Fun4me
Active member
Most of the time on my LRD I’m looking for back roads and trails to explore. I decided to try something different the other day and took it to visit the big city. St. Louis is a mere 15 miles from home if I take the interstate super slab. Since that’s not an option with the LRD I took a more leisurely and scenic 22 mile route to get there.
First stop was at the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, directly across from the iconic Gateway Arch and the city of St. Louis. This location provides an elevated viewing platform overlooking the river.
I crossed the river into Missouri to get a couple of pictures of the arch from the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Although I’ve been here many times, and have ridden the trams up to the observation room at the top, I still can’t help but be impressed by the 630’ stainless steel catenary arch. That’s a fancy way to say the height and width are the same. It’s the world’s tallest arch, and the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. If you’re able to zoom in on the photos below you can see the observation windows at the top.
Next, I rode over to Busch Stadium, home of the famous St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. My LRD can be seen in the middle of the photos below, to the left of the fire hydrant.
Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take some photos of statues of former Cardinal players and Hall of Fame inductees, to include some real baseball legends: Stan Musial, Dizzy Dean, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Enos Slaughter, Red Schoendienst, Roger Hornsby, Bob Gibson, James ‘Cool Papa’ Bell, George Sisler, and others.
I headed home, and about half way there I stopped at the Cahokia Mounds Historic Site. This is a pre-Columbian Native American city that existed from around 1000 through 1350. It’s the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture. The current park is 2,200 acres and contains 80 man-made earthen mounds in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions. The ancient city was much larger with 120 mounds that were excavated and moved in woven baskets. The photos below show the largest mound on the site, Monks Mound. It rises 100’ and covers 14 acres. In one of the photos you can see a man standing at the top of the stairs on the left to get an appreciation of the size. That's one big pile of dirt.
Until next time, happy trails to you.
First stop was at the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, directly across from the iconic Gateway Arch and the city of St. Louis. This location provides an elevated viewing platform overlooking the river.
I crossed the river into Missouri to get a couple of pictures of the arch from the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Although I’ve been here many times, and have ridden the trams up to the observation room at the top, I still can’t help but be impressed by the 630’ stainless steel catenary arch. That’s a fancy way to say the height and width are the same. It’s the world’s tallest arch, and the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. If you’re able to zoom in on the photos below you can see the observation windows at the top.
Next, I rode over to Busch Stadium, home of the famous St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. My LRD can be seen in the middle of the photos below, to the left of the fire hydrant.
Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take some photos of statues of former Cardinal players and Hall of Fame inductees, to include some real baseball legends: Stan Musial, Dizzy Dean, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Enos Slaughter, Red Schoendienst, Roger Hornsby, Bob Gibson, James ‘Cool Papa’ Bell, George Sisler, and others.
I headed home, and about half way there I stopped at the Cahokia Mounds Historic Site. This is a pre-Columbian Native American city that existed from around 1000 through 1350. It’s the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture. The current park is 2,200 acres and contains 80 man-made earthen mounds in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions. The ancient city was much larger with 120 mounds that were excavated and moved in woven baskets. The photos below show the largest mound on the site, Monks Mound. It rises 100’ and covers 14 acres. In one of the photos you can see a man standing at the top of the stairs on the left to get an appreciation of the size. That's one big pile of dirt.
Until next time, happy trails to you.
