June 4

We continue to head west arriving in Illinois.  We were able to reserve a camp site at Scott AFB FamCamp in Belleville, IL.  Had no idea that many of the military bases have what the call FamCamps.  Tent and RV site for active or retired military (at very reasonable prices)  Once we were parked and all set up we realized that we were still having a problem with the toilet plumbing.  Where do you go when you need RV parts, Camping World.  The closest store was in a town called Wentzville about  60 miles west of where we were, on the other side of St. Louis.  With 300 miles under our belt for the day what was another 60.  Thank goodness the part we needed was in stock!!!!

Since we had to drive back through St Louis we decided to take a detour and see the famous Arch.  With tickets in hand we waited our turn, when the Arch staff member asks if anyone is claustrophobic, I paused and decided that all would be fine.  The ride to the top of the Arch is in a small pod shaped car.  Walter best described it as a dryer drum that could hold 5 people. It was a 4 minute ride up to the top, where you got to spent 10 minutes looking out windows and of course taking pictures.  When your times up you get back in the “dryer” for a 3 minute ride down, Definitely worth the detour. We took advantage of the opportunity to try some local cuisine and found Sugarland Smoke House BBQ joint where got some finger licking good  ribs, yum.

The next day we stumbled across the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.   The largest pre-Columbian site north of Mexico.  At its peak around the year 1100 this metropolis stretched over 4000 acres, encompassed about 120 earthen mounds, and hosted a population of nearly 20,000 people.  The state of Illinois now protects roughly 2200 acres of the central portion of the state including 72 of the remaining mounds.  In its day there were homes, planting fields and plazas for social events.  One of the mysteries that still persist is what happened to the people of Cahokia tribe.  The city was abandoned in 1400 AD and archeologists have yet to determine their fate.

June 6

I keep hearing Willie Nelson singing “On The Road Again” in my head but that is what we were, on the road again heading to Kansas City for our nephews wedding.  We arrived at  Basswood RV Resort perfectly located 10 minutes from the wedding venue.  The first night we attended the rehearsal dinner having a great time visiting with family and family to be. 

I feel like the infomercials we all despise on TV where they are selling their product and say “but wait there’s more”  Well our more is now we have a water leak in the bathroom sink.  Off to Lowes we go after the dinner at 9:30 at night, by the way we have been to Lowes and Home Depot on this trip 4 times already but did not think it was relevant until know.   By the time our adventure is over we will know where every Camping World, Lowes and Home Depot are across the US.  Used to be I knew where every bathroom was in every store  when potty training the girls, times have changed.  Found what we needed to fix the sink, Walter rolled up his sleeves and redid the plumbing.  Just like sailing you need to be master electrician, plumber and all around good handy man.

June 7

Who knew that Kansas City was home to the WW1 museum, not us.  What a treat, did not find it until later in the day so only got about an hour to tour it but worth every minute and we got to share the experience with daughter #1 and her family.  Very powerful! 

Not far from the museum was the Kansas City Union Station that was open to the public.  We all headed that way to check it out.  The station had been restored to its beauty from the heydays of when train travel was the preferred method of travel.  Amtrak still departs from it daily.

June 8

Next day was the big day of the wedding but not till later in the afternoon so we took advantage of some time to see a little more of Kansas City.  Luck would have it there was a Arabia Steamboat museum and open air market.  We walked the market soaking all the activity in, Stumble into a spice shop that was filled with aromas from bulk bags and bins of spice from all over the world.  We got sweet Thai curry  and tamarind to cook and experiment with,  Indulged in Italian cookies and some gelato then headed over to the Arabia Steamboat museum, again another gem we knew nothing about.  

The Arabia Steamboat sank near Kansas City on September 5, 1856, she carried 200 tons of mystery cargo.  Lost for 132 years, its recovery in 1988 was like finding the King Tut’s Tomb of the Missouri River.  They told us that that discovery was truly a modern day treasure hunting story.  The artifacts that were on display were items like clothing, fine china, carpentry tools, guns, dishes, children’s toys to the worlds oldest jarred pickles (still sealed). Most of these goods were destine for stores and special orders to settlers in the plains.  Could go on and on about it but really have to visit the museum to get the full impact and story, we did take a few pictures of the artifact’s that were on display.

Wedding time.  It was a elegant, beautiful and full of loving sentiment.  So glad we were able to attend.  As a matter of fact the wedding is why were are on this wild RV adventure.  We were going to fly but thought why not drive and take the RV, then we we were like we are half way across the US why not just keep going, and so we are thanks to the bride and groom!