Today we visited the Ridgeway Methodist Church with Shelly and the family.  Met a lot of Shelly's family while there and really enjoyed the service. The church was built with the help of my great great great great Grandfather Almond so there was some connection there with history.  It felt strange but yet peaceful knowing that my family had a part in spreading the Gospel even so long ago and in such a remote location.  The population of Ridgeway today is only around 550 so you can imagine how small it was back in the late 1800's.  AND it is very rural here.  It is one of those "blink and you'll miss it" kind of towns but yet it is very family oriented.  Everybody knows everybody else so it is one close knit community.
    
Here in the midwest they don't have lunch as we know it in the west. . . they have supper!  Supper is like a full blown dinner only at lunch time.  The meal we know as lunch is usually reserved for the dinner hour.  Today we had a roast with red potatoes, carrots, homemade rolls and a killer bread pudding with a special caramel sauce!  It's no wonder nothing gets done in the afternoon here.  Your too full to care!

 

Visited Jay's Mom this afternoon.  She knew some of the McHenry's from a couple of generations ago.  Told us some good stories and we really enjoyed our visit.  We are leaving in the morning for St. Louis and I really would like to stay longer.  It is a very peaceful place here.  The homes are scattered around the hills, sometimes miles apart. There are miles and miles of farmland, most of it planted with soybeans or corn and this is the time of the harvest.  It has been raining this afternoon, at times very heavy making the air clean and fresh.  It is a very different way of life here and I love it!  I really look forward to a return visit in near future . . . and hopefully to Deer Camp in November!

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Today we left Albany, Ridgeway, and Eagleville behind, said our goodbyes to the Cooks and headed for our next stop, St. Louis, MO.  We had a wonderful time while staying with the Cooks and really hated to leave.  One note here:  The price of gas is really low rememer, this is 2001).  We found it for 106.9 this morning and actually saw a place near St. Louis for 102.9.  WOW!!!

 

On our way to St. Louis we took route 36 on the advice of Jay and saw many, many Elk.  They populate the land along this highway due to the fact that they are raised there by elk farmers!  Even saw a sign that said Elk for Sale!  Dot had been napping when we entered this area and upon awakening, exclaimed “look at all the reindeer!”  Oh, so much to learn!

 

We took a small detour about halfway across Missouri, to a small mid-western town called Marceline, MO.  Those who are up on their Disney history would know this was the childhood home of Walt Disney where it is said that his love of animals developed and became a major influence in his life.  He used to play around the train station and it is said that his love of trains started here.

 

The town is very typical of many small towns in the Midwest.  A railway station at one end, a park at the other, and a main street with the usual display of buildings.  The strange thing is that there is really nothing that would imply that Walt spent his childhood here.  However, if you stop at the edge of town and look down main street you will see a very familiar site . . . A place that looks very much like Main St., USA in 
both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World!  The only sign of Disney we saw was a few of the characters on an old sign at the park.  Kind of disappointing but it has been some 90 years since Walt had been here.

(NOTE: our week at WDW at the beginning of this trip was actually the celebration of Walt's 100th birthday!) 

 

We got back onto the main highway and at the end of our travels across the state of Missouri, our route took us into the little town of Hannibal, MO.  This is the childhood home of Mark Twain, alias Samuel Longhorn Clemens.  The town has really gone all out to honor this prolific writer and we were able to tour his boyhood home, the home of Becky Thatcher, the drug store across the street that he lived above when his parents lost their home and a couple of museums filled with memorabilia of his life.  It was a fun-filled and very educational afternoon.  You could certainly see how Mark got his inspiration for his book about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn!

 

We finally arrived in St. Louis around 6:00pm, found our hotel, the Homestead Suites near the St. Louis airport, and had a wonderful Mexican dinner at Casa Gallardo and crashed.  Tomorrow we visit that famous St. Louis landmark, the Arch!

