2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 5 - St Louis Arch

Gateway Arch in St Louis

Just before I went to sleep last night, I changed into my swimming suit, packed up all my dirty clothes, and started a load of laundry. Then I took a shower and lay down to wait for the wash to finish so I could put it in the dryer. About the time the wash should have been done, Kyle texted me and said he would move the clothes and that I should go to sleep. Bless him. 

I woke up about 5:00 but chose to slowly wake up rather than hop right out of bed and get going. I knew the grandkids had to get up at around 6:30 so they could be ready to head off for school at 7:00. Sometimes I'll get up and just disappear from someone's house but not the grand kids. 

I went down to get my laundry and spent time getting it all packed. I'm using rolling vacuum bags. That means I open the bags, fold the clothes and put them in as flat as I can. Then I seal the bags and starting from the zip lock side I start rolling and it forces the air out the bottom end of the bags. The more pressure I can put and the tighter I can get it, the more compressed it all becomes. These bags aren't perfect but they only need to keep a seal for a day or two at most. 

Then I load the bags into a cheap duffel I bought at Wal-Mart the bags are just a little bit shorter than the duffel, which allows me to put my bathroom bag and a few other things in the top. Then the whole thing slides really nicely into the front trunk on my motorcycle (frunk). It fits perfectly. The length, width, everything is just right to fit in there, leaving me a nice gap on either side to stick my CPAP and a few other things on the other side. I really like the arrangement. 

Once I had everything ready and was fully dressed, I lay down again and listened to a book while I waited for the grandkids to get up. I heard moving downstairs so I went in to wake up Pendaryn and Tyr.  Like most kids they didn't just jump right out of bed but they didn't fight very hard either. 

I went back to my room and folded my sheets and blankets up. Then grabbed my stuff and took it downstairs to sit by the front door. By the time Laura and the boys were ready to leave, I was also ready to leave. I gave everybody big hugs and told them how much I'd enjoyed being there. I especially told Pen how much I loved going on that ride with him to Hannibal. 

Willow was still asleep and I didn't want to wake her up so they headed off to school and I went to load up my bike. I was almost done loading when Kyle came out the door and said that Willow was awake. So I went back in to hug her and also took a picture with her. She sure is a sweet little girl. I said goodbye again and gave Kyle, a big hug and told him how proud I was of him and how much love he had for his family. 

Giving WillowWind a goodbye hug

I finished loading the bike and headed off to the McDonald's to grab a quick breakfast sandwich and the diet Dr. Pepper. 

My plan from day one was for this day to be spent in Kansas City. I was going to go to the World War One museum and the Harry Truman Presidential Library. I've been to both but I wanted to take a little more time and walk through slowly. However when I made those plans I assumed that temperatures would be dropping by now. Instead they have gone up over the last week or two. I'm really struggling riding in the late afternoons with over 100° temperatures. 

So with all that in mind I've decided to travel in the mornings when it's cool and do my touring in the afternoons when it's hot. I'm not far from Kansas City so that would put me touring at about 9:00 and would leave me with hours of riding in the heat of the day. Instead I decided I will skip Kansas City. Kyle lives here and I'm certainly going to be back and can do those tours whenever I want. Instead I will head straight to St. Louis and get a bucket list item checked off.  I have been through Kansas City probably nine times in my life but I have never managed to go up the arch.

The last few times I drove through I've actually tried to figure out how to see the arch, but they don't make it easy.  None of the freeway exits mention the arch and if you get off the freeway signs don't really point you to the arch. So this time I spent some time watching videos and reading articles. I figured out where I needed to park and how you walk from the parking over to the arch, and the fact that you need to get a reservation. 

The only thing that really took me by surprise was that the route from Chillicothe to St. Louis took me right back to Hannibal, Missouri, where I was yesterday. So I will have driven Highway 36 three times in three days. I'm not too upset because Highway 36 is a really nice road with very little traffic. 

The GPS had me leave Highway 36 down some little County Road A. I kept expecting to find a gas station right by the turn off but there was nothing. I hadn't stopped for gas yet and I was down under a quarter. I stopped and looked on the GPS to find a gas station and found one just about two minutes off my route so I dialed that in. The GPS redirected me onto even smaller roads. And again I really don't mind because they were gorgeous. The roads wound around through thick wooded areas and then a few open fields and beautiful homes. It was a very nice ride. 

