2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 7 - Vicksburg Battlefield

Vicksburg National Military Park

I didn't get up super early.  Without headlights there was no point in leaving before sunrise.  There were only me and one other car in the parking lot all night.

Pretty empty motel

I was getting everything all packed up and loaded on the bike. I took my hydration bag I walked over to load it with ice from the ice machine, when a work truck pulled up.  The truck hadn't been in the parking lot so it wasn't hotel guests.  One of the guys beat me to the ice machine and proceeded to load his personal ice chest to the very top. Then I loaded my hydration bags. The other two guys loaded their ice chest to the top after me. I guess they're using the hotel for free ice. 

It was just after 6:00 a.m. when I pulled out.  I didn't even bother checking the hotel breakfast. I rode over to the nearest Sonic and enjoyed an ultimate meat and cheese breakfast burrito with the gentle Rumble of the highway behind me.   I was out on the road by 6:45

Within a few miles I was out of town  and riding on an empty two lane highway through the trees.  The road was well maintained with a couple houses every per mile.  The speed limit was only 50 miles an hour but the temperature had dropped into the mid-70s and it felt pretty good.

After a while the GPS directed me to turn left and merge onto the Natchez Trace Parkway.  That's actually one of the main reasons I'm doing this ride.  I'm going to meet 2 couples in Bator Rouge and we will spend 3 days riding the Natchez Trace Parkway.  I'll talk about that more in 2 days when we start the ride.

Natchez Trace Parkway

For now, I'll just give you my impressions.  I was very surprised to find that the Natchez Trace it was a purpose-built road. I thought it was like Route 66 and it was just whatever pre-built road just happened to be going in the direction that the highway needed it to go. But the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Natchez Trace, was custom built and is almost very freeway-like. It has merge lanes and exit lanes, roads either pass over or under the Trace without breaking the traffic flow. Once I got on the Parkway. I set my cruise control to 55 and didn't have to touch the throttle unless I wanted to pass a car. The Parkway was so empty that I was able to pass almost immediately any car that I came up on. 

And the road was very well groomed. The grass along the sides was mown down, the trees were trimmed back nicely. It just felt elegant. I felt bad because I was getting to experience this without my companions. But not so bad that I was going to leave the Parkway. 

I rode for about 50 miles before a road closure forced me to leave the Parkway. The GPS had me follow the detour for a little bit but then it routed me over to a freeway and I headed south for the city of Jackson. I was getting close to Vicksburg when I started trying to find a place to gas up and to buy something for lunch. Just two miles before I was going to exit, there is a gas station with a Subway in it. I got a nice Italian sub, a large bottle of Gatorade, two bottles of water, and a cup of Diet Dr. Pepper. Then I got back on the bike and headed into Vicksburg National Military Park.

The park was right off the freeway. There was nowhere to park and get a picture of the welcome sign so I just headed in. There was a booth at the entrance and I showed the lady my National Park Pass.  I asked her if there were any good places to picnic and she said there was one spot with picnic tables but there was no shade. She did tell me there was a bench wrapping around a tree just behind us and it was well shaded. I rode over there and parked the bike in some shade. 

I got my sandwich and all my other goodies out and moved over to the bench. It was not a bad and without the sun beating down on me it was almost pleasant.  I sat for about 20 minutes listening to music, eating my sandwich, and studying the map the ranger had given me.  I was going to follow the audio guide directions, but I also wanted to understand the basic route.

Enjoying my lunch in the shade of a tree

I was really shocked by how big the park was.  It went from the north end of Vicksburg east and then south almost entirely encompassing the city, just like the actual siege that Grant had set up.  I had no idea there would be so much.  I figured they had 2 or 3 "examples" of the fortifications, but this was almost all of them.  I was really excited to do this ride.

I finally finished, then took all my trash to go find a garbage can at the visitor center.  But when I got there, I found a sign saying that this park had no trash cans and I needed to take my own trash away and dispose of it myself.  No big deal.  I carried it back to the bike and tucked it in the trunk.

Then I grabbed my 360 camera and walked about 80 yards over to get a picture by the entry sign.  By the time I got it and walked back I was really sweating.  The direct sun just kills me.  I sat on the bike for a bit drinking from my hydration bag.  I also took a picture of me drinking from my hydration bag since I talk about it so much.  The bag sits in a pocket behind my backrest and the insulated tube sticks out on my right side.  I can reach down and grab it, then I usually pinch the mouth peace to let the hot water in the tube drain out and be replaced with cold water.  Then I put it in my mouth, bite down and suck the ice cold water into my mouth.

