Let the Caravan Begin: St Louis

 Our Adventure Caravan trip began in St. Louis, MO. 15 RV's came together at the rendezvous campground in Eureka. Lewis & Clark set out from St Louis in 1804 to explore the Louisiana Purchase and determine if there was a passage to the Pacific Ocean. They began by moving upstream on the Missouri River. They had a tough time of it! 

We, however, enjoyed nights in our RV's and bus trips into surrounding historic areas. 

We are at the beginning of the trail at Camp Dubois

Lewis & Clark and Seaman, the Newfoundland

Cathedral Basilica St Louis

The mosaics are unbelievable! 

Anheuser-Busch Headquarters in St Louis

One of the original buildings of a Bavarian brewery, built in 1890

Reynard the Fox sits on the four corners of the bottling plant.

He became the mascot for Bevo, a non-alcoholic beer produced during prohibition. Anheuser-Busch managed through prohibition by producing Bevo and by selling Brewer's Yeast, which also had a recipe for beer on the label!

Amazing tiles in the bottling plant - notice Reynard!

An elephant sits atop of one of two stone pillars. They also date back to prohibition and were symbols of the ice cream that Anheuser-Busch also produced. Elephants were also used on malt liquor labels.

Brewing plant - such beauty

Another shot of the brewing building showing the "hops" chandeliers that were ordered before the World's Fair

Loved how the 6' "safe" distancing was described

One of two Clydesdales on display in the stables

Goofing off - couldn't resist the sign which was placed near a clarifying tub, which was the real photo op

Among the many interesting buildings in St Louis was this "Artichoke" building

Union Station Hotel

More of Union Station.

I sometimes forget that trains were one of the major forms of transportation "back in the day". Large train stations were the norm in growing frontier cities.

When in St Louis one has to see the arch. We have seen it from the road on numerous trips going back and forth across the country. 

A view from above the visitor's center

Looking down on the visitor's center, and the city to the west, from atop the arch.

We took a bus trip to Daniel Boone's Home. 

The home actually belonged to his son, Nathan, but it is where Daniel Boone returned when he knew he was dying.

It's hard to imagine that this 4-story home was built in early 1800 on the edge of the wilderness

Other historic buildings have been brought to the Defiance, MO site of the Nathan Boone home.

The Nathan Boone home has a basement kitchen and dining room. The main floor has a large drawing room and two other rooms on the other side of a central hall. Daniel Boone is said to have died in one of those rooms.

Upstairs there are two large bedrooms on either side of a central hall. Nathan and his wife slept in one of the rooms, and the children slept across the hall. Of course, I had to take pictures of the quilts on the bed, which weren't original to the home, but were representative of the time. We were told the top floor was where dances were held.

We went on to St. Charles, Missouri

The historical street is lovely, with many old buildings and is thriving with many restaurants and shops. Our favorite building was just off Riverside Drive. It is a vertical log church (reproduction) from 1791

We also visited the Lewis & Clark Boat House & Museum. They have replica pirogues and a keel boat that have been used in reenactments, part of a National Park Service museum.