When viewing the Blog it is in reverse order of the trip. So for it to make the most sense start on the right side of the blog page on February 2018. Hope you enjoy the viewing.
Mike

5/4/18 Homeward Bound - Long long day of driving, about 500 miles across Ohio, West Va and Pa. Made it home on Friday night around 9:30 PM.

So many amazing places in the United States. If you ever have the opportunity, drive across and spend the time. It is hard to imagine how big and diverse our country really is. Wendy and I only really saw and experienced a small part of what the U.S. has to offer.

Trip Stats:

• Miles driven with the truck and camper -13,545 miles (actual miles on the trip were greater. We had the luxury of our friends and kids driving their rental cars when they visited)
• Gallons of diesel burned 1,157
• Avg. gas mileage 11.7 miles per gal. (the 30 mph headwinds in the plain states took its toll on our gas mileage)
• Highest diesel price $4.10 per gal. in California (not surprised)
• We visited 48 National Parks and Monuments.
• Days traveling the United States - 3 months and 4 days
• States we camped in-14 in all;  Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,   California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio,
• Worst road traveled -  Indiana, hands down, has the worst roads; pot holes, uneven & rough             roads. If  you are planning to travel West avoid this State altogether especially RT 70 ! 

Thanks to all who have taken the time to look at the Great Adventure Blog. We hope that you enjoyed the pictures and the stories as much as we did. Glad to be home!

5/3/18 - Thursday St Louis, MO - Before heading out of the St Louis area we stopped a former home of Ulysses Grant called "White Haven". This was prior to him becoming the 18th President. Actually it was his Father-n-Law's house, the Dent estate was originally situated on 850 acres. Grant did live in the house from 1854 to 1859 with his wife Julia and their four children. The property was retained for at least 20 years after he was President as they intended to return at the end of his term; they never did. Ultimately, the house was sold in the late 1800's but didn't become a National Historic site until the 1960's when it was purchased and restored. By this time a majority of the property had been sold. So  today only 10 acres remain of of the original 850.

The farm know as White Haven was painted by the Grants a bright French green which was popular at the time. Wouldn't be my choice of colors.

 The house is a log structure but the logs are vertical not horizontal. Again a French style of building.

                                                       Restored barn adjacent to the house

We left the St Louis area and made it across the Illinois border into Ohio by the end of the day.

5/2/18 St Louis, MO. We moved our camping spot across the Mississippi to a "campground" (parking lot) within the St. Louis city limits-- all to be able to put the MO sticker on the map on the side of the camper. Full explanation can be provided by Wendy. We spent the day in the St Louis area.

Unfortunately, I managed to find glass in the road and punctured the tire. Fortunately, the tire went flat as we pulled into the "campground" A call to Good Sam roadside service worked well and they changed the tire at our camp-spot and even found an exactly matching new tire.

Next up was a trip to the Gateway to the West and our plan to go to the top of the Arch

                                     The entrance to the Arch is actually underneath the Arch.

 The picture below is the narrow stairway to the elevators to the top vs climbing a 1,076 steps. I wish we had gotten a picture of the Pod we climbed into to take the ride up. The entrance door to the Pod is only 4 feet tall and the Pod itself was rounded inside with seating for 5, very tight and couldn't fully sit up. As the pod went up the curve of the Arch it would ratchet itself level; otherwise you would be laying on your side as the Pod traveled up the curve of the Arch. Thank goodness someone figured this out. Pretty cool idea.

Views of St Louis from the top.

We met a couple at the Arch who had taken a picture of our campground from the top of the Arch, about 2 miles away as the crow files. The camper with the bronze front, white sides  near the cream colored building is our 300 sq ft home away from home.

630 feet up

 Next up was the St. Louis Courthouse which dates to the early 1800's and is most noted for the Dred Scott decision where it was ruled the slaves are "Property".  The Dred Scott case, ultimately was a landmark decision by the US Supreme Court. It held that Blacks, whose ancestors were imported or sold as slaves, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court. Further the government had no power to regulate slavery in the territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Although it was hoped by the Supreme Court that his ruling would settle the slavery question, the decision immediately spurred dissent from anti-slavery elements in the North, and proved to be an indirect catalyst for the  Civil War. 

 Wendy laid on the floor of the courthouse to get the the below picture. The guard was concerned that she was mounting a protest (kidding). We quickly left and got an UBER back to our camper.

 Last stop was Old Chain of Rocks Bridge on Route 66. This bridge which spans the Mississippi apparently was not engineered well as the the bridge builders had to make a 22 degree right hand turn over the Mississippi because they couldn't find bedrock for the foundation.

 Built in the 1800's these two structures in the middle of the river are water pumping stations for the St. Louis water supply. We think they are still in operation.

5/1/18 On the move. Entered the great State of Missouri.

Along the way we detoured to visit Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, the site of the third largest battle of the entire Civil War. Who Knew? Although the Confederates won the 1864 battle, subsequent battles were taken by the Union Army in the region setting the stage for the ultimate defeat of the Confederates.

Only standing structure on the property at the time of the battle. The home of John Ray was used as a hospital for the Union soldiers so it wasn't burned.

We also stopped at the monument for George Washington Carver who was born into slavery Pre-Civil War. He and his mother were abducted by the KKK and just George was able to be rescued. George went on to become this first black student at the Tuskegee University, graduated and also earned his Masters in Ag. Science. He presented to the US Sub-Committee on Ag to promote the value of the peanut to improve crop yield through soil improvement by rotating crops. Pretty amazing man. 

Although we made it to Missouri we spent the night in Illinois just across the Mississippi River from St Louis in a Casino RV Park of all places. Very Very noisy as it turns out with a railroad pretty close. A couple of times it sounded like the train was coming through the camper. Needless to say not a great night's sleep. 

4/30/18 On the move. Tonight we are technically in Kansas. Actually on the 3 corner part of the state which touches OK and MO. Again today the winds are the story of the day gusting 24 to 35, so driving was a bit more difficult.

In the morning we stopped at the Washita Battlefield in OK. The monument was to commemorate the battle between the Plains Tribes and the US Calvary. Apparently this battle only served to increase the hostilities between the Settlers and the Indians.  Lt. Colonel Custer led a dawn attack on Nov 27, 1868 on the encampment of sleeping Cheyennes led by Chief Black Kettle killing several hundred Indians. The attack has been dubbed a massacre.  Only 53 women and children survived. The attack led to many more battles between all the Tribes of the Plains and the Settlers/US Calvary. Interesting to note one of the young boys who survived the attack in 1868 took part in the battle Little Bighorn aka "The Last Stand of Custer" on June 25-26, 1876 where Custer and all of his troops were killed in the battle.

                                                                   Buffalo skull

                                                                   Indian artifacts

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 Our camp spot is in Baxter Springs, Kansas. Baxter Springs is a very small town right on the boarder of OK and MO. The town has a small park alongside the Springs River. Our camp spot is $10 a night. Sweet! We had to call the town Sheriff who will be by to collect the money.