Monument near the front entrance

Hydrating before starting my ride  (It's not a hooka)

Once I was cooled down again, I headed into the park.  Like yesterday's trip to Shiloh, I'm not going to talk too much about the ride, not label the pictures.  There's just too much and I can't remember which picture goes with which monument or story element.

The entry arch

Once I was in the park, I only used 1st and 2nd gear.  I was barely going about a fast walking pace for most of the ride.  If there was a breeze in the air, the temperature would cool right down to the low 90s, but if the air was still, the asphalt would heat it up into the hundreds.  I often stood up on the bike to catch air and help cool me off.  Some of the roads were tree lined and had allot of shade, but most of the time is was wide open and the sun beat down on me.

Shade covered road

Wide open scorching hot road

Trying to feel a cool breeze

360 camera in front of the bike doesn't give a good photo

The tour told the story of Grant marching his army down the far side of the Mississippi River, then crossing the river south of Vicksburg.  Once he was on the west back of the river he didn't directly attack Vicksburg, but kept moving east towards the city of Jackson. They scared a Confederate army out of the city and then proceeded to destroy anything of any military value in the whole city of Jackson. 

Once he didn't have to worry about an army attacking him from behind, he then turned toward Vicksburg. The Army in Vicksburg did come out and clash with Grant's army but they weren't nearly big enough to hold him back. Grant chased them all the way back into Vicksburg then set up a siege around the entire city. 

One of the things that made Vicksburg so valuable was that it sat atop a high bluff overlooking the river.  No one could go up or down the river without the cannons of Vicksburg blasting them out of the water.

Hill Fort.  The cannons here could sink any boat trying to sneak past

Vicksburg had been well entrenched and Grant could not force his way through those defenses. Grant set up matching entrenchments and held the army in place, couldn't get any resupplies. Not only did Grant set up entrenchments holding the Army in Vicksburg, he then turned around and set up entrenchments in case someone did try to attack him from behind. This lasted until July fourth when the Army in Vicksburg surrendered.   Vicksburg was won at the same time that Gettysburg was won.  Most historians agree that Vicksburg was the more important battle but it's not as well known. 

It was a very long ride following the audio tour through all the roads in the park. The confederate lines and the union lines mostly matched each other, but neither was string.  I kept seeing signs telling me I was entering union lines or confederate.  Historians say that the 2 armies were often so close that the soldiers could actually talk between the lines and the liked to needle each other.

I was about half way through the ride when I got my biggest surprise.  There was a union "Iron Clad" ship on display.  I had no idea that they had that here.  The Iron Clads are just what the name suggests.  They were boats completely covered in iron.  Prior to the civil war, all ships were wood.  But day 2 iron clad ships started firing cannons at each other, every other ship in the world became obsolete.  It wasn't long before every country around the world was also building iron ships.

I eagerly parked my bike, grabbed my camera and walked up to the ship to take pictures.  And even better, they actually let you go about the ship and walk around part of it.  I geeked out something fierce.  There was a paddle wheel at the back, so this was one of the shallow water iron clads.  Which makes since since we're on the backs of a river.

Iron clad Cairo

I eventually had my feel of staring and went into the museum.  It was blessedly air conditioned.  I took a good long time looking through the items that were brought up with the ship when it was re-floated.  It had hit a mine and went down so fast that everything was left aboard.  I finally cooled off enough that I could face the heat again.  Unfortunately there was no shade to park the bike in, so it was scorching hot when I climbed back on.  But instead of going right back to the audio tour, I went up the road until I found some shake, then parked and got off the bike to let it and me cool down.

The monument by the tree behind me is where Grant and Pemberton met to end the siege

Letting the bike cool and eating pretzels to get some salt back in my system

I also got out my evaporative vest and poured a bottle of water on it.  Unfortunately, the was was barely cool by this time so the vest didn't really help much.  I follow the audio guide for another 45 minutes But I was about done with the heat. I followed the signs to the exit and rode back over by the visitors center.  There was only a small patch of shade left and I parked the bike in it, then walked over and into the building.  Luckily they have a theatre and the movie was just about to start.

I sat through the movie but it didn't say anything that I haven't seen, heard, or read before.  But it was air conditioned so I sat there anyway.

When I went back out, I went over to sit in the shade where I'd eaten my lunch and started researching hotels.  I was tempted to stay in a B&B downtown in a home built in the 1800s, but I couldn't see where I'd park the bike and I didn't want to park it on the street in a sketchy part of town, so I booked a room in a LaQuinta instead.