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Today we visited the famous St. Louis Arch.  Although I had visited back in June, it is still an awesome sight and I really wanted to share it with Dot. We got off to a late start today because we had to find a place that would cash the money order we received, and it took longer than I thought.  We also woke to a steady rainfall. Anyway, we got to the arch around noon.  It stood tall and reflected what light there was against the dark grey sky.  
 

You start the tour by going underground below the Arch.  There are several exhibits showing the history of St. Louis and a museum that we visited later. We saw a movie of how they built the arch and then walked down into the very bottom of one of it's legs to take the journey all the way to the top which takes about 5 minutes. There are eight tram cars that go up to the top of the Arch in both the north and south legs. Each tram seats five people.  Trams travel at an average speed of 4 mph and are very quiet and completely safe.  Once there we found that the rain had stopped and the 
sky had cleared somewhat and looking out the small rectangular windows at the awesome view, we discovered that we could see for miles (30 miles on a clear day) to the west the city of St. Louis and to the east, the Mississippi River and the state of Illinois. WOW!  Even Dot was impressed.  I even got her to lay on the wall and look out the window straight down to the ground.  That only lasted about 3 seconds but it was more fun seeing her reaction.  

 

After about 30 minutes in the belly of the arch, we descended down the opposite leg and then saw an IMAX movie on the discovery of the American West.  We followed that with a stroll through the great museum which chronicles, in great detail the westward expansion of the United States from the Louisiana Purchase to the early 1900's when the U.S. Government declared that there was "no more America to be discovered".  

 

We then went in search of the famous "frozen custard" that everyone around here says you must try.  They seem very popular but the establishments that makes them are few and so we drove for what seemed like forever.  We finally found it on the opposite side of town and given the type of weather found the place to be very busy.  The name is Ted Drewes, and both Dot and I had a "concrete" which is the frozen custard mixed with the various toppings you choose.  Very, very tasty!

 

We then went and visited St. Louis' Union Station, a converted train station from the 1800’s, which now serves as a shopping mall.  Inside is all the usual 
    fare you would find in a mall, food, snacks, and lots of stores, outside, the Hard Rock Cafe, Landry's, and a movie theater.  You have to pay for parking but the place has been kept to its original design as much as possible and it's cavernous innards exemplifies the style of architecture of that day.  So far, I have seen two other "Union Station" conversions and this one, I think, empresses me most.  Also, scattered all around the mall is the complete story of the history of the station.  Very fascinating!

 

We ended our day by eating dinner at Hooter's (Dot’s choice . . . she wanted the chicken wings . . . Really!) and seeing a Johnny Depp movie.

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Today we traveled to Nashville, TN, the home of country music and the Grand Ole Opry.  We will be here 4 days, staying with a cousin I have never met, Kathy Boyd, daughter of Harold McHenry, my father's brother, whose cemetery stone we discovered last week.

 

Our excitement began almost as soon as we hit the highway.  We left St. Louis around 10:00am and stopped for a bite to eat at a Cracker Barrel in East St. Louis, which is actually in Illinois.  Shortly after that we hit a blinding rain storm and it lasted nearly a half hour.  Then as we listened to the radio out of St. Louis, we heard the emergency broadcast system announce that people should start heading for their basements because a tornado had been sited.  We were barely 50 miles out of St. Louis and the storm was chasing us through Illinois!  The black cloud in my rear view mirror was very
ominous!

 

We finally got out of the rain storm we were in and as we headed south through the Illinois & Kentucky countryside the wind just kept gusting and gusting,         sometimes nearly knocking us off the road.  The wind finally subsided as we neared the Tennessee border.  We again took a small detour, this time at Dot’s request, and entered another small Midwestern town called Metropolis, IL.  One guess who is represented here . . . yep, that’s right, . . . Superman!  
        

From a 10 foot fiberglass figure of him in front of City Hall to the representative phone booth and the Superman museum, the boy wonder was everywhere.  What
people will do to make money!  We finally left a few hours later and traveled into Tennessee and our next stop, the Boyds home.
        
