St Louis

No Virginia, that's not Mc Donald's. It's the Gateway Arch from our Casino Queen RV site in (shudder) East St Louis. It's really quite nice, convienent to all things St Louis, including Baby Sister turning the big 60. RV spots near St Louis are rare and this one, with a glimpse of the Arch was spotless and secure.
Fellow South St Louisian Chris Dunphy of the TECHNOMANDIA blog has done some really excellent posts on the Pleasures of St Louis -- the Cards, City Museum, the incredible Zoo (with new Polar Bear habitat), and Ted Drews legendary Frozen Custard Stand, but here's one more.

Dad's Cookie Company is nestled in Dutchtown, where every corner is a four-way stop, many with a tavern, but nearly always the remains of one of these live-over shops in each corner. In the past, they were delicatessens, groceries, sweet shops or butchers. Every 4-6 blocks was a family owned bakery, each with a specialty treat, baked on a specific weekday. Yes, life was good when a short bike ride could take you to a classmate's home over the bakery and mama or grandma would ply a growing girl or boy with pastry.
Dad's has lived on, providing crispy (mildly addictive) Scotch Oatmeal cookies still weighed out on the same bakery scale, packed in a brown paper bag, and wrapped with white cotton twine.

Carmen has worked here four days a week for sixteen years.
I'd work on Thursday too; I love it here.
Well darn, Carmen. I just told Patty it would take extraordinary charm to get you to even smile, and there you go getting all girly. Was I the target of all that levity?
Note: the large-volume plastic bags indicate Patty just bought the whole day's production of broken cookies.

GRANT'S FARM
As a young parent, I have to admit dodging a number of visits to Grants Farm, "one of only two log cabins built by and lived in by an American President." Really nobody cares about that; they are here for the tram ride around the Deer Park and a glimpse of the grand home of the Busch family, brewers of some tasty beverages.

There are tree shaded walks through animal exhibits, free samples of tasty beverages, goat feeding and pampering for the tots, world famous Clydesdales up close and personal, and, did I fail to mention, tasty beverages. LimeOrita, really?

Bn
All this graciously presented in a manner quite Disney-like for the pittance of a parking fee. Go early and often, especially if you are blessed with four little ones under four and a cadre of charming parents attending them. It's really a grandparent's nirvana.

Our family time was delightful. After the kids feted Judy with two weeks of birthday surprises, she thought it was over. Then the sisters appeared.

Tots on the floor, tots in laps, tots at the playground. Barbeque, Mexican night and Ted Drews for Fourteen each night!
If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.

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Big Waters and Small

Moving Day. We towed North thankful that the big weather was now East of our course. The first few miles were along the Natchez Trace Parkway. We have sampled these quiet miles often; we don't stop at the many historical markers as often now as we once did, but, like the Blue Ridge, we swell with a citizen's pride that these places are so well preserved.

Our goal was near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio; family time was planned and a bit of exploring in the places Al's parents ran amok in their youth.

Ferne Clyffe could become a favorite just for the archaic spelling, but we love it for the rock formations, well planned trail system and quiet campground, perched on the third highest point along the Shawnee Uplift.

For more spectacular images of Southern Illinois in rare light, go here and be amazed. http://www.shawneeexplorer.com/

Giant City State Park (just north of here) also celebrates the twisted rock formations in this corner of Illinois bypassed by the glaciers. It features a spectacular lodge, hand built with CCC love and the oversight of a fresh-out-of-school engineer named Meyer, but we prefer the campground at Ferne Clyffe.

Giant City State Park lodge

 

Tunnel Hill Bike Trail

FRACTURED ROCK ALONG THE TUNNEL HILL BIKE TRAIL

Another preserved treasure is the Tunnel Hill Bike Trail with its midpoint in the little town of Vienna. North is the tunnel, South is the Cache Creek Wetlands Center. Tough choice, but we took the up grade to the Tunnel so we could enjoy the effortless coast back to town and warm dinner.

 

Garnet Mae

And yet another totally well preserved national treasure -- our cousin Garnet Mae. This day sharing stories and home-made pie was the sunniest of this trip and by far the happiest. Our young cousin Patsy and her free range PALs were non-stop hilarious and Garnet, at way past 80, kept up with her usual understated charm. Everyone needs a day around a farm kitchen table...everyone should have a friend like Garnet.

 

 

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Mississippi

We crossed into Mississippi near Columbus with precious cargo aboard -- the first of the Chilton county peaches, small, but with the rich flavor of summer.

The Horn of Plenty is one of several roadside stands along highway 82, but the warm welcome we always receive brings us back.

We hatched an adoring mist of fruit flies along the way, but that paper sack jostling in the sink filled the Airstream with fragrant promise.

Our goal was Davis Lake Campground in the Tombigbee National Forest, situated between the Natchez Trace and the now completed Tanglefoot Bike Trail. Both promised smooth biking pavement for our two day visit.

We settled into site # 4 amongst tall Pine and Oak with an apron of lawn leading down to the lake. There are fishing spots and private docks and a view of the quiet, orderly boat launch. A nice breeze was welcome during set-up. This campsite was also home to a virtuoso Mockingbird with a nearly endless repertoire.

We had planned an evening ride or maybe a look at the Oak Creek Mounds nearby, but our camp hosts were so welcoming we spent those minutes trading stories until the first little pop-up showers reached us. After a bit of discussion, we concluded that while Alabama and Mississippi are often battling for last place on most rankings, they rate near the top for Friendliest Folks.

Those little showers defined our day Saturday. After a striking sunrise over the lake and brilliant sunshine for breakfast, distant thunder heralded the first of a train of intense little storms. We thought of past bike rides in rain (sometimes thunder) and contented ourselves watching the boaters, reading and napping. It calmed at sunset and offered us a weak rainbow...

We DID manage a quick visit to nearby Oak Creek Archeological site -- a few small Mississippian mounds, notable more for the exotic legends than the grandeur of the place. Some felt this was the village of Chickasse where the Chickasaw handed Desoto his tin hat, barbecued most of his pigs and sent him packing. Nice thought and well documented in the journals, but the builders of these mounds missed Desoto's march by roughly 2500 years...

Sunday we could see a few hours before the huge rain event to the West would overtake us so we struck out for New Houlka at the 10 mile mark on the Tanglefoot Trail and rode toward Houston.

Mississippi does a wonderful job with their Rail/trails -- smooth pavement, swept clean regularly plus first class rest stops -- but they can't add much drama to the scenery which today was big black earth fields and red clay roads glimpsed through the green overarching canopy.

We love the graphics on the signage (are there Tee shirts?) and the citizen participation in trail upkeep.

The "EelStew Touring Society" -- there has to be a story there, eh?

There's not much going on in New Houlka on a Sunday Morning, so both of the town's police cruisers were assigned to surveil two geriatrics in funny shorts showing an interest in the town's only noteworthy architecture.

Patty thinks the fire drills at the Chickasaw Board of Education must be a Hoot.

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