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| For my 1998 Spring Break, Neil, Karrie, Matt L. and I
drove down
to Missouri and Arkansas for a one week 'adventure.'. |
The Beginning
| The first day ended up being the most 'adventuresome' day of the trip.
We started out at about 1:00 in the morning on Sunday morning. We drove all
the way to St. Louis and stopped at the Arch. It didn't open till 9:00, and we got
there at about 7:30, so we went to find a fast-food place to eat something. When going
back to the car, we noticed the car top carrier was partially open - we had never put the
side latches on, only the front and back. We decided it would be okay till we could
stop somewhere and get some little locks or something. We also would need a
laundromat - Matt's sleeping bag was in the front of the carrier and it had been raining
most of the way, so it was soaked. Anyways, we found a Jack-In-The-Box and got about
the worst service ever for a fast food restaurant. After waiting about 20 minutes we
finally got our food. Once back at the arch, we decided to take the tram ride up to
the top, although it was a pretty cloudy day. |
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| This 'pod' is what you ride to the top. Karrie is
claustrophobic, so she didn't really like the ride. Five people in a little tiny
pod-thing. |
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| A view looking down towards the base from one of the windows at the
top of the Arch. Bit cloudy. |
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| After the Arch we headed out of St. Louis. When we got out of
the main city area, we decided to stop and look for locks for the car top carrier. We
stopped at a gas station and asked for directions to a hardware type store. When I
got back, I looked in the car top carrier and noticed we were missing Matt's sleeping bag.
So we got back on the interstate figuring maybe we'd see it somewhere along our
route. Right after we got on the interstate, sure enough, there it was right at the
beginning of the off ramp we had exited on. So the picture below is when Matt
was getting his sleeping bag from the side of the road. It was ripped in one place,
but that was about it. |
| After stopping at a laundromat and getting some locks, we drove
most of the rest of the day to an area in southwestern Missouri. We finally found a
campground sign and headed down the road to it - a dirt road. After driving about
two miles we got to a river (picture below), that had about 6 inches of water
running over the 'bridge'. Since we didn't know how much further we'd have to go,
and if the water level would raise, we decided to look for another campsite. |
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| Matt and Neil after removing the flat tire. It was just a bit
cold as well - making changing the tire even harder. We ended up finding a motel in
that same town and staying there for the night. |
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The Middle
| The next night we camped out. It was cold. But somehow
we managed to stay warm enough we didn't quite get frostbite. The next morning the
other rear tire was half-flat - but luckily we had picked up some 'Emergency Flat Fix' air
canisters and got it somewhat pressurized at least. |
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| Towards the end of the trip we went to Emminence, Missouri and some
of the water springs near it. This is a picture of me right before breaking all
these icicles. |
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| Me, Neil, Karrie, and Matt at a cool soda fountain shop in
Emminence. |
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| Neil, Matt, and Karrie next to a waterfall. |
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| The second to last night - we cooked out then went to a hotel to
sleep. |
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The End
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| The last day ended up being the nicest day in terms of
weather/temperature. Here is Matt, Neil, and Karrie spelunking. |
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| Matt, Karrie, and Neil just before eating the cheesecake right in
front of them. |
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| Neil, Karrie, and Mike cleaning up after our last meal. We
drove home after this. |
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