Life of Riley: To The Saint Louis Gateway Arch National Park

Yesterday, we had somewhat of a short day of travel with the RV. We left very early in the morning to make to Camping World in Wentzville, MO. The light strip on the front of the RV, started to come off and we needed it glued back down. We also had them wash and wax it. It needed it bad. We left the RV there for the day and we went into St. Louis.

Our goal was to see the St. Louis Arch, The Gateway to the West. We got to go on a paddle boat ride on the Mississippi River. You could feel the excitement that so many felt as they started their journey into the new land. You could also see the tremendous determination that they had to have to travel along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. St. Louis was the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Exploration of the wilderness beyond the Mississippi River.

Before that though, the French 'owned' the area. They picked St. Louis as a major trading post because trappers could easily get there with their furs due to Two major rivers merging together 15 miles North of St. Louis.

Thomas Jefferson negotiated a treaty and the Louisiana Purchase which included Missouri in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile, the United States acquired a total of 828,000 sq mi.

In 1951, the US Government wanted to honor all the migrants that traveled into the basically unknown land to make homsteads. It took awhile, 10 years to be exact, to draft up plans to make the Arch strong enough to withstand heat, cold, wind and tornadoes. They wanted to use steel , so they had to study the properties of the metal to withstand the many extremes of their weather. In 1961 the building of the Arch began, and the last triangle of the Arch was placed in 1964.

On the paddle boat trip, which is part of the National Park was fun and informing. I found it interesting that The Missouri side of the River wouldn't let stinking type businesses on their side of the River. They made the 'noxious' stay on the Illinois side.

We hope you enjoy the pictures below.

We didn't take the 'X-ed' out road

Our Route through Missouri

Good Morning, Iowa!

We travelled through a lot of Watertower Towns.

And saw a lot of very large flags

We dropped our trailer off outside of St. Louis city limits and drove into

the City.

The Architecture was awesome

Couldn't believe that this guy was actually driving a golf cart through the downtown streets.

Walking downtown to the park. I thought this picture of the old Courthouse reflecting in a new building made a statement. This is the only National Park set in an Urban setting and it is also the smallest.

Looking back at the Old Courthouse

The old Trinity Church

Looking up at the Arch

Our Paddle Boat ride on the "Tom Sawyer"

Very cool suspention bridge

I went up into the Arch. It is 630' wide and 630' tall. You ride up on either the South or North side, where you meet in the middle at a room on the top that is 60' long and only 7' wide. There you can step up on a landing and lean over to look out the windows. These are views of St. Louis from the top.

This is looking across the Mississippi towards Illinois, where they are planning to expand the Park one day.

The next day, we traveled into Kentucky. Was hoping to do some family research here but an oil company has bought up the town and has made it difficult to get to cemetaries. So, we never made it to Pike County. We stayed in Bowling Green the first night and Somerset the second night. We will be heading up to the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter tomorrow.

KENTUCKY