Today is a non riding day, the bikes stay in the parkade and we'll be cabbing and walking around. Bill and I negotiated a very reasonable 1000 lobby call so the morning was quite relaxed. I was able to catch completely up on the blog, I am now writing about today's activities tonight, that has never happened, we'll see how long it lasts.

Having satisfied one of our two not quite so lofty goals already, that being Pappy's Smokehouse we set off the the Gateway Arch to fulfill the second. Having reconnoitered the area the previous evening, we knew exactly where to go and Bill had even determined it was walking distance.

It was about a 15 minute walk through DT STL, and the thing that struck both of us was how deserted it was. Not many cars, no foot traffic, no people, almost bordering on spooky it was so deserted. It would be a re-occuring theme throughout STL.

Although the monument was built for about 13 million in the 60's (78 million in 2015) it received a 380 million dollar renovation to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. Apparently prior it was just the Arch but the renos added a museum, interpretive center, theatre, etc, etc. The visitor complex is underground between the legs of the Arch and accessible from the front street.

We went in and purchased 2 Full Meal Deals; Movie, Tram trip to the top, and Mississippi Paddlewheeler river cruise. Also had the wost bacon McMuffin copy ever, even with Pappy's BBQ sauce on it!

The movie was quite good. They literally had to devise both the arch spans and the construction techniques simultaneously. The 2 contruction derricks climbed either leg with the work platform having to be continually levelled as it went over the arch. At the 500'ish level they added a span between the legs to stabilize them until they joined.

There is a great YouTube video about the construction, search for The Gateway Arch. It is terrifying to see all of the workers scrambling all over the construction derricks, no one is tied off, everyone is smoking! Those were the days, eh?

We come out of the movie with about 30 minutes to kill, which we spend in the Gift Shop. I eye the fudge counter, not for me, but to bring some home to BuBu, but I still have 2 weeks on the road, much of it to be spent in southern Arizone. It'll be a puddle by the time I get home. I settle for a shiny trinket.

Now it is time to ascend the Arch which we do by lining up, seeing a short presentation, lining up more, moving a bit, lining up and waiting. We end up on a deadend staircase with 8 small rectangles, each a door about 4' tall and 2' wide. We here a whoosing noise and something has obviously arrived.

The doors slide open and each cubicle disgorges exactly 5 people. Once they are gone exactly 5 people get in each cubicle, more of a womb-like sphere with 5 seats in a semi circle. Everyone's knees touch and heads bow forward as the conditions are very cramped. The trams climb each leg, 4 mins to the top, 3 mins back down. They were installed in '67 and 68' shortly after the arch opened. Bill and I share our sphere with a family with a young boy who announces as the doors close that he has to pee!

We begin the acsent with much clattering, popping, sproinging and the like. The pod doors are glass so you can see the internal structure of the arch including a starwell running the entire distance which consists of 1076 steps in each leg. The tram stops just short of the top and we climb about 30 steps to get to the observation platform.

This is an area maybe 50' long, small gun slit windows on either side, populated by 80 people, 40 on each tram, the majority of visitors are small carbon based life froms running to and fro, stepping on your foot and hogging all the good spots at the windows. I am able to look out both sides though and shoot some video.

Having seen what we came to saw, er see, we go back down to wait for a departing tram, sharing our cubicle with an elderly couple interested in Gopro cameras! They get a three minute lesson. We head outside for some photography of the span itself, extremely impressive, especially as we know alot about it now.

We go down to the dock and wait for about 45 minutes until our sailing. I thought this part of the tour was pretty lame, except the boat had beer and popcorn! The Tour Guide had a peculiar way of talking that drove Bill crazy, luckily I can intimtate it so we'll hear from him again. We paddle wheeled up and down the Mississpi for about an hour, hearing some stuff about bridges we passed under, or sights on the riverbanks. It was OK, I was happy when it was over.

The only high point of that was when Bill and I had a disagreement about the overall height of the Arch. He said 177m I said 192m. I knew I was right, I could see the webpage in my minds eye with the 192m graphic right next to it, so I bet a beer. Later in the day Bill fessed up, I was right!

On the way home we stopped in at a bar for a daycap, I had not yet won my free beer but we had a few pops and called a cab. The hotel wasn't too far, but mostly uphill. We got basck to the ho'tel about 1515 for some AC and alone time. I did some emails, and watched some Arch YouTube videos. I thought about napping but by the time a felt like lying down it was 1730, too late.

Tonight Bill and I are going to SugarFire Smokehouse. SugarFire is to Pappy's what Duracell is to Energizer or Pepsi is to Coke. Basically the same product, but a different take on it. I had ribs again, half slab this time with corn (niblets) and mac & cheese as sides.

The food was served on a piece of butcher paper on a tray, not plate. I originally ordered a full slab as they were baby back ribs not spare ribs like last night, but when the chef dropped a rack of ribs the size of a 10 month old baby on my tray I balked. I asked if I could go down to a half slab, he nodded and then reached up and tore the rack in half with his hands! We are doing it caveman style today!

I also had a Peanut Butter Bourbon milkshake which was, well, spec-fuggin-tacular!

Pappy's ribs were drier and very much about the spice rub. SugarFire ribs were more about the smoke and were more moist. Both good in their own rights. I'd call it a tie. We walked back to the ho'tel, down a street filled with bars and outdoor patios and almost totally devoid of people. Back at the Red Lion we had a nightcap in the bar and retired by 2000hrs.

We determined we'd depart at 0800 in the morning, I need to navigate a route to minimize our time spent on the Interstate and plot our route to Southern Arizona, Tucson being our next destination. We'll have a few days off the bikes while we see the Pimms Air Museum and the Davis Monthan Boneyeard.

Day Eight

Non Riding Day