On my way from Chicago to St. Louis, I took a brief detour so I could say that I drove on the Historic Route 66. I drove most of the way to St. Louis before camping out at a Walmart parking lot. Walmart actually encourages this, and you can usually find some RVs or truckers spending the night there.
In the early morning, I completed my trip to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MOÂ (map link). having crossed the Mississippi River., also a first for me.
The Gateway arch is a fascinating piece of engineering, starting with the fact the fact that this was the first structure that the architect ever designed. Eero Saarinen was actually known for his furniture designs. He went on to design many famous buildings like the TWA Terminal at JFK airport, the Dulles Airport Terminal, and the Ingalls ice skating rink at Yale University.
The elevator to the top of the arch is called a tram. and is an ingenious design that looks like something from 2001 Space Odyssey, which makes sense since it was built three years before the release of that movie. Each tram holds up to 5 people, and is shaped like a cylinder. As you ascend to arch, the trams periodically (but not continuously) adjust their angle so you don’t wind up on your side when you get to the top.
As you can imagine, the view of the city from the top is impressive.
After the arch, I strolled along the Mississippi, getting a photo of their Lewis and Clark Statue and one of the many barge tows.
