On July 9th, we had to return the trailer, cleaned and ready-to-rent, at 9am. This meant packing up all of our stuff and loading it into the back of the truck the night before. We got to bed late, and the next morning, we had to get up at 6 am! The sun was coming up as we completed moving everything from the trailer into the truck and headed off to find a truckwash to clean off the layers of bugs and dust from the trailer before we returned the trailer to the rental company in Oklahoma City.
Once we dropped off the trailer, we stopped by the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.
By 11:30 am, we were on the road to Saint Louis, MO......7 hours before you add in the detour we took to the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, MO.
Once we dropped off the trailer, we stopped by the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.
By 11:30 am, we were on the road to Saint Louis, MO......7 hours before you add in the detour we took to the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, MO.
We only had about an hour at this monument, but I am really glad we stopped. George Washington Carver was such an amazing man, gifted in so many things....science, painting, needlework, music. There is a wonderful nature path that meanders through the property; it is easy to see where he got his inspiration. After we left there, we continued on to Saint Louis. We arrived at the hotel at about 9:30pm and fell into bed!
The next morning, Joan and Rick slept in, and once they were up, we headed to the Jefferson Western Expansion Museum, which is located near the Gateway Arch on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis. The museum is fantastic....I would definitely recommend it. While we really did not plan to have this trip be about pioneering, it ended up being a pretty good history lesson about those who ventured West in the 1800s. Our dear neighbors, the Dulins, gave Joan a wonderful book for her birthday entitled If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon. It was fun to read this story and be able to tie it in with all that we saw in both Idaho and in Saint Louis.
We also visited the historic courthouse where the Dred Scott case was tried, which is across the street from the Arch. (In the Dred Scott case, the trial court granted Dred Scott's petition for freedom, but the Supreme Court, in a decision that helped spark the Civil War, overruled the trial court and held that Dred Scott was not entitled to bring a lawsuit in the courts because he was property and not a citizen). The courthouse was an unexpected gem, and Joan learned a lot about slavery and Greek Revival architecture, which earned her another Junior Ranger badge.
Again, we wish that we could have spent more time there, but we needed to hit the road for Cincinnati, as I told my brother that we would be there by 5:30pm. I had forgotten that we would lose an hour because of the time change. Long story short, we rolled into their driveway at 7:45!
Again, we wish that we could have spent more time there, but we needed to hit the road for Cincinnati, as I told my brother that we would be there by 5:30pm. I had forgotten that we would lose an hour because of the time change. Long story short, we rolled into their driveway at 7:45!
We were greeted by Chris (my brother), Jeanne (my sister-in-law), Toph (my nephew) and Ashley (Toph's girlfriend). We had a delicious dinner of trout, wild rice and snow peas and mushrooms. What a nice welcome!
We are looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow.....swinging by Graeters at some point for some delicious ice cream!
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