A fire-breathing dragon…

…was the next stop, in Vandalia, Illinois. Built by the Kaskasia Supply Company, the dragon was originally built as a parade float (the neck has a joint so it could fit under bridges). Now, there is a permanent home just off the interstate. There’s a beverage store across the street that sells tokens for one dollar, that can make the dragon breathe flames for a few seconds. The fee pays for the propane tank, which reportedly needs to be changed monthly. Again, lots of people like to see these weird things.

We planned to spend the night in Highland, Illinois, at the Cardinal Inn (aka Choice Motel). We found the place a few years back, and while it has clean rooms at a good price, it also was decorated in the 1970’s, and shows it.  However, much to our surprise, there is no vacancy at the hotel that night. What?? This is well off the highway, and there are only farms in the area. It turns out that the local prom is that night, so all of the rooms were reserved.

We head back down the road to some other motels we passed, and got a room in the town of Pocahontas, Illinois. There are two motels at the intersection, and one has a restaurant, so we pick that one. Nice room and the restaurant serves huge portions of good food.

The next morning, we head to St. Louis, and find a parking area across the Mississippi River from the Arch. The suggestion for an arch won a contest in 1947, to symbolize the city’s history as the ‘Gateway to the West’. Construction didn’t start until 1963, and lasted about two years. The arch stands 630 feet above ground (there is a large visitor center at the foundation underground). The legs are about 54-feet wide at the base, and the top of the arch is about 17-feet wide. There is a train, of sorts, and passengers ride in cannisters that rotate as they climb the arched legs to the viewing area at the top. Small windows provide a magnificent view of the landscape.

Our next exit is in the city of Rolla, at the local campus of the University of Missouri.  The campus has a replica of Stonehenge, but I did not realize how close it was to the highway, so we had to find somewhere to turn around. We pull into a campus parking lot, only to find out that it does not have an exit in the direction we need. The campus police car pulls into the parking lot, and I figure it’s best to get his suggestion, and approval, for a place to park near the statue. He has us follow him to another lot, and asks about where we are from and headed (being that the bikes are packed with gear). He’s from the Ozarks, and is glad that we are visiting a town that is not very touristy, so we can experience the area. He drives off, and we walk over to investigate the granite structure.

This is a half-scale replica of Stonehenge, made through modern processes from granite blocks. The stones are aligned to match the astral features of the real Stonehenge, and each stone has a plaque that describes the particular purpose it plays (which stars line up to it and under which significant date). It is really fascinating to learn the function and purpose Stonehenge provided to the culture of the time. For early man to align and construct the real version is an amazing accomplishment, and it showed that our planet was somehow connected in a regular and predictable fashion to the dots of light so far away in the sky.

 

We’re done with the interstates, and now on smaller highways for the rest of the day. The roads are in great condition, and they wind around the hills.  The US highway changes to state highway, and the curves are sharper and the lanes a bit more narrow. It’s a fun ride.  As I have a GPS mounted on the bike, it shows me a glimpse of the road ahead, so I am able to judge the speeds necessary to navigate the turns hidden just over the hills.  The final stretch of road to the campground is the most challenging, as it is gravel, and follows a small river. There are sections of the road that appear to get submerged on a pretty regular basis, so we proceed cautiously.

We arrive at the campground, and find many of our friends at the pool.  We set up our tents in the primitive area, well away from the pool, RVs, and cabins. We’re not too far from the showers and facilities. We have plenty of big trees for shade, with a picnic table nearby.

Next: Group ride in the Ozarks