AJ and I were up early sharing coffee and chatting in his living room before we took off at 7:30am: he for his office and I for the road. I followed him into town but then got off on Hwy54 to go toward I-70 into St Louis. This was my first intentional drive on the interstate to get into Illinois faster. It was also my first smell of the big city: St Louis stunk!
The first thing I noticed where the high cirrus clouds across the sky, the first clouds I've had on this trip.
My plan to hike the 6-mile nature trail around the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in east St Louis would take me most of the morning. I wanted to walk this ancient city's perimeter taht at one time, AD 700-1400, had up to 20,000 people living here in earthen mounds. The first French settlers who came upon these mounds could not believe that ancient native Americans could build these structures, but they did.
We made it to the impressive visitor's center shortly after 10am. The heat and humidity did us both in; Sadie panted harder on the blue trail, the 6.2 "Culture and Nature Trail" marked with a blue arrowhead, than she did in the van across New Mexico, and there was little shade in the red-clover meadows around us. Even I was overcome, despite some deep shade from the "Bottomland forest tracts" of elm, maples and hicory. We rested under the shade of trees just past "Woodhenge," a rebuilt ancient pole calendar the natives had used to tell time. We sat in that shade until Sadie stopped panting.
The hike wasn't that pretty, either in the heat, with its exposed sections through freshly-mowed prairie grasses. I cut the hike short so that we could get back to the van earlier and resume our drive in a northeasterly direction.
The highlight of the hike was climbing the stairs up Monk's Mound, an old burial site from the prehistoric Mississippians who lived along the river valley. Archaeologists figured this site was a sacred city, as bones were found in graves along the meadows. New growth forests have overtaken the mounds but caretakers maintain was is left for future studies. One can see the St Louis skyline from the top of the mound. School children who had met Sadie at the visitor's center recognized her two hours later and yelled greetings to her. She was well-liked by everyone.
It was only in the mid 80s but it felt hotter in this humidity. I had the AC on most of the time to keep Sadie comfortable, but we didn't leave the van once we were back on the road. Now I was only focused on getting to Crown Point (CP).
Anyone who thinks Kansas is flat, though, should drive across central Illinois. It has been the most boring landscape yet. Even the backroads were depressing and one saw the same thing off the interstate as off the backroads. Even a section of Historic Route 66 north of Litchfield was nothing more than an abandoned frontage road for I-55 now. I passed an impressive wind farm east of this town that seemed to stretch on for ten miles. I don't remember this windfarm the last time I drove through this section a few years ago.
By 2pm I was fighting fatigue. I didn't seem to make any advantage driving IL54,IL17 or even the sections of interstate. I always seemed to have a slow-moving truck in front of me, or construction slowing me down. The trip was a collection of grain silos, white barns, crumbly streets and plowed corn and soybean fields.
Once I hit Kankakee, though I knew I had less than an hour left. From Kankakee I got on IL17 east to IN41 and from there drove through Momence, Grant Park, Cedar Lake and Crown Point, where the weekly old car show was held at the courthouse. All I cared about was getting out of the van and resting.
At 7pm and 2300 miles later, I had reached my destination. An hour later I had made plans to meet with Erin tomorrow at noon while Carol drives to Columbus to pick up Ulli for the weekend. I am not going ANYWHERE tomorrow, and if all I do tomorrow is rest, have lunch with my daughter and read a good book, I'll be happy. This Memorial Day weekend I'm having people come to me for a change.
The highlight of the hike was climbing the stairs up Monk's Mound, an old burial site from the prehistoric Mississippians who lived along the river valley. Archaeologists figured this site was a sacred city, as bones were found in graves along the meadows. New growth forests have overtaken the mounds but caretakers maintain was is left for future studies. One can see the St Louis skyline from the top of the mound. School children who had met Sadie at the visitor's center recognized her two hours later and yelled greetings to her. She was well-liked by everyone.
It was only in the mid 80s but it felt hotter in this humidity. I had the AC on most of the time to keep Sadie comfortable, but we didn't leave the van once we were back on the road. Now I was only focused on getting to Crown Point (CP).
Anyone who thinks Kansas is flat, though, should drive across central Illinois. It has been the most boring landscape yet. Even the backroads were depressing and one saw the same thing off the interstate as off the backroads. Even a section of Historic Route 66 north of Litchfield was nothing more than an abandoned frontage road for I-55 now. I passed an impressive wind farm east of this town that seemed to stretch on for ten miles. I don't remember this windfarm the last time I drove through this section a few years ago.
By 2pm I was fighting fatigue. I didn't seem to make any advantage driving IL54,IL17 or even the sections of interstate. I always seemed to have a slow-moving truck in front of me, or construction slowing me down. The trip was a collection of grain silos, white barns, crumbly streets and plowed corn and soybean fields.
Once I hit Kankakee, though I knew I had less than an hour left. From Kankakee I got on IL17 east to IN41 and from there drove through Momence, Grant Park, Cedar Lake and Crown Point, where the weekly old car show was held at the courthouse. All I cared about was getting out of the van and resting.
At 7pm and 2300 miles later, I had reached my destination. An hour later I had made plans to meet with Erin tomorrow at noon while Carol drives to Columbus to pick up Ulli for the weekend. I am not going ANYWHERE tomorrow, and if all I do tomorrow is rest, have lunch with my daughter and read a good book, I'll be happy. This Memorial Day weekend I'm having people come to me for a change.
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