Tuesday, May 12, 2015

You can Drive My Car

Our reservations have been set for St Louis for about 3 weeks and we are staying for 3 days. I looked at todays iternary and we were not suppose to get in until 10pm, so adjustment was in order. I had a bunch of places to grab in Indianapolis, but MacKenzie has left town so I cut most of them out, straightened out the route a bit and grabbed a few new ones as fillins.

Headed north a bit first off to see the Auburn Cord Duesenberg factory and offices. A great Art Deco building and another car museum right in back. After I got my set of photos, I had to redo them all since I had the wrong settings in the camera. I do this a lot. We will come back here to take the tour.

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Facility - Auburn IN

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Facility - Auburn IN



Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Facility - Auburn IN

Heading south, stopped in Marion, IN for Marie Webster House. Marie made quilts. She wrote Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them which was the first definitive guide on the subject and is still in print today. She formed the Practical
Patchwork Company, which sold patterns, quilt kits, and finished quilts.

Marie Webster House

Next door I is Myers Drive-In which features curb service old school.

Myers Drive In

And this old Pennsylvania RR train depot which is serving up totally different stuff.

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I figure the convenience store will look like this pretty soon.

Vintage Gas Station Marion IN

Just outside of Indianapolis as Harold and Kumar. I just couldn't resist a couple of sliders. Yes they say it is an acquired taste, which I acquired in my youth. A bag of 12 cost 1.44 back then.

White Castle Noblesville IN

We skimmed the north side of Indianapolis grabbing some sites along the way.

The Pyramids

Some pick ups in Effingham, IL.

Restored 1910 Gas Station

A great Art Deco theater.

Heart Movie Theater

And the World's Largest Cross. It is 198 feet tall and 113 feet wide just 2 feet shy of it requiring a beacon to alert planes.

World's Largest Cross


To maintain our connection with motorcycling we stopped in Moonshine, IL. This remote store is the of hundreds of motorcyclists in April to ride for a Moonburger.

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Moonshine Store Martinsdale IL

Passed thru Pocahontas, IL. First known as Hickory Grove and then Amity, it changed its name to Pocohontas. Someboday realized they had misspelled Pocahontas and changed the name again. How the middle of Illinois has any connection to Jamestown Virginia I don't have a clue.

Martinsville IL Post Office

Our last stop of the day is Cahokia Mounds. This civilization in the 1200's peaked at 200,000 people and was the largest urban settlement of the Mississippian culture. We have been to a bunch of these type settlements thru out the Midwest. This is the most impressive one.

Cahokia Mounds

Cahokia Mounds

Deer feeding while the Indians are out hunting them in other places.

Cahokia Mounds

Hit the Crown Plaza right around 8pm and settled in for the next 3 days. Very nice accomodations, pricey, but no more pricey than anything else in downtown St Louis. We were right next to the Arch, as well, an easy walk for most. A couple of shots from our balcony.

The Eads Bridge completed in 1874. It was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet. The Eads Bridge was also the first bridge to be built using cantilever support methods exclusively, and one of the first to make use of pneumatic caissons. When it was built a whole bunch of restrictions and requirements were placed on the construction by the river boat folks, in the hopes it would never be built.

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A shot of St Louis

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Our route for the day.

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