Beautiful roads on the way to get gas

More tree lined roads

Temperatures so far have been in the high 70s and felt great. It was coming up on 9:00 and the sun was climbing in the sky. Now the GPS put me on to another four-lane highway heading south towards St. Louis, paralleling the Mississippi River. Traffic started to increase as I got closer to St. Louis. By the time I was fifty miles out, we were almost bumper to bumper in high-speed traffic, which is no fun on a motorcycle. 

The temperature also rose up into the mid-90s. When I was ten miles from the arch, I decided to stop, double-check my directions, and get something to drink. This is definitely not the best part of town! I gassed up then went in to use the bathroom but the lady wanted to see my gas receipt before she gave me the key. I hadn't bothered to get a receipt so she wouldn't let me use the bathroom. 

I drink my soda in the shade of the building. Two guys happened to wander over to look at the bike. They really liked it and commented about the Bronco sticker. I told them I had just come from Kansas. They said that they kind of root for the Chiefs but not really. They asked a bunch of questions about how the trike works and one guy said his grandpa had just sold his Honda Rune and was looking for something to replace it. 

They eventually wandered off and I got back on the bike and headed into downtown St. Louis. The GPS led me directly to Arch parking, which turned out to be closed. Luckily across the street was another parking lot. I pulled in and parked the bike. There were signs everywhere saying to hide valuables and that they weren't responsible for stolen property. I made sure to tuck away anything of value and lock the trunk and the handlebars. Then I headed over for the Arch. 

It was only a couple of blocks before I was into the Arch trail system. You have to come around from the westward side to enter and everything kind of pushes you that way anyway. I took out my 360 camera and started taking a few pictures. Then headed for the entrance. I decided not to get reservations because when I checked this morning they had available openings every single slot of the day. 

Front Entrance to the Arch Visitor Center

I have an America the Beautiful National Park pass and I think it lowered my entry fee from $29 to $14. They put me on the 12:55 group. I had to walk down some stairs and through a museum to get in line. I figured I'd come back and look through the museum once I was done with the tour. 

Entrance to the Tram ride

The lady looked at my ticket and then handed me a boarding pass with a big number 2 on it.  We stood around for a few minutes as the rest of the group gathered and then our guide led us forward and started giving us the safety briefing and telling us some of the history of the arch. It took about 10 or 15 minutes as we slowly moved from place to place before she finally told us to separate into our various groups by number. 

I was with two men who turned out to be a father and son from Puerto Rico. I don't think the father spoke English but the son did. We finally got to a set of stairs and she had us go down and stand on the stairs with our number. We stood there for a few minutes and then a loud clatter started to approach. It was the elevators returning with a group from the top. We couldn't see much but we could hear it as it slowed and eventually locked into place. Then the doors opened. The doorway was about 4 ft high by about 2.5 ft wide. The occupants had to side step their way out and then climbed up the stairs to leave.

Once they were all gone we had to climb in ourselves. It wasn't super tight but it wasn't made for big people. There were seats for five so the three of us fit fairly comfortably. They were trying to take selfies so I offered to take a picture for them. I just used my 360 and stuck it back out the door to get a picture of us inside the chamber. Once we were all loaded, the door slid closed and we began the climb. The guide had warned us that we would fail a mechanical rocking as it climbed and the tilt of the arch changed. It was a pretty slow climb. Certainly faster than I could climb stairs but we didn't zoom to the top. Through the window in the door, we could watch the stairs that climbed alongside us and some of the framework on the inside of the arch. 

Waiting to get in the elevator

One elevator car - they ask several times if you are claustrophobic

It took about 5 minutes to go up, but eventually we slowed and stopped but we certainly hadn't leveled out. The doors opened and we were once again on stairs. Since we were number two we were almost at the top of the stairs. I just had a short way to get up to the famous arch viewing room. There was only one elevator running today so the room was empty as we entered. We had been warned that we only had ten minutes to do all of our sightseeing. Since I had my 360 camera, it was pretty easy for me to get most of the selfie pictures I wanted to get. Then I used my phone to take several pictures out the windows and other first-person sort of shots.

Windows looking out the sides

The room really is this curved

View out a west window

Full view out the west

Full view out the East

I took pictures for a lot of people who wanted to get their whole groups into shots. But it was so bright outside that the windows all just looked like white blobs. 

I spent a few times in each direction just admiring the views and the distance. It was a pretty clear day but there was just a slight humidity haze off in the distance. I don't think they have any wildfires so it had to just be humidity. 

