Cold and rainy start. I got a surprise at breakfast – part of my front tooth broke off! I wanted to get it fixed ASAP before it started to hurt, so I told the nice woman working reception that I had broken a tooth – did she have a suggestion?
Her brow furrowed for a few seconds and then, God bless her, she said earnestly “I think you should see a dentist.”
I bit my tongue, and simply agreed. Could she suggest one?
She gave me the names of her own dentist. I called, explained that I was traveling, and they asked me to come on in. One hour and $160 later, I had a new filling and we were on the road again. Not bad, eh?
On the way out of Litchfield, we found a classic gas station and a pretty church:
We then headed into St. Louis via the Chain of Rocks Road. We passed the old Bel Air Drive-In on the way. The original Chain of Rocks Bridge is now closed to vehicles, open to cyclists and hikers only.
We then crossed the Mississippi into Missouri on the new bridge, and headed downtown to see the Arch. This is very tall; it was hard to find a place to take the photo from that would get it all in the frame. We didn’t take the tram up to the observation post at the top of the Arch, we went to the museum at the base instead.
We used the guide book to exit St. Louis along Route 66 where it was safe, and I-55 where it was dangerous. (Dilapidated buildings, boarded up houses.) Apparently this city has lost about half its population from the peak in the 1950s.
Next stop was Meramec Cavern. We must have passed 50 billboards for this place, starting from 85 miles away! And these enterprising folk reportedly invented the bumper sticker. If these guys had pioneered the Internet age, I have no doubt your email inbox would have a “Meramec” filter.
Despite the self-promotion, it is a reasonably impressive set of caves. They claim to have the largest known stalagmite, as large as a Jarvis street mansion, estimated to be 33 million years old, and still growing. They have a 85-ft tall wall of curtain rock that is estimated to be 75 million years in the making. As the final stop in the tour, they play Kate Smith’s God Bless America in a light show on them.
(Several unique formations, formed by a combination of wet and dry floors)
(Photo does not do justice - it is 85ft tall!)
And finally, I think these Missouri types take their drink seriously:
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