The Gateway Arch - St. Louis, Missouri

March 4, 2020 - Wednesday evening

61 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds

Horn Lake, Mississippi

Today's been one of the best we've had in years. Not only did we get to see some fantastic sights and visit a great attraction, we made a wonderful friend in Blythsville, Arkansas.

We stopped at a local Walmart in Arkansas just off the interstate for a couple of items. Walking into the Vision Center, we were greeted by a ray of sunshine named Tyra. She and Sargie quickly hit it off and before we knew it, almost an hour had passed.

Our new friend's husband is an Arkansas State Trooper and she told us that if we were stopped by a big 6'4" tall state policeman, we should tell him that his wife said to let us go and to be nice.

We'd have liked to have met him, but thankfully, it wasn't alongside the interstate.

Sometimes the best part of a vacation isn't necessarily the sights or attractions one sees, but the friends one makes. Tyra sure helped to make today one of the best.

Sargie's and my new BFF, Tyra

We left Bloomington this morning and made our way to St. Louis. Naturally, we took way too many pictures. 

Those dark rectangles are the observation windows at the top of the arch.

You should have seen Tom and Sargie navigating downtown St. Louis in an attempt to get to the arch. We could see it, but finding a place to park and actually getting to it was another thing.

We finally found a parking garage and then worried after walking a couple of blocks towards the arch that we'd never remember in which one we parked. Thankfully, the parking ticket had the name of the garage.

 First it was a walk deep into the dungeon below the arch. After, came a four minute trip to the top which reminded us of a bumpy ferris wheel ride inside a makeshift space capsule with five people crammed inside.

We made friends with our capsule mates from Brazil and had a brief, but wonderful, conversation.

The views at the top of the arch were spectacular. Not only could we view all of downtown St. Louis, but also Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals.






On the other side lay the Mighty Mississippi River.

It was well into the afternoon before we put St. Louis in our rearview mirror and continued our journey south. Today, we'd crossed from Illinois into Missouri, then Arkansas, onto Tennessee, and finally ended up in northern Mississippi this evening.




We landed in Lake Horn, Mississippi, this evening in the same town and hotel in which we stayed the last time we visited Mississippi Brother Garry and Miss Jody. Just like before, we were tired, but happy as we checked into our room and again, as before, ordered a pizza to be delivered and ate every last morsel.

 It's only a four and a half hour drive to Laurel from here, so we should have an easy drive tomorrow. We'll sleep in and take our time getting around before beginning the final leg of our trip. 

I'm not sure who's more excited to see who, Garry and Miss Jody or Sargie and me. Either way, it will be a reunion of friends who are as close as any blood relation.

It's time to climb between the sheets, snuggle up to my Sargie and close my eyes. Tomorrow will truly see our vacation begin.



After all, a man's work (and play) is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga by way of Lake Horn, Mississippi...

Sargie told me if I didn't behave, she was going to leave me in one of those space capsules.