Connecting with the past

Well, here I am delayed in writing again. Since my intention had been to group these few days together in one post, I was waiting to write and then upload the photos. But then I got sick (nothing serious...just some bug), and everything got pushed back. I know there are some of you who worry if you don't see anything posted for awhile (like maybe we got attacked by wolves in the mountains), and those who just get disappointed when they don't get their daily Farmers Folly fix! So my apologies for keeping you all in suspense.

I spent several days last week visiting with a few of my friends' parents, some of whom I haven't seen in over 20 years. On Thursday Russ was at a card game that one of his high school buddies had put together at his house, so Dana, Diane, and I were going out for a bite to eat, but Diane wanted to show off her new house first. Since she lives with her mom, I got to spend a few minutes visiting with her. I knew she had been having some major health problems over the last few years so was amazed at how great she looked! She is 91 but still very mentally sharp. By the way, we never did make it for that bite to eat, but that's a whole other story in itself!

Saturday morning Russ went to play golf, and I visited my dad's grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery and then drove through Sylvan Springs Park, a place where my sister and I played as kids and of which we have very fond memories. I didn't realize it was so close to Jefferson Barracks and just stumbled across it on my way there. The particular area in which we often played was the remains of an old rock house and seemed much smaller now than it did then. What I don't believe either of us realized was that it was the site of a WWII Beverage Garden and Picnic Area used by the troops. At least neither of us ever remember seeing this sign posted there when we were kids! The stream it mentions is still there but hasn't been maintained much. Guess that lends to its natural appeal.

Then I headed to one of my old neighborhoods to visit the parents of my friend, Linda, who I've known since the 4th grade. We lived next door, and Linda and I were very close spending a lot of time together (especially during the summers on the swim team at the park down the street) until my family moved my freshman year of high school. More on Linda later when I visit her in Florida later this year. Her dad had a stroke last year but is doing remarkably well. When I walked in the house, he knew me immediately and wanted to make sure he got his hug! I had a really nice, long visit with Alice and Bill, and an added treat was that one of Linda's younger sisters, Patsy, was there visiting, too! It was great catching up with all of them.

As I was heading back to the RV, I decided to drive down Meramec Street towards South Grand Avenue to see how things might have changed over the years. As I was sitting at the stoplight at the corner, I glanced to my left and saw Ted Drewes Frozen Custard! Oh, wow! Talk about taking you back! Ted Drewes has been at this location since 1931, and the custard is sooooo yummy! So I just HAD to stop and get a cone, chocolate dipped of course! Then I continued tooling around the area passing a grade school I attended for one year, passing my sister's old high school (which is now a Junior Naval Academy!), and just seeing all the changes that have taken place. My high school closed down many years ago, too, and evidently has just been sold to a group who is running a private elementary school of some sort. The funeral home that used to be down the street now houses a Head Start program, which seems really creepy. It looks exactly the same on the outside except now there's a Head Start sign. I'm fairly certain they rehabbed the interior, but Patsy and I wondered what they're using the morgue for now!

Sunday morning Russ played golf....again. But that afternoon I got to attend the surprise 85th birthday party for Gloria's mom! Gloria had invited me, and I had a blast seeing her mom and the rest of Gloria's family after all these years...and meet all their grown kids! Wow, talk about feeling old!! A couple of Gloria's kids have kids! The tropical themed party was held at her brother, Dave's, house, and he and his wife, Susie, were great hosts. There was plenty of food and drink, a chocolate fountain, games out in the yard, the Cardinals game on TV....what more could you ask for! As you can see, Mrs. Kuehnle looks great, and I only hope I'm as happy, active, and together as she is when I'm her age! Gloria and Jim have raised four wonderful kids, and I've included a picture of all of them with their families as well.

Tuesday I met the girls at Hodak's Restaurant for a late lunch. Hodak's is famous for their fried chicken and generous helpings, and we did not go away hungry! Afterwards we went to Dana's house to swim, lounge around the pool, and enjoy each other's company chatting away. Seems we never run out of things to talk about! Dana was ready to grill us some burgers but we were still way too full from lunch!

The next day I went to Denise's house for lunch and shopping. Denise has been my sister's best friend since they were in grade school so I've known her for years, and she and I have become friends as well. Denise drove me to the quaint town of Kimmswick, the second oldest city in the state of Missouri founded in 1859. Many of the buildings date back to that time including the Post Office, which is still in use today. We ate lunch at The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery, which has the feel of a country tearoom with delicious food and the most scrumptious homemade desserts! The restaurant serves over 300 customers a day, and each dining room that has been added on to the original has been given its own name, i.e. "The Owl's Nest", "The Texas Tearoom", etc. For more information on this delightful place visit www.theblueowl.com/. Of course, no quaint town would be complete without all those fascinating little shops, so we just had to check them out.

Denise and I had a great time on her day off visiting and reconnecting. I reminded her of something that had happened when we were all much younger. I'm 6 years older than Julie and Denise, and Julie was going over to Denise's house to play Barbies. Since we didn't live far from her, I walked Julie over since she had to cross a major street to get there. Julie had all her Barbie dolls and accessories in a couple small suitcases, and as we were walking there a police officer stopped us and asked where we were going. He thought we were running away!! Julie and I have laughed over that many times and turns out Denise says she never knew about it till just a few years ago! Just one of those stories you can tell your kids about, and speaking of kids, Denise has two great ones....Jonathan and Sarah.

