April 15, 2012 - Georgia to Kansas City, MO

Departed Georgia right on time. Left Atlanta about 5am and arrived in St. Louis as scheduled. Been watching all the bad weather and tornadoes in the region and trying hard to avoid the bad storms. As you can see from my high tech setup in the van, I have satellite navigation and live weather on the iPad. Yes, I am a GEEK. This set-up is  was very helpful but we had to face the storm and cut through it. The rain was unbelievable. It was coming down so hard that visibility was less than a car's length. As I expected, it has been very windy since I left Chattanooga which makes driving this vehicle very hard. So far I have 2,666 miles until I reach Seattle. Total distance traveled today was 818 miles.

To the left is the IBM ThinkPad satellite navigation. On the right is the iPad with the weather App I used to try dodge storms.

St. Louis, MO

Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO

 

This famous monument to westward expansion is composed of a stainless steel arch 630 feet high and 630 feet wide. There is an elevator that travels up the inside of the arch to offer a view out of a small portal at the apex. The $29 million monument was designed by Eero Saarinen, and built in 1965. The Guinness Book lists it as the tallest monument in the world. At the base of the arch, underground, is the Museum of Westward Expansion, with displays and dioramas on that subject, focusing on the Jeffersonian era of exploration and the voyage of Lewis and Clark.

 Yes, I did the touristy thing and took the elevator to the top of the Gateway Arch!