It seemed like no time at all when they were telling us to get back to the elevators to go down. They called us by our numbers, with number 8 descending the stairs first and the farthest distance down.  We had to wait while the new tourists came up and got out of their cars. Then we loaded up and got ready to descend. I talked a little more with the other guys and we talked about the fact that I was on a motorcycle ride across the U.S. and that part of my ride was visiting national parks. They started telling me about the national parks that I really needed to get over and see in Puerto Rico. That sounded like a fun thing to try to do. 

Standing on our yellow steps waiting for the arrivals to exit

The descent was much faster than the ride up.  It was only 2 or 3 minutes to go down.  It wasn't scary, but it was very noticeable how much faster things flew by the window on the way down.

When we got off at the bottom, I wandered back into the museum area. I had been in such a hurry to get to the Arch that I had yet to eat lunch and it was almost 1:30. They had a cafe down here so I decided to see what was available. They had your standard burgers and a few sandwiches, pizza, nuggets, and a few other things. They also had St. Louis-style ribs for $18. I knew they couldn't be that good but I went ahead and got myself a plate of ribs. 

St Louis style Ribs at the Arch Cafe

They were clearly boiled ribs with a light rub on them. When I asked about BBQ Sauce, they directed me to The Condiments, where I found Hine's BBQ Sauce. I don't even think I knew Hine's made a barbecue sauce. It was all sugar and fake smoke. But I was hungry and they went down pretty quick. 

I also spent the time pulling the photos off of my 360 camera and selecting shots. I don't actually like you to do this because it doesn't preserve the time the photo was taken in the metadata. So the photos don't sort cleanly. If I use my laptop to process the 360 photos, it works right.  I should probably have just found the one or two photos I wanted to send as text messages and left the rest to do later. I'll try to remember to do it that way in the future. 

While I was working with my 360 camera, I noticed that one of the lens covers had come off and was missing.  I use a rubber cover to protect the camera when it's not in use, so the underlying lens wasn't damaged, but I felt very nervous without that cover.  I texted my buddy Mike and asked if he could help me figure out how and where to get one shipped so I could pick it up in a day or two.

We talked through many idea and finally settled on having it shipped to Baton Rouge where I'd meet up with John and Ron on Thursday.  It can be delivered to an Amazon locker near our hotel by Wednesday.  Then I can pick it up at my leisure.

After I finished lunch I wandered through the museum. I wasn't quite sure what the theme of the museum was but it wasn't the arch. It was about Taming the West, a little about the Louisiana Purchase, and a little about the history of St. Louis. And they really had a thing for Andrew Jackson. 

At one point I heard a family arguing about which fictional Character had jumped from the top of the St. Louis arch. Half the family thought it was Harry Potter,  others thought it was Katniss or Edward.  I felt like an uber-geek when I butted in and said "It was Percy Jackson" and they all remembered and agreed.

I left the museum and walked to the river side of the arch to get pictures from that side.  I don't know if it looks any different, but the sun is at a different angle.

The arch from the East.  Too close to get the iconic shot

I walked back to the parking garage and found my bike just as I'd left it.

I knew it would be super hot outside, so I pulled out my evaporative vest.  I used my portable jug and a trash bag to wet down the vest, but the water was very warm.  When I put the vest on it didn't feel refreshing at all, but I hoped it would get better as I started riding.  But once I was on the freeway doing 50, all I felt was wet and hot.  If there was evaporative cooling going on, I couldn't tell.

I only rode for about 10 minutes then took an exit to a gas station.  I went in and bought a large bottle of cold water.  I wrung the vest out as much as I could, then poured the cold water over it.  The trash bag helps hold the water against the vest until it soaks in.  NOW when I put the vest on it felt great.

I quickly got back on the bike and headed off.  The bike said it was 108 degrees and I believe it.  But the cold water really helped and I could feel the evaporative effect this time.  The cooling effect lasted about 45 minutes so I pulled off and did it again.  Another bottle of cold water and back on the road.

By now it was after 5:00.  The freeway was lined with tall trees about 30 foot high and the sun was low enough that I began riding through shadows much of the time.  The shade really helped cut the oppressive heat.   The temperature also began falling.  First down to 102, then 99, and finally all the way to 91 which felt much better.

I finally arrived at my cheapo hotel in Jackson Missouri by 6:30.  The hotel is a "Quality Inn" and only cost $70.  The hallways smell strongly of smoke and marijuana, but the room smells fine and it's clean.  I plan to be on the road by 5:00 so I can make it to Shilo Battlefield.

