Living the Dream with Joyce: St. Louis, Missouri

Thursday, November 7, 2013: On the recommendation of Susan, I drove to the Sundermeier RV Park in St. Charles, which is where she and Joan live. [We all met in Galveston last year] It's a very urban park - concrete pads and not much more - but perfect for my needs. Vernon, Susan and Joan picked me up about 1:00 p.m. and took me out for breakfast/lunch/brunch followed by a bit of a tour of some of the historic streets of St. Charles - some really awesome old, old buildings - chockfull of history! Vernon is a walking encyclopedia - what he doesn't know about the history of St. Charles probably isn't worth knowing! We ended our historic walk at the ice cream parlour - always a civilized end to every adventure. Then we took a walk through a really lovely wooded area right beside the Missouri River, with lots of informational signs throughout. Beautiful, calm, peaceful surroundings! Then back to my motorhome to rest up for the next day.
This morning, Vern picked me up and took me to breakfast with his son-in-law at a great family restaurant - awesome food - then dropped me off at Susan and Joan's house. We drove around the city a bit, taking in more historic sights - this is a very cool city! I took picture of the Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals, for Bobby and Kara - then off to lunch at Pappy's, the best barbeque smoked meat restaurant in the city. It was cool - picnic tables, benches, high stools and regular tables - they cater to the university crowd, although there were lots of other ages there. The food lived up to its reputation - deeeelicious! After that, Joan went home and Susan and I went to her rehearsal for the upcoming concert in which she's performing, along with seven other current and past members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Did I mention that Susan was, for forty years, the principle trumpet of that orchestra - and the only woman to have held that position? What a rare privilege it was for me to watch - and listen to - eight consummate musicians rehearse together! I closed my eyes for part of the time and just let the blending sounds wash over me - the bass makes the blood pound in your veins, the clarinet states a narrative, the violin wrings your emotions, but the trumpet - the trumpet touches your soul. Glorious experience!
After rehearsal, Susan drove me around to more of St. Louis' fascinating spots - in particular, the area where the World Fair was held in 1904. Part of the grounds is now a huge park, but there a number of residences which were built to house various dignitaries and workers - and those buildings stand today - reminders of that era.
I'm home now, about to retire and rest up for tomorrow - off to Chandler, Oklahoma for one night, then Albuqurque, New Mexico for the next night, then . . . the Grand Canyon!!