Another sunshine morning here in the mid-west! We got a little bit of a late start yesterday but accomplished a lot. The place we stayed on Saturday night was just on the border of the two states, otherwise we would have had to go through St. Louis to find a good place to spend the night.

Jumping the border from East St. Louis IL to St. Louis, our first stop was the Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis, overlooking the mighty Mississippi River. The Arch is a monument to Louis & Clark and the Westward Expansion. It is the tallest monument in the nation at 630 feet. Jazz decided not to go to the top, as it was pretty busy, but I have been up there previously when I worked out here back in 2003.

After the Arch, we found the Blueberry Hill Café, which is also downtown and where Chuck Berry performs once a month. It was filled with lots and lots of iconic memorabilia that included a Pac-Man room with a tabletop Pac-Man game and a giant game level on one wall.

We are discovering that Route 66 can be tough to follow! We had a little trouble staying on track in the St. Louis area but were able to find it again just outside the city in Kirkwood.

A must see attraction on our list was the Meramec Caverns. We took the tour, which brings you 360 feet underground at the lowest point. The natural formations were extraordinary and the history of the caverns is pretty cool.

We continued to drive as the sun slowly set over the beautiful Ozark countryside, stopping at several attractions that caught our eye such as:

•  Cuba, The Mural City and home of the famous Wagon Wheel Motel
•  The world’s largest rocking chair, Fanning-Rosati
•  The Mule Trading Post on the outskirts of Rolla

We chose another Pilot Flying J truck stop as our resting place last night and Monday we will start our day in the St. Robert and the Devil’s Elbow area. We will finish Missouri and zip through Kansas, which is the shortest portion of Route 66.

Have a look at the photos and don’t forget to follow us on FB for updates throughout the day and subscribe to the Blog.

~J&J

Tomorrow, we will embark on our month long Route 66 cross country trip in our awesome vintage motorhome, “Lady T”. For the both of us, this has been a long time dream.

When I think about driving cross-country, I remember the countless movies I watched as a kid on late night cable during summer vacations. In those movies, someone was always leaving, arriving, or on the way. To me, exploring the open road represented the ultimate freedom, a feeling I hoped to experience one day.

Over the years, Jay & I have often talked about travelling cross-country but it always seemed like just a dream. Early last year, we started considering the trip more seriously and we realized very quickly there were so many things to consider. Unlike all of those movies, it was not realistic for us to simply jump in an old jalopy and go. How would we travel? Which routes should we choose? When should we go? Could we afford it?

Then last July, we took our  first step towards making our dream a reality. After only a few weeks of actively searching, we found our 1994 Ford Fleetwood Tioga motorhome! From the moment I saw her, I knew she was our rig. When I first stepped inside, I felt like she had always been ours and had just been waiting for us to arrive. In immaculate condition and with an old school look that we loved, she was in a word: perfect.

Fast forward to today. Our checklist has been checked (and re-checked), the mail has been held and as of 8:30AM tomorrow morning, the word “work” has been removed from our vocabulary. We have waited a long time to get here and very soon, we’ll be getting there. We hope that you will come along for the ride…

See you on the road.

J&J