The Fudge Factory was a candy shop that took advantage of their name. It was announced every time the door opened “Welcome to Uranus!” They had a lot of fun trinkets. We purchased some fudge and some other fun items. When you leave they make sure to say “Thank you for Picking Uranus!” Alex, Alexis and Grace were rolling laughing. They also had an Axe Hole axe throwing area. They were really playing up the names.
Next stop was Fanning, MO where the 2
nd world’s largest rocking chair is on route 66. We took a few pictures and headed down the road. Missouri still allows you to ride in a trailer in tow, so the girls got in the trailer to ride for the short 30 minutes to the next stop. It was a unique experience for both Jody and Alex in the truck without the girls as well as the girls in the camper. They said it felt weird when we were going downhill. The only spot for them to ride was on our bed. They couldn’t ride anywhere else because of the slide outs. When we arrived at the next stop they were extremely hot. There was no air circulating and very hot. They were eager to get out.
We stopped at Meramac Caverns. We first pulled in and ate lunch in the picnic area. Then we took the tour of the caverns. The tour was about an hour long. You got to go into different levels of the cavern. There were some awesome areas of stalactites and stalagmites. They also have a section called the theater room that
they show a video on the wall of the cavern. It felt good almost cold in the cavern which was a nice break from the heat and humidity outside.
We decided because of the heat we should look into finding a camping spot for the night that at least had electric so we could run the air conditioner. While driving to St. Louis Jody looked for a place to stop for the night. There was a State Park in Metropolis, Ill. which was our next stop after St. Louis. After calling and finding out that they have plenty of spots available with electric we felt good about moving forward.
We drove through St. Louis. We were surprised by the lack of traffic on a Friday night at 6:30. Nothing like the California traffic! We were able to see the Gateway Arch from multiple angles. At the top side of St. Louis is the Chain of Rocks Bridge which was the original bridge for route 66. It is unique because it has a turn/bend in the bridge. You can no longer drive on the bridge. We were not sure how far we could drive out
to see it. We walked over one bridge, then realized we could take the camper over it to then drive the 2 miles to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. So we walked back to the camper and drove to the bridge. We could not see out onto the bridge. We could see that you pass the bridge when you drive on 270 so we went out and onto 270. We crossed the Mississippi River back into Missouri to see the bridge. Then got off and came back across the Mississippi into Illinois to see it a second time.
Next stop Metropolis, Ill. We swung by the Largest Catsup bottle in the world which is a water tower in Collinsville, Il. We took a few pictures as we drove by. It was getting late and we did not want to eat dinner at 10:30 when the GPS said we would arrive at Metropolis.
We saw a sign on the highway that advertized a Dominoes Pizza with a drive through. Jody wanted to know if we could take the camper through the drive through. We decided that would probably not work. There was a gas station
next door so the girls walked over and ordered pizza while Alex pumped the gas. We ate pizza in the truck as we continued on our way South.
We arrived at Fort Massac State Park in Metropolis Ill. at around 11:00. As we were pulling into the camping area the headlights lit up a disc golf basket. Alex got excited.
There were plenty of spots open so we picked one that looked long enough and backed in. We were trying very hard to be quiet since it was so late. We turned on the air and waited for the camper to cool down.
We were headed to bed by 11:30. No WiFi so no uploading or downloading.
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