St Louis and St Charles - Lewis and Clark Caravan - Part 1 (STR-2022-2)

Wednesday, 11 May, Day 1

A more relaxing morning than most as we were only 15 miles from the caravan rendezvous campground in Eureka, MO.  With high temperatures forecast in the 90s, we departed early enough to ride bikes before it got too hot.

We rode part of the Al Foster/Rock Hollow Greenway which is on an old railbed along the Meremac River.  About 2.5 miles in, the trail changed from nice crushed gravel to mud.  Darrell nearly wiped out in the mud.  We rode back to the start and did the Hamilton-Carr Greenway, a paved trail which started at the same trailhead.  All in all, we got just over 11 miles in.  And lots of mud on the bikes.

After a grocery stop, we checked into the St. Louis West/Historic Route 66 KOA Holiday campground.  Their normal checkin is 1pm, and we arrived at 11am.  We were second to last to check in - seems like several had arrived one or more days earlier.

At 2pm, the caravan had its orientation session.  Very organized and the staff members were very enthusiastic.  And experienced.  The caravan is made up of a total of 15 RVs - Wagonmaster (retired Army), Tailgunner (retired Air Force), a staff-in-training and 12 clients.  Total of 28 people (6 staff, 22 clients), exactly half what was on last summer’s caravan.  A typical full caravan is 24 rigs - 2 staff and 22 clients.  Apparently, there were some late cancellations due to medical issues - a stroke and a hip replacement.

The Wagonmaster has being leading caravans for 10 years (over 30 caravans led).  The Tailgunner has been doing caravans for 5 years.  They are normally Wagonmasters, but as they are leading one of the Alaska trips that starts a week after this caravan end, they asked to be a Tailgunner.

Six of the rigs have done multiple caravans with Adventure Caravans.  And for six rigs (including us) this is their first caravan with Adventure Caravans.  For Marie, traveling solo in a Class C, this is her 11th caravan with Adventure Caravans.  For Bob and Jean in a Cedar Creek fifth wheel, this is their 9th caravan with Adventure Caravans.

Eight rigs are are Class As, with five of them Tiffins.  One Class B (us), one truck camper, one Class C, one Super C, and three fifth wheels.  We are one of four rigs without a tow car.

Thursday, 12 May, Day 2

The caravan started with a guided St Louis area motor-coach tour.  The bus picked us up at 8:15 at the campground.  As we got on, our Wagonmaster handed out a snack pack - what a nice treat.

As Albert, the bus driver, took us to Forest Park, he shared tidbits about the area.  One tidbit we found particularly interesting was his assertion that Missouri is in the middle of the country - two states from Canada, two states from Mexico, five states from Atlantic and five states from Pacific.  And surrounded by eight states.

We picked up Judy, our step-on guide, in Forest Park near the zoo.  Forest Park is the second largest urban park in the country.  As we passed the St Louis Art Museum in Forest Park, Judy pointed out a leafless tree.  It is an art piece made of stainless steel and called the “Placebo”.  

Across the street from the art museum was a statue of King Louis IX.  St. Louis was founded in 1764 as a French fur-trading village by Pierre Laclede.  He named the city “St. Louis” for King Louis IX, the crusader king who was the patron saint of Laclede's then ruler King Louis XV.
Judy provided information about the city and its history as the bus driver drove around different parts of St Louis.  We even got a preview of tomorrow’s agenda as we passed by the Gateway Arch.

We only stopped the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis.  The cathedral itself was built in the early 1900s, but the mosaics inside took 60 years to hang.  The cathedral is Romanesque style on the outside,

And Byzantine inside.  The distinguishing feature of this cathedral was the mosaics, one of the largest mosaic collections in the world.  Containing 41.5 million glass Tesserae pieces and covering 83,000 square-feet, it took artisans, craftsman, stonecutters, and masons nearly a century to create.

The mosaics were amazing.

After dropping our guide off at Forest Park, we had a buffet lunch.  After lunch, we went to the Anheuser-Busch St Louis Brewery for the Day-Fresh tour.

After some time to look at the exhibits in the reception area

We formed up for our 75-minute tour, which included visiting the Clydesdale Paddock and stables, 

the Beachwood Aging Cellars,

the historic brewhouse, 

and the Bevo packaging facility. 

Guests 21 and older received a day fresh Bud Light beer as a keepsake.

And we had an opportunity to try Budweiser Next, their new zero calorie offering.  

Spoiler alert, it had very little taste to it.  Maybe in taking out the calories, they also took out the beer taste.

One of the many historic marketing ads in the reception area was:

Oh were it that simple.  Or maybe when this marketing piece was used it was that simple (but we doubt it).  Sort of a different take on the Budweiser slogan “This Buds for You.”

Friday, 13 May, Day 3

We loaded the bus at 8:15 and arrived at the Gateway Arch National Park Visitor Center (our 26th National Park with Sprinty) just before they opened at 9am.  

After going through security, we had almost an hour to explore the Museum of Westward Expansion in the Visitor Center (free).  The museum started with exhibits on the founding of St Louis in 1764,

to the present day.  Alas, an hour was only enough time to skim the exhibits.

We had tickets to the 10am video on the building of the arch - from an engineering and construction perspective, the video was riveting (no pun - the arch was welded).  A must do, even if you don’t take the ride to the top of the arch.

We had 10:40am tickets to ride to the top of the arch.  The tram runs every 10 minutes, takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to come down.  The loading process is very organized - they load 8 cars of up to 5 people for each run.  And sell out every day - plan ahead and buy your tickets in advance.