Dinner was a cobb salad from Wendy's.  It hit the spot.  I've had lots of heavy meals over the last few days and getting something healthy and light in my stomach as nice.

Daily Miles: 362

Total Miles: 1344

2026 Aug Hannibal MO with Pendaryn day 2

Hannibal's Lover's Leap overlook with the Mississippi River behind us

Penn was absolutely exhausted when he went to sleep last night so I decided to let him sleep a little bit more. I was up by 6:00 and packed a few things and had a load ready to go down to the bike. I woke him up just enough to let him know I was leaving the room and not to worry. And I took my load of stuff down to the bike and rode off to fill up the gas tank. I figured that was one easy timeshift I could do.

If I thought Hannibal was quiet yesterday, 6:30 in the morning it looked like a ghost town . Not a car was moving on the roads.

I got back to the room and did a few more chores like making sure everything was charged and ready to use. I'm glad I did that because my 360 camera was completely out of battery. I probably left it turned on the last time I was pulling pictures off. I've done that before. So I put it on my best usb-c charger and crossed my fingers that it would be ready by the time we left.

At 8:00 I woke him up and said it was time to get going. He was ready fairly quick and we headed down to get a breakfast. This was your step down from yesterday's breakfast. Even the sausage was tasteless. But we made the best of it they went back up to the room to finish packing. My camera was at 100%. We grabbed everything and headed down to the bike.

There were two Harleys parked out front all night and the couples riding them were busily packing. They had bags and stuff strewn all over the place trying to loaded.  Penn and I walked up and had everything on the bike, helmets on and ready to ride in about 4 minutes. One of the guys looked at me, tilted is head toward his wife and grimaced. I just chuckled.

They all waved and wished us a Safe Ride.  Our first stop was The Lover's leap Overlook just outside of town. It felt so nice and cool that I almost idle through town enjoying the peace and quiet. Just barely out of town I turned left on the road rapidly climbed a short but steep road to the Deciding. 

It did have a beautiful view of Hamilton and the river for about 4 or 5 miles in either direction .  We took some pictures with my phone , the camera pins been using, and the 360 camera just to cover all bases. For those in the future reading this, the flags are at half staff because Dolly Parton passed away just a few days ago.

Penn and I looking out over the Mississippi River

A 360 world view with Penn and I in the center

A set of heart locks at Lover's Leap.  People put padlocks on them

Penn's photo looking north up the river

We stayed for about half an hour just enjoying the views . We didn't see any boats come up or down the river but we did hear the train. That whistle carries for a long long ways.

I got back on the bike and headed back into town and then threw it and on to the freeway on the far side of town. But we turned right which would take us across the Mississippi River and into Illinois. Penn commented that it was his first time in Illinois but I told him no he had been there once before. I asked him to guess what he'd been there and when he couldn't I told him we went there yesterday on the boat. The boat had crossed over to the far side of the river on our return Journey which meant we sailed back in Illinois Waters. Penn thought that was pretty funny and agreed that he'd been there once before.

All we did was cross the bridge take the first exit get right back on the freeway and head back across. I'm not sure why but Penn wasn't taking as many pictures today. I asked if he got a picture of the Illinois sign and he said no, and I told him to be ready to get the Missouri sign and he barely got that. I think he was just off his game for a while.

Crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois

Crossing back to Missouri

Penn's photo of the bridge

It was about 81° , but it felt really good. There was just really thin clouds in the sky which weren't going to help keep the heat down so I twisted the throttle and we started heading for home.

Riding westbound on highway 36

More highway 36.  It's freeway like but almost empty

After about an hour I decided it was time for a break. So we found a nice little gas station and pulled off to get a drink and maybe a snack. As usual, Penn started staring at the hot dogs and sausages and bratwurst. I had to remind him he couldn't have any of those things. He started looking around and finally decided on a chocolate chip cookie. I just got a Gatorade.  While he was eating the cookie Penn commented  that he was starving, even though it only been 2 hours since breakfast. 

Stopped for a cookie break

We got back on the bike and kept riding for about another half hour.  I spotted a super Walmart off to the side of the road since we had a couple things we needed I pulled off to go pick those things up. Penn needed a new pair of flip-flops. His toes hung almost an inch over the front of his current ones. And we needed an eyeglasses repair kit to tighten the screw on Pens glasses.  We got both and headed back to the bike.

