GOING JOYCE PARKER

6/20

Hey there Campers,

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. Ok y’all the heat and humidity is upon us. Ya know when you are traveling with kids you sort of lose your mind. I forgot about all the screaming, “stop, don’t touch me”, “Grammy, E is touching me,” Grammy, tell K she can’t boss me”. Grammy, Grammy, Grammy. A couple of times I had to go Joyce Parker (my mom) on them and ask them “do you want ME to come back there?? I hear a quite No! Sometimes I felt like a boxing official with a bull horn. “Girls get to your side of the couch.” E decided she would pick her nose which gave her a nose bleed. K was hollering like E was going to die. Immediately I was told, “twist some tissue up her nose. That is what our dad does to stop it.” Oh, the home remedies. I clean the nose and twisted the tissue up her nose. It worked of course. Don’t act like you have never done this before!! I washed out her shirt and put it to dry on the front dashboard. Don’t act you have never done this either.

We stopped at the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Try finding a place to park your rig. We had to drive down narrow streets. We got lucky and found a spot right below the Arch. In the bus lane. Lo stayed with the Hilton 4 while I took off with the girls for an adventure. There is a great museum under the Arch. Unfortunately it is being remodeled and will open July 3. I did see some of the areas. It looks awesome. Here is a tip the girls and I learned. If you have been to the Arch before, remember how you had to go on the left end of the Arch to get it. Well, that end is closed. You have to go around to the front where the state capital is. Yep. That is like walking two city blocks in the heat of the day. This is after climbing 60 steps from the backside. It is well worth the walk. The girls found a pond to cool off by. There is soooo much history under that arch. They even have a simulator that shows what you see from the top windows. Seniors, did you know your National Parks card can get you a free ride inside the Arch? Something to do if you are ever in St. Louis. 

Several years ago I got K into collecting penny souvenirs. This year E started her collection. They get excited when they see those penny machines. The girls were fascinated by the horse driven carriage. When we came out Lorenzo gave E a history lesson about the Paddle Steamboats going up Mississippi River.

 

We drove on to Paducah, KY and stopped at Walmart. Lo always checks the rig when we stop. He had been watching the tow bar (this is what connects our car to the Hilton.) As you can see it is well bent. We had this problem before. (If you remember our Alaskan trip we had the same issue.) Lo tried to fix but that only bent it back the other way. He decided to get it welded. We found a place that can do it and we will come back in the morning. We decided to go to dinner. Who ever made Yelp is my friend. We found El Torritos and had good Mexican food. Ok. This one is not the Cally one but close.

Well Campers until next time.

Lo & Bren