OK Go!

Gateway To The West

Yesterday evening. I reached St Louis, and have lovely view of the Gateway Arch (pictured left) from my 10th floor hotel window. That morning, I had woken up in Louisville, mosied 50 miles south to pay my respects to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace in Hodgenville, crossed the Ohio River into Indiana. En route, I passed Fort Knox, which actually is a military installation. Then, I shot across 120 miles of southern rural Indiana, followed by 120 miles of southern rural Illinois, and crossed the Mississippi via the Martin Luther King Bridge into downtown St Louis. By the riverfront is a wonderful district of restaurants and watering holes housed in restored turn-of-the-century warehouses and factories.

Things I passed in transit over the past few days:
1. Punxatawny, PA (Groundhog Day!)
2. Kent State University (Four dead in Oh-Hi-Oh)
3. Cayuhoga National Park (nothing spectactular, but the desingation does preserve pristine wilderness surrounded by northeast Ohio's industrial megalopolis.)
4. Abe Lincoln's boyhood home, ages 7-21, in Lincoln City, Indiana

Erik was right: southern Illinois is very southern indeed - right down to the accents.

Everywhere I go, a lot of poor-looking people appear to be purchasing way too many lottery tickets...

Today I'm off to Kansas City and points west. I expect to spend the night in Podunk, with no internet access.. But you never know...