The Gateway to the West!

View of the Arch from Busch Stadium

After leaving the Twin Cities, we headed towards St. Louis, Missouri.

I drove almost 600 miles to get there. It was  time consuming but it was relatively easy going through the cornfields of Iowa.

After driving 240 miles we stopped in Waterloo to get some sleep at Super 8.

Friday morning we got up and had some breakfast and continued onward to the Show Me State.

Along the way, we stopped off at the ballpark in Cedar Rapids to take a break and see the park fast.

We got back on the road and we passed through Hannibal, Missouri which was the home of Mark Twain.

After running into a few slight traffic delays near the St. Louis airport we parked the car by a meter in downtown St. Louis just before 6 o'clock.

We fed the meter 80 cents and we walked towards the ballpark.

I wound up going to TGIF Friday's to meet my friend Don Steiger & his son Donnie who are from the area.

They also arranged to buy the tickets for the game for us back in March on a presale.

As for dinner, I had myself a nice rack of baby back ribs with broccoli and cole slaw. I washed it down with a Budweiser.

Being in Anheuser Busch country, it was only appropriate to do so.

When I was done I didn't even have to pay. Much to my surprise, Don & Donnie treated me to dinner. I was thankful and grateful for this unexpected gesture.

That was very nice of them. Good people are hard to find but Royalty finds a way.

Last year I arranged to get them tickets to see their Cardinals play at Citi Field.

Next year I plan to accomodate them at Yankee Stadium.

As for the game we saw, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers 8-4!

Stay tuned for the next installment.