Sullivan, Missouri, June 24, 2014 — The first stop today came from, of all places, C-SPAN3.
It had just been St. Louis weekend on the cable channel, and from a short feature, I found out that a Civil War museum had opened a year earlier at Jefferson Barracks. Of course I had to go. It’s not big but the former gym of the restored former PX is full of artifacts related to the war and Missouri’s role in it as a border state that allowed slavery.
After that, it was time to clinch my last interstate in Illinois (I-255) and the new I-70 bridge across the Mississippi River. It was tricky in a couple places because of lane closures, but I made it work. All the other bridges in downtown St. Louis were also part of this bi-state back-and-forth and, after Cape Girardeau yesterday, I’ve traveled every highway bridge except two across the Mississippi from St. Paul to Memphis.
New BGSs for the new I-70 in East St. Louis bypass St. Louis for Kansas City. If you take I-70 into Missouri, you can NOT go south.
The segment of I-70 past the Gateway Arch, which runs north-south, is now part of I-44, in the reverse direction (south is west). Notice the inclusion of three states on this gantry.
Up next was a return to the Missouri History Museum (was there in 2011), to see the large area dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the city of St. Louis. It, too, was interesting and informative. It was structured as “50 people, 50 places, 50 images, 50 moments, 50 objects” to cover the city’s history. There are “birthday cakes” all over the city and area, including Ted Drewes on old US 66, where I stopped for ice cream.
But my day wasn’t done yet. I stopped on the east side of Route 66 State Park to see the now-closed bridge (deck removed), then took I-44 down to Meramec Caverns. Despite being held up by a train, I made the last tour of the day with a small group and it was spectacular.
Meramec Caverns