Bad to Worse WiFi

Our Location Today is Greenfield, Illinois, U.S.A.

This definitely has been one of those days. We managed to go from campgrounds that had limited WiFi to a campground that had none. Two days later we finally have WiFi but on a timer? Have any of you ever heard of such a thing? I’ll apologize now for my long winded catch-up.

Thinking the traffic would be light we planned our escape from Branson, Missouri for early Sunday morning. The plan was working beautifully. We were finished eating breakfast by 8:00 a.m. and were ready to roll by 8:30.

The distance to the highway was less than five miles. As soon as we were on the road we knew we had better not try to hold our breath and start praying for a miracle. Traffic was already bumper to bumper throughout the town. We occasionally could travel from one side of an intersection to the other non-stop but the rest of the distance was covered a foot at a time.

Within forty-five minutes we had managed to enter the flow of highway traffic east in the direction of St. Louis. Two hours later we were finally getting into smoother terrain and decided this would be good time to top-off the fuel tank as well as having an early lunch. We pulled into the Flying J in St. Robert, Missouri and managed to fulfill all our needs.

Back on the road after another hundred miles we decided to stretch and slow down a bit.  The thermometer on the dash was saying 108 F (42 C) but the heat radiating off the cement at the rest stop was so warm that our heat gun registered 152.9 F (67 C). That beat the reading we had taken in Wisconsin.

We arrived at the K.O.A. located in Granite City, Illinois late Sunday afternoon. Setting up the trailer was a trying task as the heat was just magnified so we settled for a light supper. Bill and I managed to get in a relaxing dip in the pool. That was really refreshing.

Monday morning we were on our way back into St. Louis for a 10:00 a.m. scheduled tour of The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. It was amazing! This building is a work of art that took over 75 years to complete and is constantly being maintained. There are over Forty Million glass tiles making up all the pictures throughout the building which has a total capacity of three thousand people. Our guide Pete was a walking Encyclopedia not only on the history of the building but also behind each of the stories being depicted in the mozaics.  The entire tour took two hours and luckily the building was air conditioned.

When we walked out the door of the Cathedral it felt like you were being hit with a bat taking your breath away. Having used the remote start on the truck helped us recover from the heat that was again hitting 108 F (42 C).

Our next stop was the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. We used the comfort of their air-conditioned cafeteria for lunch. Afterwards our plan was to tour the grounds by the narrated tram ride. That was such a wise choice considering the extremely high temperatures. This was another case of information overload dealing not only with the history of the gardens but all the different plants from around the world that are growing there. Nobody even wanted to get off the tram to look around any of the many garden areas. After the half hour ride was completed we headed back to the cafeteria for cold drinks and the A.C.

One last stop we planned on making was at the St. Louis Arch but it was rush hour and the GPS sent us a couple blocks away so we settled for a drive-by photo of it. By the time we arrived back at the trailer it was supper time once again and too hot to cook inside so we piled back into the truck. We found another cute little mom and pop diner called The Apple Tree Restaurant. The cost was reasonable and the food delicious and filling. After supper we all headed to the pool which surprised Kathy and Vera just how comforting it was.  In spite of the horrible heat we had a very nice & enjoyable day of touring the area.

Tuesday morning had us flushing the tanks and packing up to hit the road. It seemed when you stepped outside it was like someone had poured a bucket of water over your head. The AC in the truck could not cool us fast enough.

Our meals were spaced throughout the day along with walks for stretching but the heat made it uncomfortable any time you had to get out of the truck. By 5:30 we were setting up camp in the sweltering heat.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post a few photos with this post and do better on tomorrow’s blog.

Thanks for following our adventures. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You might be a Redneck if

Locking your truck involves a padlock and a chain.