Wednesday, May 20, 2009

On to St. Louis, IL








Sunday May 17, 2009

After saying our good byes we continued our trip west towards Sedalia, MO. Stopped for the night at the Clark County Fairgrounds campground in Springfield, OH. What luck. There was a huge antique show in progress. We walked around the fairgrounds for a few hours enjoying a cool, but sunny, day. Carol had some kettle corn; I had a soft pretzel with mustard.

Monday, May 18, 2009

In the morning I let Gopher off her leash at the Fairgrounds. We had the entire place to ourselves. No one ever came by to collect the camping fee. Maybe there isn’t any.
Another cool, sunny day. Drove to the Lieber State Recreation Area/Cagles Mill Lake campground west of Indianapolis, IN. A nice campground. Heavily wooded; well spaced sites but, once again, the campground is distant from the lake. $17.34/night.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Continuing west. Drove to the Mill Creek Park campground run by the Clark County Park District. Close to Marshall, IL. Attractive, well maintained. Near a large lake popular with fisherman. Once again, the campground isn’t near the water and has no special view. $14/night.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

This morning we left about 8:30 heading west to East St. Louis, IL. Our first stop was at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows run by The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The complex has a hotel, restaurant, church, outdoor amphitheater , outdoor sculptures, several shrines, etc., all set on 200 acres. It’s the largest outdoor shrine in North America. We arrived just in time for the 11:30 am mass. After church we toured the grounds stopping by the Lourdes Grotto, The Main Shrine/Amphitheater, The Millennium Spire, Way of The Cross, etc. We had a wonderful morning.
About 2:00 we went to the Museum of the Great Rivers near Alton, IL. It’s run by the Corps of Engineers and tells all about the Mississippi & Missouri Rivers, how the locks work, etc. Very educational. The Missouri River joins the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The Illinois River joins the Mississippi just above St. Louis.
Spent the night at the Oxbow Lake State Park in near East St. Louis.
A thoroughly enjoyable day. Warm & sunny. Starting to be shorts weather for the first time on the trip.