ST LOUIS ARCH

 Finally made it to St Louis ! The Arch is truly beautiful .Unfortunately they stopped lighting it up at night. They say it is because birds are flying into it  but I'm sure they just cant afford it.  There is a park surrounding it and you can ride to the top for about 20 dollars a person. The last  tall building we went up was the Twin Towers about a month before 9/11. We decided to pass as we had only one afternoon here and of course the obvious. 

 If you are traveling in a motor home stay at the Casino Queen RV  Park. This was our view of the arch from the park. It is completely automated with no park staff. Just a series of coded doors. Make sure you bring your own snickers bars as the candy machine did not work. Very disappointing. It is across from a casino so the casino security does patrol. Just a walk across the bridge to Downtown St Louis. 

   Actually a day in St Louis is ample. Not much left to this dying city except dilapidated brick buildings . Very sad to see population dwindling to 350,000 people .

   We ate at the Sugar fire Smokehouse Restaurant . This is the 3 meat special costing 19.99 and a side of deep fried artichoke hearts . Plenty of food for two. I have had better brisket but for a large place it was great. The best part was the 8 sauces representing all the various regional barbecue styles.  We had great fun tasting them all .I found the white sauce and the mustard sauce to be very pleasant. Its nice to try new things. 

Erik expanding his photography skills. 

Here's Erik fulfilling his life dream of touching the St Louis Arch. Unfortunately people have scratched their names all over the stainless steel  .

And of course we cant forget the Smashed Pennies. That is truly what life is all about .  

OUR FIRST CROSS COUNTRY BUYING TRIP

  This will be our home away from home for the next 20 something days. It is a 1999 Volkswagon / Winnabago Rialta. After careful consideration and shopping for a small replacement Rv we decided our baby of 14 years had almost everything we needed so we had her refurbished. Shes better than when we bought her 14 years ago. Thank you Pop Top Heaven.  
   Sixteen mpg and easy to drive is a rare find . Even in today's market. Smaller flexible solar panels are finally available for permanent installation. Also most electronics are now able to be powered with marine batteries so we are fully self sufficient. 

 We are embarking on a buying trip up route 66 to Chicago , The worlds longest Garage sale ( US 127 from Michigan to Alabama )and over to Arkansas for their version of a giant highway  sale. Along the way we will be working on our social media platforms for our Ebay stores and a new Etsy presence.
 As we need an area for work we took out the middle passenger seats /bed. Here's our office, storage and leisure area. The front captains chairs flip around and the totes will become furniture. I even have a printer that functions on the road. Technology has come a long way. 

 We have a fully functional kitchen with a gas range, microwave , sink and refrigerator. Behind that is a dinette booth that converts into a queen size bed. 

 You have no idea how many clothes are in that closet . 

 Nice little toilet with a pull out shower. No we don't really use the shower. Rv parks usually have pretty good ones and as its going to be hot our there so we need plugins for our air conditioner. Not much boondocking is in the cards for this trip. It looks like we will be chasing the heat wave on its way out but its still going to be hot. 

Theres the cockpit !!! Where I am now working on my blog resurrection . On our way to Laughlin Nevada as Don is giving us some free rooms and prime  rib dinner.