We are only half an hour from home but he said he was absolutely starving so I looked up a nearby restaurant and we headed over.

Penn wanted chicken strips, but the only thing they had was on the children's menu. We asked the waitress if they didn't have an adult version and she said yes and it came with five strips. I got a mushroom and Swiss burger.

I also noticed the prices on the menu. Compared to Colorado these seemed like pre-covid prices. Pens plate was $10 and my burger with fries was $11.  I had kind of noticed throughout this whole trip that expenses weren't quite what I expected.  Most meals were well below what I would normally pay in Colorado.  Most burgers at any restaurant is 17 to $22 and a good chicken strip meal is probably $19.

Burger prices 

While we waited for our food I showed Penn how the 360 camera work and how I can frame a picture pointing any direction I wanted and save it. Then we looked over the pictures that he had taken. They were much better than yesterday's and almost every one of them was well in focus and pretty well framed.

Penn inhaled his chicken strips but he wouldn't touch the green beans

Penn finished before me and I let him go outside to take some more pictures. When I was done and we paid our bill we got back on the bike and headed that last 30 minutes to home.  The temperature was really climbing now. It was in the mid-90s and both of us were really sweating

Penn's purple flower that he insists is a magic flower from some video game

Penn's.  I'm not sure why but he likes photos of cemeteries

We got the Kyle's house and I took the bare minimum off of the bike and we headed into the air conditioning. We sat around for a few hours talking and I got more stuff unloaded and up to the room I'd be staying in. I'm sleeping in Willow's room and I'm not sure she's pleased about it.

Penn took a picture of WillowWind in her special chair

Willow wanted to help take a picture of Penn

It's been almost 6 years to the day since they moved in

6 years ago August 31, 2020

After a few hours I wanted to go get an ice cold drink. Kyle and Laura don't use ice so I headed off to the nearest convenience store. When I got on the bike it said it was 108°. I figured that was just because it was sitting in the sun. I rode over to the store and park the bike in the shade then went in to get my drink.  When I came back out the bike still said it was 108. I sat there for a while in the shade drinking my soda and it never did go down.

I decided to take a minute and walk around the bike checking that everything was still doing well. I found a bulb that had actually started to wear itself loose and was sticking out. I grabbed my tool kit and tightened it back up. But I also noticed just how dirty the bike was. I Googled for a car wash and found one nearby so I rode over to give the bike a good wash.

Washing the bike

My writing friends give me a lot of golf because my bike is almost always dirty so I decided I would take pictures proving that I wash my bike. I got my tripod out set it up and then started giving the bike a wash. It didn't take very long and cost about $5. When I pick up the tripod and started collapsing the legs one of them just snapped right off. I've had that tripod for a very long time and made me a little sad when it broke.

My poor broken tripod

I decided to turn it into a Facebook post and took a picture of the broken tripod along with the picture of me washing the bike and posted it on Facebook. I got a few sympathy notes in return. Then because I really do use the tripod a lot I headed over to Walmart to buy a replacement. Unfortunately they don't carry it anymore.

I picked up a monopod with a small tripod base because it was on sale.

My son Kyle's birthday was just a few days ago so I was going to meet them for dinner. We ate it a Mexican restaurant that was really good. While we waited for our food I set up the tripod. There is no way this thing is going to work. The base is so narrow that even for how short it is the slightest gust of wind will knock my camera over. I'm going to have to figure something out but I'm not sure what yet.

Again, we had six of us and the whole meal cost $70. And that included four drinks. It just amazes me how affordable things are here. Unfortunately if someone commented, the wages are probably in the way back machine as well.

We finished our dinner and headed back to their house.  In just a few minutes it took to park the bike and walk into their house I got about 12 mosquito bites, so I guess there are some drawbacks to living here too.

I had promised to give my other grandson, Tyr, a ride on the motorcycle. So I sprayed myself with off, sprayed him with some other child friendly bug spray and headed off for a motorcycle ride.

It was still 102° out and I figured if I headed out of town the forests in the fields would cool the air off , but that didn't happen. I headed 5 MI west of town at a nice Road and it was still 102. Then I got on an Eastbound highway I'm headed back into town but well to the north and it was still 102.

Finally we headed south of town and it was still 102. But we are having fun and he was enjoying the ride.  His only complaint was sweating in the helmet.

