Sunday, July 8, 2007
Gateway and Gremlins
We left Mt. Vernon, Illinois, this morning about 6:00 am, heading west to St. Louis, Missouri.
On the way, we looked for signs to the Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi. It apparently still stands north of where we rode through St. Louis on Interstate 64/55/44. I thought we caught a glimpse of it on our way to Chicago last week, just to the south of the Interstate 270 loop. Actually, we couldn’t have done more than set foot on this Route 66 bridge, because only foot traffic and bicycles are allowed. So, the most interesting information on this comes from travelers who have gone before us:
By crossing the Mississippi further south, we were within reach of the famous Gateway Arch. We rode on cobblestone streets past the riverboat docks, and stopped downtown to take a picture of the Arch. Then we went on to Springfield, Missouri, a total of about 300 miles for the day. We stopped for lunch, and decided to quit for the day.
Last night and this morning have been plagued with electronic gremlins. First Cathy’s computer refused to go online for no reason, and then my Palm cell phone crashed with a short in the charging port. I didn’t realize how lost I was without my Palm – no moving maps, computer, Internet, phone, voicemail, or any of my applications. Fortunately, I was able to back up all of my data to Cathy’s computer before the phone crashed for good. A call to Verizon’s tech support quickly solved the problem, I hope. They will have a new phone (no charge) waiting for me at a Verizon store in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tomorrow.
