Photo by The Joneses With this trip to St. Louis I fulfilled a longtime dream of mine. The Gateway Arch has always fascinated me and has been one of the things in America I wanted to see. — — — E-mail Gisela! Got a comment for Gisela about their trip? Sent her an e-mail, giselaontheroad@yahoo.com — — — — — — SLIDE SHOW: Lots to see in Missouri — — — View Larger Map
ARCHIVES: You wouldn't believe how beautiful Canada is! Wouldn't change a thing Who knew there was so much to see in South Dakota? Time is flying by — but at least we're having fun! I (heart) Hart Ranch, South Dakota Rallyin' in Goshen, Indiana A special day From friends to work to warmer temps, we're still having fun in Florida Traveling to Texas Finally, we're in Alaska! On the way to Canada Boise sure has changed a lot Escapees Rally in Wyoming Bittersweet trip through the southeast From Boy Scouts to ‘Stars on Ice’ Michigan is full of treasures Arriving in Florida Earning our ears Celebrating Christmas and New Year's in Florida and the Disney Parks Down in the Lowcountry Making our way through Minn., Wisc. and Ill. The holidays in Florida Our time in Lakeland has come to an end Couldn't have had a better time in Omaha! Arriving in Charleston A day with friends from Frederick 'Life is good' in Lakeland, Fla. Leaving Florida, and heading north Our final days in Kentucky Into the Keys Out of Charleston and off to Indiana Dreams come true in Vermont You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet in Alaska Leaving Indiana, but not before taking some of the state's best sites Idaho is full of natural treasures — and moon-like craters, too It's all about the theme parks From prairie country to beautiful views to grand 'ol Yellowstone Thunderstorms, flooding, tornados and a visit with the 'Duke' And so it begins ... Moving days for Greg and his family The gang's all here! Happy to be in Florida again Strawberries, and more strawberries 'The RV Capital of the World' From the beautiful Maine coastline down to southern Connecticut Training for our jobs at Disney World Chillin' out at 'Camp Monaco' Under the weather Back in Florida At long last, back in the area Lots to see in the 'Show Me' state With family and spectacular sights in Hailey, Idaho Look back, look ahead Back in the Lower 48 The cold weather is hitting Florida From Dallas to devastation Back on the road again Leaving Idaho and heading east Beautiful Alaska A memorable visit to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula Watch out for flying dinner rolls

From Kentucky we drove to Missouri and stayed at a Coast-to-Cost membership park in Clarksville called Tievoli Hills Resort & Campground. Clarksville is a very small town about 80 miles north of St. Louis in the Mississippi valley and the resort is another four miles from there — you could say it is in the middle of nowhere. But it was an absolute beautiful resort with picturesque rolling hills, surrounded by various types of trees. It was so peaceful there you just had to feel good and we had a wonderful week there.

We did some fishing in the pond on the property. Ralph caught several Bass (one good size, the others small) enough to make a good meal for us. I wasn’t so lucky. It was fun, though, to watch Ralph because he was so excited; he hadn’t fished in a long time.

On Saturday afternoon the winery on the resort had wine tasting and a small band for entertainment on the patio. So we tasted some wines, listened to the music and before we knew we were talking and laughing with a bunch of interesting people.

One lady we met wrote a book about her experience of dying and coming back – it’s called “Out of this World" and will come out at Barnes & Nobles this August. When the show was over some of the people we met came over to see our RV. The singer and her boyfriend ended up staying for quite a while and we had an enjoyable evening with them.

That is one thing I just love about our life: Meeting and getting to know people from all areas and all walks of life, seeing how different some people live. In Louisiana, at the next town north of the resort where we stayed we experienced a ‘first’ — no McDonald’s!

I like an iced coffee from McDonald's in the afternoon and we found out that the nearest McDonald’s is 20 miles away. How do the kids here survive without Chicken Nuggets and Happy Meals? Well, I guess they do just fine!

For that, the church we went to on Sunday had stained glass windows as beautiful as I have only seen in some of the big cathedrals. It was a small church, about half the size of our church St. Timothy in Walkersville, but so pretty inside. The Stations of the Cross were all hand-carved beautiful figurines — just wonderful.

On Monday we went to St. Louis, the Gateway to the West., to see the Gateway Arch. The Arch was built in 1965 as part of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Thomas Jefferson very much encouraged the expansion of the United States to the West. In the 1800s, St. Louis was the place where many settlers were outfitted before heading west. I read that Lewis and Clark where outfitted there in 1803 for their famous exploration of the Louisiana Purchase.

Going up on the Arch was quite an experience. A small closed-in cubicle took us to the top – 630 feet high. The cubicle was sort of like a Ferris Wheel condola, only closed in and going up on rails. Definitely not a trip for someone who is claustrophobic. Even the area on the top was small and narrow, but the view over the city and the Mississippi was breathtaking. The architecture and engineering that went into building the Arch can boggle your mind – just amazing.

With this trip to St. Louis I fulfilled a longtime dream of mine. The Gateway Arch has always fascinated me and has been one of the things in America I wanted to see.

North of the resort is the town Hannibal where Samuel Clemens, better known as author Mark Twain, spent his boyhood years. His books on the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are based on his life in this small village on the Mississippi.

We visited his boyhood home and the museum and learned many interesting facts about his life. I have read and enjoyed several of his books, but there were some titles I did not know he wrote. I think I’ll go on E-bay and try to buy some of them.

We also had a scary experience last week when a tornado warning made us all go into a basement condo on the resort. Fortunately the Tornado passed us by and except for heavy lightning and thunderstorms we were OK.

It was kind of frightening though — all we own is in our motorhome and we sure were worried it would get damaged. I guess the Midwest is not the best time to be in during the summer. However, I saw on TV that a tornado hit Annandale, Va.! That was probably a little to close for comfort for the folks in Frederick.