Back in the shade by the entrance

My hotel was only 1 mile away so I rode over and checked in.  More blessed air conditioning.  I unloaded and rested for 20 minutes, then started processing my 360 pictures.  I've been experimenting with the 360 camera.  Normally I have it mounted so that the camera sits just off my right shoulder.  I can extend it out 2 or 3 feet, or have back pretty close to me.  The pictures I get are generally pretty good.  But I wondered if I couldn't take pictures from behind the bike, or in front, or right down by a wheel close to the ground.  So at the start of the ride I took a bunch of pictures holding the selfie stick in my hands and moving the camera around.  I found a couple of interesting perspectives, but where I have the camera seems about as good as I can get, except maybe to have it on the left side rather than the right side.

Once I had the pictures processed, I uploaded them to my website.  It was almost 6:00 and I wanted some dinner.  The couples I'm meeting aren't adventurous eaters.  So if I wanted something a bit more exotic, now was the time.  I searched for a decent Sushi restaurant and found one 3 miles away.

When I got there, I asked my waitress "What's good?  What are they known for?"  She said "I don't like sushi, so I don't know."  I almost got up and left, but I didn't.  I ordered fried pot stickers, some salmon rolls, and salmon sashimi.  It was all very good.  I paid about $34 with tip.  Not cheap, but not over the top.

When I got back to the hotel, I parked by a work truck with 3 construction workers.  They all started asking questions about the bike, but I didn't know that for a few seconds.  They were from Louisiana and I couldn't understand their accent for the life of me.  Once I said "Sorry, I'm not sure what you're asking" in my southwest accent, one of the guys spoke more slowly and said "How much did the bike cost".  We talked for a while about the bike, what it's like to ride, and where I'd been and was going.  I never did understand the other 2.   They were laughing about my accent too and often couldn't understand me either.

I think I've decided to go ride through the park again in the morning.  It will be cooler and I can take more time reading signs and trying to imagine how the fortifications were laid out.

I need to be in Baton Rouge by late afternoon, and that's less than 3 hours away so it should be easy.

Daily Miles: 207

Total Miles: 1900

Total drive time: 37h56m

2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 6 - Shiloh Battlefield

Shiloh National Military Park

I woke up at 5:00 with the intention of getting on the road as quick as I could. I have packed most of my stuff last night.  As I carried my first load outside, there was no refreshing coolness . It was still in the mid 80s and very humid. I hope this doesn't mean that the whole day will be uncomfortable.

I didn't use my hydration pack yesterday, because my son Kyle doesn't use ice so I couldn't load it up. This morning I made sure to load up the pack on the bike . That would help keep me hydrated.

I got everything loaded up and then started the bike. It was still dark out, and the headlights didn't seem to be lighting up the road as I turned around. I flipped on and off the high beams and it made no change. I walked around to the front and sure enough , no headlights.

I decided it would be okay to ride to a nearby gas station and gas up. By that time the sky was lightning barely so I went and hopped on the freeway. I stayed close behind a semi truck but I need to have bothered. The sky was planning to light to see the road by now. I only want a few miles down the freeway and at 6:00 I pulled off to the first McDonald's I saw.

After I ate my breakfast sandwich, I went out to the bike to start trying to get diagnose the headlights. All of the fuses look good and the relays seemed have power to them. I don't really think it's possible for all four headlight bulbs to burn out at once. After I fiddle for about 15 minutes I decided to let it go. I'll work on it when I have a little more time but in the meantime headlights aren't essential and I need to get moving before it gets too hot. 

Out on the highway the temperature came down a couple of degrees and made the writing more bearable, but the humidity was still cloying. I've seen a lot of police out on the roads lately so I kept my speed right at the speed limit.  About mid-morning I saw some hopped up car just scream past me. He was zipping past a large line of cars when suddenly the black Mustang four or five cars ahead of me flipped on lights and pulled out behind him. Who expects an undercover mustang? 

I stopped once after about an hour to gas up and chug a Gatorade. When I was about 5 MI from the Shiloh Battlefield I stopped again. I just planned to get gas and a drink, but the lady was just walking out of the kitchen with a fresh basket of deep fried chicken. It smelled so good I asked her for a couple pieces. She listed off what she had and I took two thighs. It was heavenly. 

I had also bought a cold bottle of water and drenched my evaporative vest. I headed off to the Shiloh Battlefield contently full of food and drink. 

When I arrived I took my 360 camera and walked over to get a picture in front of the National Battlefield sign.  I also took pictures by a few of the large placards lining the road.

