Day 4 St Louis

It was great to sleep in and not have to deal with driving and the heat first thing in the morning. We hung out around the RV checking our options for this day in the heat. In one of our books, I did read this funny (sad, really!) sentence: “St Louis doesn’t have that much of a tourist trade (the muggy weather here in summer keeps most sensible people far away).”

At 12:30 we headed out for the Cahokia Mounds the site of a native American Indian city from 700-1400. These people built enormous mounds amidst their city, many of which are still visible today and quite impressive. The Visitors Center was quite well done (and cool!) with an interesting movie and lots of interesting exhibits. It was too hot to tour the mounds let alone climb the biggest (about 100’ high).

Cahokia was about 20 minutes from our campsite, and the drive was not all that pleasant since the Tracker doesn’t cool very well. From there we drove back to the Lewis and Clark State Historic site at Camp Dubois. This is near to where L&C began their expedition. Having seen many of the L&C historic centers when we went west two years, this one did offer a few new items such as a keel boat exhibit. It wasn’t too cool in the center, but I made a find: a Lewis and Clark T-shirt with Lewis’s dog Seaman on the back! I so wanted one two years ago, but all I could find were kids.

We stopped by an Aldi’s grocery store (the only one we could find within 10 miles of the campground) to look for some produce. I had never been in one before, and I was amazed at the absence of any brand name items. We did get produce, though, so we are good for another few nights.

Then it was back to the RV to avoid the heat. The campground is on old Route 66 which we found interesting. Tonight we had some bad storms, but hopefully it will cool things off.