Day 33 – Kansas City to St. Louis to Mammoth Cave

539 Miles

Leaving our hotel, we planned a route past Kauffman Stadium (home of the Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball team), and Arrowhead Stadium (home of the Kansas City Chiefs NFL team), because my son wanted to see them. Fortunately, the stadiums are right next to each other, and across from our hotel. Mission accomplished.

We took I-70 straight into St. Louis, parking as close as we could to the Gateway Arch, but only after we crossed the Mississippi River about four times to get the correct exit. (Illinois, Missouri, Illinois, Missouri — PARK!) I guess that after more than a week in wide open spaces, we needed a few minutes to get our city driving chops back.

Not far from the parking lot was a street with several choices for food and drink. We all had to go to the bathroom, so I was going to take one for the team and order a Coke while the others shamelessly sneaked into the facilities. It ended up, though, that the place had a really cool vibe and a nice bartender, so we hung out and had a few appetizers. Bellies full and bladders empty, we walked a few blocks back to the grounds of the Gateway Arch.

Man, things have changed since I was last there in 1987. The grounds around the arch are beautiful, flanked by hilly green space with small lakes. It was a very hot day, but pleasant enough in the park area to relax a few minutes before taking our photos of the Arch itself.  

The underground visitors center and museum were massively expanded in 2018, with airport-style security at the entry. I could not convince anyone in the family to go to the top of the arch, because the tiny tram capsules have only one small window and no air conditioning. Even though it’s just a four-minute ride up and a three-minute ride down, the claustrophobic folks around me declined. So we went through security anyway to go to the gift shop and museum. Again, we saved money using our America the Beautiful Pass from the National Parks Service. The entry fee was only $3 each (Julian, at age 12, would have been free), but it was a surprise because we didn’t realize that the Gateway Arch is also a national park!

After spending a few hours in St Louis, we crossed the Mississippi (AGAIN!), finishing our route across Southern Illinois and a slice of Indiana, into Kentucky. We stayed at a nice place in a small town called Horse Cave, just a quick drive from Mammoth.

I knew we were back in the south almost immediately. The Holiday Inn host greeted me with a great big smile at 10:30 at night. Some older ladies getting on the elevator as I got off of it were laughing and telling me about a man who had just gone up with a full luggage cart only a second before I appeared in the same place with an empty one. 

And as I went to put that cart away, I heard a small boy say, “Sir? Sir? Can I use this cart, please?”  I hadn’t heard a sir from a child since we were in Texas, nearly a month ago. It’s not that people in other places are rude — not at all, for the most part. It’s just that being in Kentucky gave me a small reason to be happy about heading back home.