One of the signs by the entrance

I wanted to start my tour by driving around the grounds and listening to an audio tour.  Last night I found an audio tour that I could buy, but I didn't buy it. Now, when I went back to buy it I realized that I had almost no cell service.  So I sat there for about 15 minutes buying it and letting it download. Even thought I was in the sun, I was scared to move in case it somehow lost cell service. That will teach me to be lazy and cheap. 

Sitting in the hot sun while my audio tour downloads

The audio tour directed me to ride to the visitor center before starting it. It's one of those tours that gets automatically triggered as you drive past certain points. 

I know the story of Shiloh fairly well. I've listened to the civil war books by Shelby Foote several times. In fact I just finished listening to them about 2 weeks ago. But it was fascinating hearing the audio tour recount sections and being able to see the area where eveents took place 

It was about 102° , so I took every opportunity to park the bike in shade while I listened to the tour.  It was too hot to park the bike get off and back on over and over and over again so I just sat on the bike through the whole tour. 

I AM NOT GOING TO CAPTION MOST OF THE PHOTOS

YES!  I AM RIDING WITH NO HELMET ON!  DEAL WITH IT!

I often stood up to try to get air to cool me and the vest off

Shiloh Chapel (replica) where the battle gets it's name

Memorial to Confederate General Sidney Johnston - Highest rank to die during the war

Riding down to the Tennessee river

Pittsburg Landing where fresh Federal troops landed to help win day 2

I spent about 2 hours touring the park. I took over 8 pictures, but they get redundant pretty quick.  When I was done I rode back over to the visitor center and parked the bike in the shade. The Visitor Center was wonderfully air conditioned.  There was a documentary movie about Shiloh was just starting so I thankfully sat on a bench and enjoyed both the movie and the cool air. 

After the movie I wandered around the museum for a bit.  One map showed Shiloh and about 30 miles was another Visitor Center in the town of Corinth.  The Confederate army that attacked Shiloh had come from Corinth. I decided to go visit that visitor Center as well since I was already here. 

I went down my vest and hopped on the bike and made the ride over. There wasn't nearly as much stuff here but there was a different movie that was a little more in depth about to start an end of the battle . It was interesting to watch. 

A cannon in Corinth.  My pants are wet from the evaporative vest - REALLY!!

Fortifications in Corinth

By now it was 3:00 and the bike said it was 106°. I didn't want to get a hotel yet because I still have 5 hours to my next stop in Vicksburg.  I found another town about 30 miles farther south with a little fast food restaurant in it.  I rode down and ordered a plate of wings and a drink.  It was very empty so I could write the blog using voice to text on my phone without bugging people. I figure I'll sit here and join the cool the wings a drink, and getting stuff done while it's hot outside. The only problem is that the waitress keeps hearing me talking and keeps coming over to ask if I need anything.  I've told her 3 times I'm editing, but she keeps coming over.

Hopefully it will cool down by 5:00 and I can ride another 100 miles or more before I stop for the night. 

SPOILERS!  It didn't cool down.  I just reached real time and had to stop.  And the waitress did keep asking if I needed anything.  I kept having to edit out "You need something else hon?  Maybe a refill?" from the blog.

I figured I had another hour in me so I looked about 50 miles down the road for a hotel.  At 80 miles I found a motel for only $60.  My buddy Mike would never consider something this sketchy.  But the reviews said it had been recently refurbished so I took the chance.

I threw everything on the bike and rode across the street to a gas station to fill up and buy another cold bottle of water for my vest.  Even though it was still over 100, it didn't feel so bad.  The sun was getting lower in the sky, and like last night, the trees beside the road were often casting shadows that helped allot.  I went south for about 55 miles then turned west directly into the sun.  I also left the 4 lane highway and was now on winding 2 lane roads that were often fully enclosed by the tress on each side.  If I was so tired I could have really enjoyed the ride.  But at this point it was more an ordeal and I just wanted to be done.

I reached the town of Houston Mississippi and my motel.  There were allot of cars in the parking lot, but they all turned out to be for the Chinese buffet that shared the building.  I checked in and went to unload.  In true motel fashion, I parked right by my door.  The room was hot and the AC was turned off so I got that rolling first.  Then I peeled off all my gear and sat in front of the blessedly cold air for 5 minutes.

I'd eaten already so there was no need to find dinner.  I did go get some water bottles, but mostly I've just sat here editing pictures and finishing the blog.  I have 3 hours riding to get to Vicksburg tomorrow.  I hope it's cooler tomorrow morning that it was today.

Daily Miles: 349

Total Miles: 1693

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