We have had a marvelous four days in the St Louis area, studying a lot of American history. The Cahokia Indian Mounds across the Mississippi River in Illinois date to AD 900 reveal a city of 10-15,000 people. London England at that time was not that large. South of St Louis is White Haven, home of Ulysses S Grant prior to the Civil War. It revealed a very person side of him and his wife Julia. The famous Arch commemorates the opening of the American West, the...

We stayed at the historic Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri. Cuba is the Route 66 Mural City. As a beautification project in 2003 over a dozen murals were painted on the sides of buildings. Portrayed were local citizens and national figures like Betty Davis. Today we will return to the St Louis area. Peace and prayers, Hank and Marilyn

We continue to travel familiar roads but without rain. Before leaving Springfield we visited three quilt stores, each larger than anything Marilyn has found on Long Island. WOW!! Thankfully she did not max out the credit card. Today's drive was leisurely, a nice vacation. We are staying in a vintage motel, nicely refurbished and comfortable. We have similar plans for tomorrow. Love and prayers to all. Hank and Marilyn

We had a wonderful anniversary day and are now back on Route 66 in Springfield, MO. We visited 3 National Parks sites on our drive here. The ride through the Boston Mountains in NW Arkansas was spectacular. It reminded us of upstate NY. We are relaxing tonight and look forward to the familiar ka-thump ka-thump of concrete Route 66. Although we passed this way before, it was raining and cold 10 days ago. Today was sunny in the high 70s. Peace and prayers, Ha...

We are safely resting at our motel in Joplin, Missouri. We had another rainy day, but again met nice people. We left Springfield in a drizzle. They were setting up the city square for a city anniversary party. We had a nice conversation with folk from the city offices. Traveling west on 66 was pleasant but dreary. Some interesting ruins. In Carthage we found a Deli on the town square. Good food, but the conversation with the owner was better. Chris grew up in t...