The Drive . . .

"The Girls" -- Sparky and Bailey are ready to go!

Bob started out driving while I worked on my current rug hooking project. I'll show you a picture of it sometime in a later blog posting.

I started it in September but didn't work on it over the Christmas-New Year holidays.

It is my intention to finish it while we are in California.

Bob drove through all of central and southern Illinois ------------------- p r e t t y b o r i n g. He was still driving when we went through St. Louis, MO.

We saw the Gateway to the West Arch. I saw it once on a family trip when I was a kid living in Memphis, TN. Sometimes something you see as a kid and then see as an adult doesn't live up to your expectations. Not so with the arch -- it is still as impressive as I remembered!!!

From Wikipedia: The Gateway Arch, also known as the Gateway to the West, is an integral part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and the iconic image of St. Louis, Missouri. It was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947. It stands 630 feet (192 m) tall, and is 630 feet (192 m) wide at its base, making it the tallest monument in the United States. Construction of the arch started on February 12, 1963 and was completed on October 28, 1965. The monument opened to the public on July 24, 1967.

The interior of the Arch is hollow and contains a unique transport system leading to an observation deck at the top. The interior of the Arch also contains two emergency stairwells of 1076 steps each, in the event of a need to evacuate the Arch or if a problem develops with the tram system. By 1968 a unique tram system that combined an elevator cable lift system with gimbaled cars functionally similar to ferris wheel gondolas had been installed. Thirty-two small windows (16 per side) measuring 7 x 27 inches (178 mm x 686 mm), almost invisible from the ground, allow views across the Mississippi Riverand southern Illinois with its prominent Mississippian culture mounds to the east at Cahokia Mounds, and the City of Saint Louis and St. Louis County to the west beyond the city. On a clear day, one can see up to thirty miles (48 km).

The interior of the Arch is hollow and contains a unique transport system leading to an observation deck at the top. The interior of the Arch also contains two emergency stairwells of 1076 steps each, in the event of a need to evacuate the Arch or if a problem develops with the tram system. By 1968 a unique tram system that combined an elevator cable lift system with gimbaled cars functionally similar to ferris wheel gondolas had been installed. Thirty-two small windows (16 per side) measuring 7 x 27 inches (178 mm x 686 mm), almost invisible from the ground, allow views across the Mississippi Riverand southern Illinois with its prominent Mississippian culture mounds to the east at Cahokia Mounds, and the City of Saint Louis and St. Louis County to the west beyond the city. On a clear day, one can see up to thirty miles (48 km).

We took turns driving and sleeping and after several quick stops for dinner/gasoline, arrived in Albuquerque at 9 am Mountain Standard Time -- ahead of schedule after driving for 21 hours and gaining 1 hour with the time change. At this point, we had put in 19 hours 56 minutes of drive time and 1284.69 miles! Only 715.16 miles and 8 hours 57 minutes to go . . .

Our ears were popping -- Albuquerque's altitude is 5,200 feet above sea level. Another mile high city -- just like Denver, CO.

We went to breakfast -- yummy western omelet with green chili corn bread muffin and decaf. Checked into our Residence Inn and tried to nap. Couldn't sleep, so we decided to drive around and find a park to walk the dogs. It turned out we were very close to the University of New Mexico so we drove around the campus and saw several statues of their mascot -- a lobo (a kind of wolf).

Saw a very cool artsy building near campus and took a picture as we drove past. It had all sorts of carvings and embellishments.

We picked up some things for dinner, went back to our hotel, watched a few episodes of The Brotherhood (a great Showtime series about Rhode Island politicians and mobsters -- hard to tell who-is-who), ate dinner, watched another episode and went to bed at 7:00 pm!!!