Thursday: St. Louis to Nashville, In

 

As noted yesterday, today is mostly a driving day with almost 300 miles to go.

Our cars were parked overnight in the hotel parking garage in St. Louis, their first night of the trip out of the elements.  The hotel has saved us space on the little used fourth floor of the garage, and provided a hose for those who felt the need to clear the Hannibal construction dust off of their cars

 

An early start, we pulled out of St. Louis at 8:05am, made it across the Mississippi River bridge and through some construction.  About 30 minutes later we found the peaceful US Route 50 and headed east toward Nashville, IN. 

The good roads and some twisty bits were fun, but long. 

And eventually we got to Indiana state route 135 through the Hoosier National Forest, happening on the cute little village of Story, Indiana.  And there must be a story here, but because of the lateness of the day we didn't take time to investigate.  Reason enough to come back here someday.

 

We checked into our motel for the night and made plans to meet at 6 for dinner somewhere in downtown Nashville, In

 

Even at this late hour and in the off season the parking in town was sparse.  We found some spaces on the street a couple of blocks from the pub/pizza parlor.  Here is the antique store on the corner.



Our pub of choice, Big Woods Micro Brewery and Pizza.

 

We found excellent pizza, good and unusual beer and lots of fun and joy.  There was even a blue grass duo singing and playing and Myron gave us a good background on Bluegrass music - he even sang along on a couple of tunes. 

 

Since this was to be the last night of the 2015 Morgan Pub Crawl, and most of the couples are disbursing tomorrow for their homes and other commitments.  In all though, it was a very good time this night and for the past ten days.

 

Fittingly, when we were leaving the restaurant we found a Jenga game on the outside deck.  Jenga is the "official game" of the Pub Crawls, having played it many times on the previous trips in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2014. 

And we played until the stack fell at the hands of Myron's daughter and newcomer to the crawl, Susanna.

 

Seems a nice point on which to call the Pub Crawl and this blog to a close.

 

Thanks to all who helped with pictures, and to all who followed along.  We hope to do this again in the near future.

 

Wheels down and tires between the white lines......

Wednesday: Hannibal, Mo to St. Louis, Mo.

 

 

 

Our route today was an easy 3 hour drive on mostly two lane roads along the shoreline of the Mississippi River.  The map shows Rt 61, but we changed plans and took Rt 79, the thin line between 61 and the river.  We cruised at 55-60 all the way down to Interstate 70 for the final 27 miles into St. Louis.  Route 79 had many interesting "twisty bits" as the English call them.  Gentle rolling curves left and right and left again.  Fun in a little sports car, at least for the driver.  The passengers get a bit skittish sometimes.

But before todays story, some old news.  Art Kampschafer suffered a blow-out on his car yesterday driving from LaClaire to Hannibal, the penalty for driving with very old tires.  Those are not shadows on the tire sidewall... those are holes.  He promised to buy new tires today, all around.

And the group photo from the dinner cruise - thanks to Missy McKenna.

The morning was promising sunshine and cool temps today, a welcome after yesterday's rainy start.  But today we were greeted with dust.... from road construction on the street in front of the hotel.  They were grinding up the pavement preparing to lay new asphalt.  And the dust went everywhere.

The sticky dust really stuck to the cars. 

Ron Davis joined the pub crawl for a couple of days but sadly must head back home, and leaves us today.  Thanks Ron for being part of the 2015 Morgan Pub Crawl.

 

 

 We had a chance to see more of Hannibal this morning when we drove out of town, around the road construction.  Here's the Big Muddy BBQ. 

Another glimpse of the Mississippi

It was a nice drive on smooth and interesting roads, then the last 30 miles were on the interstate.  Not our favorite kind of road.

And an unusual bridge entering the St. Louis metro on I-70

We arrived at the Hampton Inn about 12:30 hungry for lunch, but not so hungry as to let one of the hotel receptionists sit in a Morgan -- Reg offered to share his car.   She was thrilled, as are we every time we do the same.

 

The McKennas, Millers and Campbells with a nice lunch outside at the Sundecker.

 

 

Almost directly across the street from our hotel is the famous Arch, Gateway to the West.

 

Most of us wandered over to the arch after lunch, but only a couple actually went up into it.

Here are the McKennas at ground level.

 

And here is a shot taken by either Myron or his daughter Susanna, from the top of the arch.

The view from our hotel room, pretty neat eh?

We really got a quick taste of St. Louis today and wished we had more time.  Maybe next time we will plan an extra day here.



Several couples and cars from the tour will be leaving in the morning.  The Kampschafers and Boyles from Texas are heading back to Dallas, the Clarks racing back to North Carolina.  The rest of us will continue on to Nashville Indiana tomorrow.

So tonight we decided to have our "official" farewells.  The Morgan Brewery, two blocks from our hotel seemed appropriate.

After a nice pub related gathering we moved outside for a group photo, then inside for more refreshments and cheers for Charlie and Beth who assembled this entire tour.  Thanks Charlie and Beth, and a toast to you both.

 

It's a long haul to Nashville, Indiana tomorrow and we lose an hour, so it is an up and out and hammer east across Illinois and half of Indiana. 

 

More about that tomorrow. 

 

 

Tuesday: LeClaire, IA to Hannibal, MO

Our route today is mostly four land and two lane non-interstate highways.  Just less than 200 miles.

The day started warm and very overcast, with rain forecast to begin about the time we wanted to pull out.

Al Marsh actually put his hooding up (that's British car talk meaning "top")  We've seen him drive all day in the rain before without benefit of the weather protection.  He must be mellowing.