And can run trams up both sides, but today, only the north tram was running.

The trams are small.

About the size of the inside of a Volkswagen Beetle circa 1973.

According to a staff member, originally the idea was that people would trudge up the 1,000+ stairs to the top.  Almost immediately after it opened, they realized that was not going to work and the tram system was installed.

The trams run inside the leg of the arch, and by the time you get to the top, the arch has gotten a lot smaller.

Wide angle view to the east

Wide angle view to the west

Once back down, we wandered the grounds and marveled at the arch from directly below it.

The next event was lunch on our own at Union Station, about a mile away.  We took a chance on the threat of rain and decided to walk the 1.1 miles.  We ate at the Soda Fountain, one of several restaurants around the lake in the back of the station.  The front of Union Station is a hotel and for hotel guests only.  There is an aquarium, a ropes course, a Ferris wheel and a putt-putt golf as attractions.  

In the lake, they claim to have a Fire and Light Show in the lake every hour.  The website description was:

“This multi-million dollar breathtaking fire, water, and light music show features a 100 foot long waterfall with 50 nozzles that spray water 40 feet down into the lake. Lights will turn the water into a variety of glowing colors accented by the icicle lights decorating the surrounding trees. Get ready to see and feel the explosive power of the lake’s fire feature during the show. Eight lotus shaped pods on the lake shoot flames 25 feet into the air. The dancing lights, water and fire features are set to music to create a sights and sound spectacular that is sure to impress!”

We had high expectations.  The show was underwhelming.  At 1pm - just a few minutes of a few fire balls pseudo-choreographed to some music.  No water, and certainly not worth “multi-million” dollars.

Our last stop of the day was the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Camp River Dubois Historical Site (http://campdubois.com).  It was also our first dedicated Lewis np Clark stop of this caravan.  The site is located on the banks of the Mississippi River on the Illinois side.  It is near the estimated location of Camp River Dubois, the Starting Point of the Expedition.

While the United States reached agreement to purchase the Louisiana Territory from French in 1803, it took until March of 1804 for all the documents to be prepared.  Until the agreement was formalized, the Spanish Governor in St Louis would not permit Captain Meriwether Lewis to start his expedition into Louisiana.  

In addition, the men did not arrive in St Louis early enough to start in the winter of 1803-4.  So the Corps of Discovery wintered Camp River Dubois.

The interpretative center was well done, with a video on the Lewis and Clark expedition, a mock-up of what one of the cabins was like at Camp River Dubois, a mock-up of the keelboat, and exhibits on their preparation.  The reconstructed Camp River Dubois was closed.

Saturday, 14 May, Day 4

We loaded the bus at 9am and headed for the Historic Boone Home (http://www.sccmo.org/1701/The-Historic-Daniel-Boone-Home) in Defiance, MO.  The house was built by Daniel Boone's youngest son Nathan Boone, who lived there with his family until they moved further south in 1837.  The Boones had moved there from Kentucky in late 1799.  

Daniel Boone moved to Missouri in 1799 from Kentucky.  Part of the reason was the Spanish government was encouraging settlers and offered Daniel Boone 840 acres tax free for two years to settle in the Louisiana Territory, which we now know as Missouri.

Upon arrival, two docents met us and we broke into two groups.  We were given a thorough tour of three floors of Nathan Boone’s home, before returning to the parlor where Danial Boone and his wife Rebecca, two period dressed folks, shared stories of living in Missouri.

Our time was spent in the historic house, and we had to leave before we had a chance to see the rest of the property/exhibits.

We proceeded on to St Charles where we picked up a step-on guide.  The guide shared the history and the significance of various structures in St Charles as the bus drove at a walking pace through the historic part of town.

We ate lunch at the Lewis and Clark’s near the center of town, then had a short amount of time to wander through the town.

We reassembled at the First State Capitol Building of Missouri.   St. Charles was Missouri's first state capitol between 1821 and 1826, while a permanent capitol city was in the planning and development stages in Jefferson City.  The Federal-style brick complex was restored between 1961 and 1971, and features 11 rooms.  The complex  is a series of four connected brick buildings.  Actually, the ground floor was made up of the Peck residence and the Peck General store, and the government spaces were on the second floor.  Again, our group was broken into two groups, and the two docents gave us a thorough tour of the Peck residence, the Peck General store and the capital spaces upstairs.

Back side of First State Capitol Building of Missouri

Peck General Store

Our final stop in St Charles was the Lewis and Clark Boathouse and Museum (http://lewisandclarkboathouse.org), located only a few blocks away. The Boat House houses the one-of-a-kind replica Keelboat and two pirogues that retrace the travels of the original Lewis & Clark Expedition. 

The three boats are based on drawings by Captain William Clark.  Drawings safeguarded in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and references from the Journals were used in the authentic reconstruction of the boats.  Building them required over 16,000 volunteer hours. 

The Keelboat and two pirogues have been showcased in several films, documentaries and an upcoming televised miniseries. And were used for the bicentennial retracing of the Lewis and Clark travels starting in Pittsburgh where the Keelboat was originally constructed.  When the boats are not appearing in events or re-enactments, they are on display at the Boat House below the Lewis & Clark Museum.

We watched a National Geographic video on the Lewis and Clark expedition that was extremely well done.

Once back at camp, we gathered for the travel brief where the Wagonmaster went over the travel plan for tomorrow.