We got on Highway 36 and headed east of town about 3 miles then turned around and started back into town. I was on a mission to find the Chillicothe welcome sign. The other directions and places I've gone were also to find that same sign but the signs weren't really accessible. This one probably wasn't because we pulled off on the shoulder of a high-speed Highway. 

I pulled off as far as I could then walked around and removed his helmet and carefully lifted him off the bike. Then we walked down through the little Canal beside the road and up onto the hill beside the sign. Since we are on the east side of town and it was near Sunset the sun was right behind the sign . I tried to make that work for us and we stood in the shadow of the sign to take our picture. The cool thing about the Chillicothe sign is that this is where sliced bread was invented and the sign says welcome to Chillicothe the home of sliced bread.

Posing with Tyr in front of the Chillicothe sign

Once we got that picture we reversed the process and carefully got back on the bike with semis RVs and big trucks streaming past us at high speed. We pulled away and merged in then headed back for home. I think the temperature finally fell to about 99 on our way back. 

Daily Miles: 155

Total Miles: 982

2026 Aug Hannibal MO with Pendaryn day 1

I had such great plans for this morning. We were going to get up early pack up and be on the road by 5:30, take a winding path out through the countryside enjoying the beautiful views. It would be a great start to our overnight ride.

Then I noticed that Penn was wearing flimsy shorts. I asked him where his long pants were and he said he hadn't brought any. So we got semi-packed up and headed off to his house to get him long pants. We also had to get a jacket and his glasses.

Picture in front of Penn's house, ready to ride

By the time we got back, the hotel breakfast had started so we might as well eat that. Then we finished our packing and checked out. It was nearly 8:00 before we hit the road.  But first we had to go put gas in the bike and buy some drinks.

We have blown nearly 2 hours and I didn't think we have the time for the Meandering path anymore. Instead we just hopped right on Highway 36 and headed due east for Hannibal.

I let Penn use my waterproof camera. We shortened the lanyard and put it around his neck and spent 10 minutes teaching him how to use it. And boy did he use it. I have tried to teach him to frame his shots push the button halfway down to let it Focus and then once he had a shot he liked push it the rest of the way down to take the picture. Instead I could just hear him back there Point click Point click Point click as fast as he could.

The Taco Bell by our hotel, Penn was proud of the photo

A telephone pole - Penn calls it Landscape Photos

More landscape art

About halfway we stopped for a bathroom break. Penn went into the store and started hovering over the rollers with hot dogs taquitos and other things. It was just an hour and a half since we had breakfast and I asked if he was hungry. He said yes but all of the things he was staring at were off limits. He recently had some serious illness with his kidneys , and he still had high blood pressure. That meant very limited salt, and everything he was staring at was maybe 50% salt. I offered to buy him cups of fruit yogurt and some other things, but he wanted none of those so we left empty-handed.

Halfway stop.  Penn loves my spicy jerky but he can't have much

A culvert?  It was interesting to Penn

By 11:30 we were rolling into Hannibal.  I had promised Pendaryn that we would get lunch as soon as we arrived.  I asked him - What do you want to eat?   He said - McDonald's.  I said - We are on vacation, don't you want to eat something better than that?  With surprise in his voice he asked - Do they have a Wendy's here? 

We took one drive down the main road looking for somewhere that looked good to eat, but we spotted a small farmer's market and decided to check that out first.  We walked around and Penn found a paracord bracelet that he wanted.  So we bought it and went back to finding lunch.

The Farmer's Market

Penn bought the bracelet.  I'd love to buy the dragon but no way to get it home

I checked through Yelp and Google Maps and we wound up going to Becky Thatchers Cafe on the main street.   Penn asked the waitress what was good and she said they had really good burgers, so he got his standard plain cheese-burger and fries.  I got a rueben sandwich.

While we waited for our food, I took the time to figure out how to pair the waterproof camera to my phone.  It took Penn and I about 30 minutes to figure it out.  I noticed the "menu" button had wifi written below it.  So I pushed and held the button.  A new screen came up with instructions and a QR code to scan.  Once my phone got paired I was able to view and download the photos off of the camera through a really nice interface.  It was very well designed and worked flawlessly.  Penn had taken about 40 photos and we got about 5 that were OK so I downloaded those and put them on my website.

Becky Thatcher's Diner

When our food came, Penn inhaled his burger in about 4 minutes.  He really must have been starving.  He also ate most of his fries.  My rueben was pretty greasy.  It was as if it had been shredded instead of sliced so it fell apart almost instantly.  I picked at it on my plate and ate my fries.  I was full but I sure wouldn't order it again.

