We left the free laundry campground heading for St. Louis and the Gateway Arch National Park. As we were heading west, we noticed the sky in front of us getting blacker and blacker, and pulled over in an empty lot to get lunch and check the weather. AccuWeather told us that a thunderstorm was heading our way, so we hunkered down and ate our lunch until it passed. We were glad we’d encountered those black clouds, because AccuWeather radar also told us that St. Louis was surrounded by severe thunderstorms, and the entire area where we were heading was under a severe thunderstorm watch. We got online and found Pyramid State Park southeast of St. Louis, which had both camping and hiking trails, so when the rain stopped and we finished our lunch, we set the GPS to Pyramid State Park which seemed to be out of the danger zone.
We really didn’t want to drive through that to get to St. Louis.
This state park is one of those places that is really nice, and seems to be basically undiscovered. They have a few small campgrounds scattered throughout the park. None of the campgrounds have any hookups or amenities other than a pit toilet, but fresh water and a dump station are available at the park office, and the sites are spread out and spacious, and each has a picnic table and a fire ring. We did a drive by on two of the campgrounds, and each had only one other camper, leaving six or eight sites for other campers to park, pay the $8 camping fee, and enjoy the park. The park covers more than 19,000 acres and is dotted with small lakes suitable for fishing and kayaking, and 16 miles of trails wind through the park and around the lakes.
Once we had parked, we put a $10 bill in the envelope, wrote down our name and the site we had taken, and took a walk to the park office to drop off the envelope. We then wandered some of the off-road trails, looking for turtles in the lakes. We found that in addition to the drive in sites, they have a few designated campsites for people who want to pack in and tent camp, where you could really feel like you’re out in the wilderness. We got back to the camper just in time to get a few things out of the back before the rain hit, and then we tucked in for the night. We were up early the next day because we wanted to get in a walk before heading to St. Louis, and we were surprised when the ranger came by around 7:30AM - to give us our $2 change from the $10 bill we’d stuffed in the envelope the night before. Tom told him not to worry about it, but he said taking extra money isn’t how they do it around there, so we thanked him and told him how much we liked the park.
Once we had parked, we put a $10 bill in the envelope, wrote down our name and the site we had taken, and took a walk to the park office to drop off the envelope. We then wandered some of the off-road trails, looking for turtles in the lakes. We found that in addition to the drive in sites, they have a few designated campsites for people who want to pack in and tent camp, where you could really feel like you’re out in the wilderness. We got back to the camper just in time to get a few things out of the back before the rain hit, and then we tucked in for the night. We were up early the next day because we wanted to get in a walk before heading to St. Louis, and we were surprised when the ranger came by around 7:30AM - to give us our $2 change from the $10 bill we’d stuffed in the envelope the night before. Tom told him not to worry about it, but he said taking extra money isn’t how they do it around there, so we thanked him and told him how much we liked the park.
We had an easy and bad weather free drive into St. Louis, and pulled into the city around lunch time. We had visited the Arch 20 years ago and remembered that it was downtown and parking was a bit of a challenge, so Tom had investigated the night before and discovered that Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, offered overflow parking as long as the Cardinals weren’t playing. Tom checked and found that they were playing in Boston, so we navigated the city streets and found the stadium parking. We figured it would be another deal like Nashville, where we’d pay a hefty fee to park for a few hours. We noticed a security car with flashing lights parked in the corner, so we drove over to him to make sure we were allowed to park there. He said of course, and explained how to download an app to pay. However, because our rig has Belize license plates, the app wouldn’t accept our attempts to pay. The security guard laughed, told us he himself had witnessed us trying to pay, and directed us to an out of the way corner and told us not to worry about it. We decided that karma must be smiling on us, after free parking at Charleston, free camping at Ohio County Fairgrounds, and more free parking in St. Louis, not to mention finds like the Thelma Stovall Park.
View of our camper in the Busch Stadium lot from the top of the arch.
We hiked over to the Gateway Arch National Park through the stadium area of the city. The park is at the edge of the city along the river, and is very easy to find since the arch rises 630 feet over the city. It’s surrounded by a grassy park with many meandering paths. We found the entrance, which is under the arch, and got tickets to take the tram to the top. We had about a half hour before the tram ride, so we wandered in the museum and learned about the history of the arch. At our appointed tram time, we got in the line, which didn’t move and got longer and longer. Some gentlemen in front of us asked the ticket taker what was happening, and she told him it was “unscheduled maintenance,” and we could just wait in line. We waited, and about an hour after our scheduled time the line finally started moving again. But, it was a pretty fast hour since we got to meet all the people who were in line around us, and nobody was in a hurry to go anywhere else, so we all had a good time talking and sharing stories.
We finally got up in the arch, and discovered that while we’d been in the underground waiting area, rain had moved in, which made us wonder if a lightning warning was the reason for the “unscheduled maintenance.” It didn’t matter in the end because despite rain the view was clear in all directions, so we spent our 10 minutes at the top going from window to window with everybody else before squeezing back into the tram car for the ride back to the bottom. The rain had stopped by the time we got back down and left the arch, so we walked back to the truck in the stadium parking and headed for Jefferson City. However, the weather gods weren’t done with us. We had a repeat view of the previous day’s lunch stop, with black clouds getting closer and closer. We checked the radar and saw that we were again under a severe thunderstorm warning, and were driving into a mess. Even though we were only about an hour from Jefferson City, Missouri’s capital, we pulled into a Walmart off the next exit and, after the windy crash-boom thunderstorm passed, spent a quiet night.
We finally got up in the arch, and discovered that while we’d been in the underground waiting area, rain had moved in, which made us wonder if a lightning warning was the reason for the “unscheduled maintenance.” It didn’t matter in the end because despite rain the view was clear in all directions, so we spent our 10 minutes at the top going from window to window with everybody else before squeezing back into the tram car for the ride back to the bottom. The rain had stopped by the time we got back down and left the arch, so we walked back to the truck in the stadium parking and headed for Jefferson City. However, the weather gods weren’t done with us. We had a repeat view of the previous day’s lunch stop, with black clouds getting closer and closer. We checked the radar and saw that we were again under a severe thunderstorm warning, and were driving into a mess. Even though we were only about an hour from Jefferson City, Missouri’s capital, we pulled into a Walmart off the next exit and, after the windy crash-boom thunderstorm passed, spent a quiet night.
