St. Louis
The plan is for Mark to drive from our place in Cincinnati to St. Louis. After visiting the Arch and the Anhauser Busch Brewery, I will drive to Hays, in middle Kansas, for the first overnight of our 19-day trip through the American west.
The trip to the top of the arch takes four minutes in a small car the size of a golf cart, only enclosed, for five people. The fit was tight for Mark at 6’ 4”, me at 5’ 11”, two large, athletic-looking young men and their petite female companion.
The day is beautiful and so is the view from the top, but we are on a schedule, and there’s only so much to see, so we snap some pictures and head to the Anhauser Busch Brewery for a free tour.
The tour lasts an hour and begins in the gift shop. We pass a Clydesdale colt grazing in the entrance yard on our way to the stable. The Clydesdales’ have an air-conditioned stable cleaner than most college dorm rooms. We are greeted by a Dalmatian taking it easy in the cool barn.
We get to KC right at dinner time, and the signs on Interstate 70 direct us to take exit 3C to get to Arthur Bryant’s. We find it on the corner of 18th and Brooklyn. It doesn’t look like much and is in a poorer area of town, but as expected, the food is great.
I get half a barbeque chicken and Mark gets a thick, barbeque pork sandwich. Complete with fries and sodas, it costs just over $20. On the wall is an old, signed picture of Steven Spielberg, Cate Kapshaw and Sally Field eating there together. There is one of President and Mrs. Carter too, and most recently, Emeril Legassi.
We leave at 6 a.m. and make it to the arch by 12:30 p.m., thanks to the time difference. Before we cram into the little car to the top, we tour the Lewis and Clark museum below the arch. Journal entries from their expeditions are posted—complete with misspellings, which adds to the authenticity.
The trip to the top of the arch takes four minutes in a small car the size of a golf cart, only enclosed, for five people. The fit was tight for Mark at 6’ 4”, me at 5’ 11”, two large, athletic-looking young men and their petite female companion.
The day is beautiful and so is the view from the top, but we are on a schedule, and there’s only so much to see, so we snap some pictures and head to the Anhauser Busch Brewery for a free tour.
The tour lasts an hour and begins in the gift shop. We pass a Clydesdale colt grazing in the entrance yard on our way to the stable. The Clydesdales’ have an air-conditioned stable cleaner than most college dorm rooms. We are greeted by a Dalmatian taking it easy in the cool barn. After the stable we see a short film concerning production and distribution of final goods. The next part of the tour is up a couple flights of steps to overlook the production area. The guide says it will be several degrees hotter than at ground level. Already too sweaty, I pass and rest on a bench while Mark continues the tour.
Down from the overlook to the production floor, the group passes me, and I hop up next to Mark, eager for the product tasting.
Finally, we enter an open area with tables with pretzels, an unmanned soda fountain, and an area with alcoholic drinks and bartenders. Mark gets a small cup of Bud Lite, and I get some hard lemonade. Mark’s next taste is of Killarny’s, and I sip some Sprite to dilute that lemonade since I am driving next. Then I decide to try 180, the new drink that’s high in caffeine; being wide-awake while driving in St. Louis traffic is a good thing. Only halfway through the 180, I get a terrible pain under my breastbone. Mark and I leave right away.
I am in too much pain to drive and am glad free samples of the alcoholic beverages were limited. Otherwise, Mark may have imbibed a bit beyond his bounds. Fully sober, he stays behind the wheel and aims us west to Kansas City, where we plan to stop at Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque for dinner. We saw Arthur Bryant’s featured on the Travel Channel months earlier and thought this the perfect opportunity to try it.
We get to KC right at dinner time, and the signs on Interstate 70 direct us to take exit 3C to get to Arthur Bryant’s. We find it on the corner of 18th and Brooklyn. It doesn’t look like much and is in a poorer area of town, but as expected, the food is great.
I get half a barbeque chicken and Mark gets a thick, barbeque pork sandwich. Complete with fries and sodas, it costs just over $20. On the wall is an old, signed picture of Steven Spielberg, Cate Kapshaw and Sally Field eating there together. There is one of President and Mrs. Carter too, and most recently, Emeril Legassi.
Around 10 p.m. we stop at a Motel 6 just east of Hays, Kansas, the exact halfway point between Cincinnati and Colorado Springs, where our western adventure will really begin. We didn’t do much more than drive, but this first day has been exhausting.
posted by Elizabeth Evans Fryer | 12:57 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds like a whole lot of fun.My husband and I are looking forward to camping soon I hope.
It was fun, Sophia, except for that terrible pain I got in my chest. I don't know WHAT that was. Caffeine or carbonation from the pop I'd just drunk.
The next stories posted will be a continuation of this 19-day trip.
Have fun camping. I wished Mark would be up for camping. Our first taste of it was in New Zealand last December--18 days in a tent. Some nights were SOOO cold. I think he's through with it.
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