Day 2 - Sunday, March 20 - Wheeling, WV to St. Louis, IL

March 20, 2022

Starting mileage: 77034 Starting time: 7:45 am
Ending mileage: 77577 Ending time: 3:30 pm
Travel mileage: 543 Travel time: 8:45 hours (not counting time change)

Happy Spring!

It didn't quite feel that way with the temperature 40 degrees and light sprinkle which continued for a couple hours. It turned quite beautiful with bright sunshine and in the low 70s by the time we got to St. Louis.

It is also feeling more like spring as we get further south. Along the way, we started to see the red tips of the maple along the road and when we got to St. Louis, daffodils were out and magnolias are starting to bloom.

While crossing Ohio at 75 MPH, we were able to hear and watch (not Carmen who was driving!) our home church service livestreamed on Facebook.

Gas was $3.99 to $4.19 in Ohio and $4.19 to $4.49. It is $4.49 - $4.59 in Illinois.

One thing very noticeable coming into Indian is the profusion of billboards along I-70, larger and more than we noticed on other states.

Going through Ohio and Indiana we noticed a number of places along the highway with oil pump-jacks bobbing up and down.

We are staying at a Comfort Suites in Fairview Falls, IL, just a few miles from St. Louis. $85. It was not an auspicious start. When we arrived at 3:30, nobody was at the desk and eventually when the phone rang, a woman answered the phone and then irritatedly told us that check-in wasn't until 4:00 and pointed to the sign. My usual experience with this chain is that if someone is at the desk and a room is available, I can check in early. The hotel seems fairly new but the room wasn't in the best shape.

On the plus side, we eventually got checked in, dropped our things and headed into the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We were amazingly lucky to see someone pulling out of a parking space right in front of the arch and was able to grab it. Tickets for the ride to the top were sold out but we were able to go into the museum and watch a movie about the construction of the arch, quite an engineering feat. It was surprising to see construction workers high up with no harnesses or protective gear - before-OHSA.

The information woman at the museum gave us a recommendation for a St. Louis-style BBQ restaurant that was about 10 minutes away. There was a long line but we waited anyway, 45 minutes. We were fortunate as 30 minutes later we heard an announcement that there were no more ribs. We had a full-rack of ribs which was delicious.