St Louis

For those familiar with St Louis (pablo) this is at the corner of 23rd and Martin Luther King Drive which is where the St Louis RV Park is located. When we checked in, we were told twenty years ago we would not have wanted to be at this location. St Louis has worked hard on urban renewal. If you look near the light pole behind Dan you will see the Arch. Perhaps that will give those vaguely familiar with the city an idea of where we are located.

We decided to stay another night here. I had hoped to take the Metro from the convention center to several locations nearby. The weather was discouraging. It has been windy, rainy and downright cold here. The nightly fee for the RV Park is $25 which might seem a bit high, but it includes electricity and free WiFi. For where it is located, we felt it was a good deal. Especially since we walked out to the street and paid a mere $3.50 for short ride on the bus to the convention site. We probably saved the price of our RV lot rental on the parking fees as we heard $20 just to park near the convention hall.

Actually, I found the NRA convention fascinating. It was a wonderful place to people watch. I am not a hunter, but I do find guns to be quite beautiful. Many are almost pieces of art. It is obvious people have taken a lot of pride in their firearms down through the ages.

I will post pictures when I get home tomorrow. Check in then....

Missouri

We are in downtown St Louis as I write this. We decided to slip away for a Trekker trip. On the way we stopped by Columbia, Missouri, to visit Amy Kay, Sebastian, and Dane. Amy Kay is Associate Minister at the First Christian Church and our niece. We enjoyed our visit and tour of her historical church. We learned that a minister of the church was fired in the in the mid 1800s for advocating slavery. The church is celebrating their 175th anniversary this year. Dane is the girls basketball coach for Stephen's College in Columbia. He could not eat with us as he just signed a exciting recruit for his team. We drove by the college on the way out of town. It is a beautiful campus, although overshadowed by MU in Columbia.

From there we visited the grand opening of the St Louis Cabala's. For the record, the Kansas City store is better.

I made reservation at a camp ground located in the downtown area. We didn't know what to expect, but what a pleasant surprise. It is indeed a campground right in downtown St Louis. We can see the arch and downtown skyline. The couple in charge said the campground (actually more like a parking lot) is patterned after one located in San Francisco. There are many museums, a zoo and botanical garden close by. We are here to visit the "acres of guns" at the National Rifle Association convention. We had hoped to visit the zoo, but it is raining as I write. Keep tuned.

April showers

bring may flowers—right? I have to keep reminding myself that this is just April and the last freeze date for our part Kansas is sometime between April 3rd to April 12th .

Our bodies are marvelous pieces of work. With exercise and proper diet, we achieve physical goals at all ages and levels of ability. The good news is we retain these fitness levels even if we falter periodically.

We store fat in case we can’t get enough to eat. When we do eat food, we utilize it for hours until our next meal. We develop a sun tan rather we actively try or not. We have the ability to remember hundreds of names and addresses. However, the past few days we are again reminded, there is no heat of any kind, what so ever, stored in our bodies to use on cold, rainy days.

April showers will bring May flowers

Butterfly Crop Art

Stan Herd, the national known crop artist has teamed with Chip of Monarch Watch (logo at left) to plant an art piece taken from the pollinator stamps to be issued this summer by the USPS. You can watch a short video about it here or read about it here in the Lawrence Journal World.

I am excited about this project. Maybe we will be able to get the ultralight in the air to take pictures! I will post any updates. The Lawrence Journal World newspaper article gave an address for donations.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Click on the napkin for more birthday pictures.