Lunch

It was still too early to check into the hotel so we headed to the Mark Twain Caverns.  These are the caverns depicted in the book when Tom and Becky get lost and come across Injun Joe.  They are only 2 miles out of town so we rode over.  The tours start every hour so we bought tickets for the 1:00 tour.

More interesting photos from Penn

Arriving at the Mark Twain Cave - by Penn

At the cave

There were only 5 of us on our tour.  We started with a short video relating the history of the cave and the fact that it really is the cave from the book.  After that we began the tour of the cave.  When we entered, the temperature difference was shocking.  Outside it was 92, inside it was 52.    It felt great.

The actual cave entrance

Our guide gave us terrible pun after terrible pun intermingled with some facts and history.  The cave isn't really that large and is highly interconnected.  There are about 6 entrances now, but back in the day there were only 1 or 2.  But still, I don't see how someone could be lost for days.

Typical passage in the cave

Penn in the cave

Penn with our tour guide

A colorful section of the cave

Aladdin's Palace

More colorful sections of the cave

The tunnel leading out

Some of the interesting facts were that Jesse James once hid in the cave. Mark Twain signed his name in the cave.  In the 1840s a doctor tried to mummify his dead child in the cave.  There are over 250,000 names signed in the cave.

All through the tour, Penn would rush up to everything the guide pointed out, aim the camera and take a quick picture.  He still wasn't waiting for the camera to focus.  It will take a long time before he can develop the patience to take a good picture, but I also need to develop the patience to let him learn as his pace.  I'm working on it.

When we finished it was almost 2:30.  Walking out of the 52 degree cave into 95 degrees and 70% humidity was quite a shock.   I get so used to Colorado's low humidity that these changes always shock me.

Penn posed as Jesse James

I sure didn't want to stand around here so we headed back into town.  We rode down by the river front and walked around for a bit.  The river boat named Mark Twain was just pulling into dock.  That's the boat we'll tour on at 4:00.  We got some pictures then headed to the hotel.  Check-in and unloading the bike didn't take long.  Once we'd rested and hydrated for a bit, we got on the bike and rode the 4 blocks back to the river.

Penn with the riverboat Mark Twain coming in to dock

We walked down to the gift shop by the boat to get our tickets.  It was air conditioned and pretty soon it was packed with all the people waiting to get on the boat.  I think they decided to let us get on the boat just to alleviate the crowding of the gift shop.  The interiors of the boat were also air conditioned.

Getting ready to board the boat

Penn and I walked straight to the back of the boat and the snack bar.  Penn started oggling the hot dogs and other high salt foods, but I told him I'd only buy him a an ice cream sandwich, so that's what we got and it was very refreshing.

Out on the river boat.  The bright sun was causing Penn problems opening his eyes

Speaking of eyes, selfie by Penn

Penn taking pictures on the front of the boat

A group of boys out on one of the islands in the river

Penn after I finally got him to take off that hoodie

The boat ride wasn't super exciting.  We motored north for 10 minutes then turned around and motored south for a while, crossed to the far side of the river and turned back north and motored back.

Penn took allot of pictures and about every 10 minutes he'd go back to the snack bar and stare at the menu.  I kept telling him we'd get dinner right after the cruise by he'd still wander back and stare at the menu.  I think it didn't help that the boat was filled with the smell of fresh popcorn.

About half way through Penn said he was getting a headache.  We were sitting outside so made him go back inside.  He was still wearing his hoodie.  I kept telling him to take it off but he didn't want to.  Finally I said "Take it off,  now!"  As soon as he did his whole mood changed and he started his normal jabbering.  He was fine after that.

We rode back to the hotel then walked across the street to the Mark Twain Cafe for dinner.  Penn got grilled cheese and I got catfish tacos.  Then Penn got a funnel cake and I got a coconut cream pie for desert.

Once back at the hotel we put on swimming suits and went to the pool.   We both went straight to the hot tub.  The hot soak really helped relax my muscles and must have done the same for Penn.  I soaked for about 20 minutes then got out and started work on this blog.  Penn tried to get in the regular pool a few times but said it was too cold.  So we finally went back to the room without him swimming.

It was only 7:30 but neither of us felt like doing anything else.  So I wrote the blog and Penn watched some TV.

Daily Miles: 157

Total Miles: 827