 

And rain, it did!

 

 After an hour or so we stopped for gas and to dry out.  Most Morgan's are not as dry as today's sedans.  Ours had a bit of a drip on Sally's foot while Reg and Char stopped to put rain suits on. But what's a little water to a Brit car? 

Susanna is Myron's daughter, who flew into Davenport late yesterday to join him, and us, on the last few days of our trip.  She was introduced to serious Morgan driving today with the rain and highway speeds.  She is still smiling.

 

  While at the gas station four more Morgan's came by.  We tend to travel in groups of three or four cars rather than line up eight or nine to go through the towns we encounter along the way.  In just a few miles our group caught up with the other group and caravanned for awhile.  But the lights broke us apart again as we each carried on.

We got to Hannibal about one o'clock and after checking in to a brand new Best Western took a walk downtown to find a restaurant.  The town is chock full of Mark Twain history, including the famous white fence Tom Sawyer used to his advantage.  Hannibal is where Samuel Clemens lived as a boy and used the town as the setting for "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".  Lesser known about Hannibal is that it is the southern migration destination for bald eagles that live on high Mississippi River bluffs.

Here, Char tries out the brush.

One of the many museum's in town memorializing the Mark Twain writings.  Bill kindly stepped up to scale the photo.

And at the Mark Twain Micro-brewery Sally stands next to a carving of Twain.

After lunch some of us cleaned our cars thinking the rain was over.... at least there would be no more driving today.

Jim Clark's is joining the Crawl today for the last few days, and seeing his car in the parking lot was proof of his arrival.

Out dinner tonight is on the paddlewheel Mark Twain, a two hour dinner cruise on the Mississippi.

 

 They reserved several tables in the center of the dining room for us.

 

 Beth Miller celebrated her birthday today and was surprised with lots of attention and surprises.

 

 New to the crawl today is Jim and Colette Clark of North Carolina.

 

 And new to the trip yesterday is Myron Koenigs daughter Susanna Goring of Cincinnati.

 

 The Mississippi from the middle.... a calm wide waterway.

 

 Here is Beth being recognized in front of all of the guests on the cruise by the entertainer for the evening.  She is the boat captain/owners daughter and she sang quite well.

 

 As the party went on some started dancing--Charlie and Colette tripping the light.

 

 A birthday drink in a sparkling glass.... happy birthday to our tour hostess, Beth Miller and our friend Missy.

 

 Reg and Myron found pirate themed dew rags to wear at home when they work on their cars.  Somehow they look good in them.

 

Tomorrow off to St Louis and the great arch.

 

 

Monday: Prairie du Chen, Wis to Le Clair, Iowa

Monday and the beginning of a new week.  We viewed the eclipse last night through mostly clear skies and talked of the primitive people who must have been absolutely terrified by such a sight seeing their reliable moon being consumed by something right before their eyes. 

The day started in the usual manner with wiping the dew off of the cars and loading up the suitcases and personal items, then heading for breakfast...today provided by the folks at AmericInn, a new hotel chain, or at least one I had never heard of.   The banner out front said they were voted the best hotel breakfast in 2015 and I can see why.  Janet!  She expertly made omelets or scrambled or fried eggs to order, and instructed neophytes like me how to use the waffle maker.  Thank you Janet...we got a great start to the day.

The hotel staff were enjoying the sight of our cars in their lot and asked if they could take a photo of them all, and it was time for us to make a group photo too.  So all but one were aligned in front and many photos were taken.  Here's the best one:

Group Photo

 From left to right: Char and Reg, Beth and Charles, Myron, Sally and Gary, Vern and Sandy, Missy and Bob, Judi and Bill, and Al.  Kampschafers were still inside the hotel somewhere, but were with us in spirit.

Then we were off.... crossing the Mississippi right away and into Iowa.

We stopped at an overlook a few miles down the road and caught this barge pushing upstream.

 

 

And Vern took this great photo from the Pikes Peak observation center



River valley from Pikes Peak observation site.



A bit later we stopped at a convenience store - and of course a friendly chap is curious about the cars and Reg chats with him.

In Guttenberg, Ia, the lock on the great river was operating, moving a large barge northbound.

 The lock gate opened and the barge moved into the next section.

We stopped in Clinton, Ia for gas, and the clerk at the station was helpful describing a good restaurant for lunch....and it was.  Here's the view from the deck of the Candlelight Inn.

And here's the deck.  It sure would be pretty to dine there in the evening, watching the boats and barges move up and down the river.

Soon we arrived in Le Claire, which is home to Antique Archaeology, famous for the History Channel TV show American Pickers. 

Here's the original store, now one of two buildings housing antique picks from around the country.

Sally ready to go pickin'

 

Sally inspects this old bumper car and one of their trucks, as seen on TV

 

Vern and Sandy at Antique Archaeology.

 

Bob and Missy at Antique Archaeology

 

 

 

Vern and Sandy sent me this photo of their lunch stop in LaClaire,  where they joined Judi and Bill and a newcomer joining the crawl, Ron Davis from Illinois.

 

McKenna's, Boyles and Davis' cars at lunch.

 

 

And, just down the road is our hotel for the night.... again, right on the great Mississippi River, or as we call it, the Big Muddy. 

 

 

It's Pizza night on the Pub Crawl so we all gathered in the breakfast room for refreshments and pizza, then a friendly gals against the guys game of trivia.  After many rounds of questions hosted by our "den mother" Char, the game score was a tie.

 

 

 

And the Pizza was all consumed except for these two lonely sad pieces. 

 

 

More tomorrow from Hannibal, Mo.