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.