We arrived around 4:30pm, unscathed but slightly beaten by all the wind of the day. We spent some time visiting and getting caught up with the family and then went out to eat a few hours later and when we left the restaurant it had begun to rain.  As Kathy took us through town to see a few sights, the sky literally opened up and the torrential rains began.  It was harder than I had ever seen and Kathy agreed that it was as hard a rain as she had ever seen in these parts.  By the time we got home, the roads were flooded, and the sky was lighting up almost constantly from all the continuous lightening.  The thunder was nearly deafning!  Never had I ever witnessed anything like that!  Nor do I want to again.  The weather report said that there were no tornados but come morning there were several trees down around the area and some signs busted up and on the ground.  A really good start to our time in Nashville . . . NOT!

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We awoke to a wonderfully bright but blustery sunny day.  We had gotten up late, did some laundry, fixed the Boyd's computer and just generally lounged around. Kathy had left around 7am to take her mother-in-law to a doctor’s appt.  When she returned around 11:00am she took us on a drive through Nashville for the Grand Tour!
        
We drove into Nashville proper and saw Music Row, the Ryman Theatre, Bicentennial Park, Kathy's Office, and several other notable Nashville sights.  We stopped at Bicentennial Park and visited a replica of the Parthenon.  They were renovating the building as it was orginally built in 1896 for their Centennial Celebration.  The first floor houses an art museum and the history of the building.  The second floor houses about 40 statues and plaster poured parts of both the west & east parts of the cornice.  It was quite impressive!

 

We also drove by the Opryland Theatre and Hotel, a very large and sprawling facility.   Dot and I plan on visiting this landmark tomorrow, as Kathy and Dean both have to go to work. We also saw the home of the Nashville Titans, the NFL team.

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Another bright sunny day . . . just blustery and cold!  We have decided to take in 
a few sights around Nashville today.  We started by visiting the Ryman Theatre, home of the original Grand Ole Opry.  The show has since moved to Opryland but the grand old theatre still stands and has performances nearly daily.  It is a wonderful, small, theatre and Dot and I were able to have our picture taken on stage with me holding a guitar!

 

Our next stop is the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.  This brand new facility just opened in May 2001.  It is one of the best museums I have ever visited, and had everything pertaining to Country Music anyone could ask for.  It was very interactive and had great footage of old shows and performances of the Grand Ole Opry stars and more.  After the nearly 3 hour visit there we made a brief stop at the Nashville Hard Rock, got 2 bears and a city tee, and headed down the road to our next destination, which was Opryland itself.

 

This is a huge complex with a 2800+ room hotel and a nearly 1/2 mile long indoor mall that has all the stores we have in the 4 shopping malls we have in Sacramento . . . and more!  The Hotel is comprised of 4 separate complexes all interconnected by huge massive garden settings complete with rivers, streams, waterfalls, dancing waters, light show, and even a boat that tours the complex!  It is styled after the grand old plantations of the south and everything is authentic right down to the doorknobs!

 

We spent several hours here, walking the entire mall, finally stopping for dinner at the Food Court here.  While there we noticed they were selling tickets to a live recording of the Grand Ole Opry radio show tonight and were able to secure tickets in the upper level.  This is a show that showcases all different country music talent from young & old, all members of the Grand Ole Opry but all really active.  Tonight we saw Pam Tillis, Marty Stewart, The Jordannaires, Ricky Skaggs, & Charley Pride to name but a few of the 25 different acts in a 2 and 1/2 hour show.  It was a really good way to end our day.

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Another bright sunny day but even colder than the previous day. It was light day travel-wise as we only visited Dot's cousin Nancy who lives just south of Nashville, near Brentwood.  We had a wonderful visit with her and look forward to seeing the rest of her family tomorrow in Lexington, AL.

 

We took the Boyd's (minus Dean) out to dinner at Bill's Catfish Restaurant and had some real down-home cooking as a thanks for allowing us to stay with them these last 4 days.  Spent the rest of the evening watching The Mummy with Brandan Frasier.