Missouri

Vacation time!

 Gorgeous day to drive around St Louis, isn't it? No bothersome sun, no tedious snow. Let's go look at that arch thing they're so proud of here. Exit here, keep right, go left, right again, here's the exit to the parking lot... er... no, it's the bridge across to Illinois.

 We didn't really mean to go to Illinois. I mean, what's over there? The road just went there on it's own.

We did get to look back, though, and see that the entire Arch park area was ripped up and under redesign. No going there today, or indeed until spring.
So here we are in Illinois. Might as well see the Cahokia Mounds. The guy at the gas station said to go left, follow 255 north to exit 24, and go left. The other guy at the gas station said just follow his car. People can be so nice sometimes.

 No, those are not hills, they are sacred Native American ceremonial sites. They are closed on Mondays or I would have learned all about them. You can still walk around a bit, in the biting wind.
Dad was going to park in the nearest spot, in the handicapped row. Why not? The visitors center is closed. Nobody else is here. But we said to park farther on. Good thing we did, because the cops in their suv finished their donuts and decided to check out the lone car at the Mounds while we were out walking.
We have an actual mission today, which is one reason we dinked about St Louis for so long. Barbecue. There is a barbecue joint in Cuba that we really like, and we are betting it will not be closed just on the pretext it's Monday.

 We hope it is still there.

 We hope we will be able to find it.

 We pray for guidance and direction in this crazy world.

 We worry we will run out of gas.

But even the state highway system is on our side.

 We are saved!

 Mom & Dad are happy. I'm happy.

The Missouri Hicks people are happy.
It is a good day.