Wednesday night we invited our new friend, Scott, over for dinner. He is a new fulltimer like us who started his adventure in May. We see him on a regular basis but have had difficulty setting up an evening to get together. This was probably our first "official" dinner party, and Scott showed up promptly at 5 with a nice bottle of wine to go with our steaks, baked potatoes, and salad. Scott recently retired from teaching science in an El Paso, TX, high school. He's a very nice man and that evening ended around 9 after much conversation on a wide range of subjects. He will be here until after Labor Day weekend and then is heading to Elkhart, IN, for a rally. He, like us, is still trying to figure out the best way to continue his travels and where to spend the winter months. We have enjoyed his company on leisurely walks with the dogs and just leaning up against the wooden fence that surrounds our site. He will be joining us this weekend for the Missouri/Illinois football game, which will be his first experience at college football tailgating! Meeting people like Scott and listening to their stories are one of the things that we truly enjoy with our travels. We have met a lot of different people from a lot of different parts of the country and very different backgrounds. Scott is someone we will always remember and hope that our future travels allow our paths to once again cross.

That's all for now....more to come later!

Lombardo's & Busch

We finally made it to Lombardo's Restaurant! And it was as wonderful as we expected and remembered. Russ' family has frequented Lombardo's for many years, and when we walked in, we immediately felt like family. Lombardo's is noted for making all their guests feel that way, but it's extra special when you actually know the owners! We sat in the bar, and Angelo soon joined us, chatting and reminiscing about the days when Russ' dad (and Russ) would come in at the old location on West Florissant. As you'll see from their website (http://www.lombardosrestaurants.com/ ), they moved to the Natural Bridge location across from the airport in 1993.

Their third-generation recipes are a mixture of Sicilian dishes and dishes from northern Italy. We started our meal with an order of calzone. Now this is not the standard calzone that you find in many restaurants or like Pizza Hut serves. This is a handmade, flat, flaky crust with ham and ricotta cheese baked inside and is so incredibly delicious. In all our travels, we have never found anywhere that makes it this way. Our next course was an order of their famous toasted ravioli. Now Favazza's was good but in no way compares to Lombardo's. These ravioli are obviously hand formed, big, and served with a side of a slightly sweet marinara sauce. Then Russ had to have a bowl of their turtle soup (another one of his favorites), and I got a bowl of navy bean, the soup of the day. Though we were now starting to feel a little full, we decided to share one more item. In all the years that Russ has been to Lombardo's, he says he had never had one of their pizzas, so that's what we decided to get, and it did not disappoint! Again the crust was handmade and flaky, and topped with four toppings plus Provel and Romano cheeses. Provel is a white processed cheese produced with cheddar, Swiss, and provolone. It's strictly a St. Louis cheese, and we know a former St. Louisan who lives across the country and has it shipped to them because the family doesn't like the taste of the normal Mozarella topped pizzas! It really does make a difference in taste and is sooo good. Needless to say we were so full that we didn't finish the pizza so brought the rest home, and it was almost as good warmed up the next day.

Wednesday night found us downtown at the new Busch Stadium! Steve was able to get his company's tickets for the game against the Florida Marlins with seats about 25 rows behind first base. Rick and his wife, Alyce, joined Steve, Patty, Russ, and me for a great game! We hadn't seen Alyce in over 20 years, and it was fun reconnecting with her.

Russ and I arrived early to walk around the outside of the new stadium and see the homage being paid to Cardinals history through statues, plaques, and banners. Though this is the stadium's second season, it's the first time we've been there, and I can't begin to tell you how excited I was! This is actually the third Busch Stadium. Back in 1953 after Anheuser-Busch, Inc., bought the Cardinals, they changed the name of Sportsman Park to Busch Stadium, but the funny thing is that growing up everyone I knew always referred to as Sportsman Park. In fact, until recently I thought that was its official name up till they tore it down! The second Busch Stadium was opened in 1966, and in 1982 Russ and I were there to see the Cards win the 7th game of the World Series. What a blast that was! Behind the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals have won the most World Series with 10 wins.

One of the monuments outside the stadium is that of famed sports announcer Jack Buck. For nearly 50 years, Jack was the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals as the play-by-play announcer on KMOX radio and was inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. On Sept. 17, 2001, when baseball resumed just six days after 9/11, Jack Buck read a spectacularly heartwarming and patriotic poem that he wrote titled "We Shall Overcome" as part of a very special pregame ceremony at Busch Stadium.

"Since this nation was founded ... under God

More than 200 years ago

We have been the bastion of freedom

The light that keeps the free world aglow

We do not covet the possessions of others
We are blessed with the bounty we share.
We have rushed to help other nations

... anything ... anytime ... anywhere.
War is just not our nature
We won't start ... but we will end the fight

If we are involved we shall be resolved

To protect what we know is right.

We have been challenged by a cowardly foe

Who strikes and then hides from our view.

With one voice we say, "There is no choice today,

There is only one thing to do.

Everyone is saying -- the same thing -- and praying

That we end these senseless moments we are living.

As our fathers did before ... we shall win this unwanted war

And our children ... will enjoy the future ... we'll be giving."

There was not a dry eye in the stadium. Jack Buck passed away in June 2002.

As you can see by the photos above, the stadium was designed to incorporate a view of the St. Louis skyline while sitting inside the park. In the photo on the left you see not only the world famous Arch but also the top of the tall tower of the Millennium Hotel. Once upon a time way back when, it was known as Stouffer's Riverfront Towers and for those of you who don't know, is where Russ and I met. He worked Front Desk and hired me as a switchboard operator. We started dating about a year and a half later, and about a year and a half after that our wedding reception was held in Chad's, one of the hotel's banquet rooms. In the photo on the right you see the rotunda of the Old Courthouse, the site of many rallies, speeches and several important trials, including the suit by Dred Scott for freedom from slavery and Suffragist Virginia Louisa Minor for the right to vote.

History abounds in St. Louis and hopefully we're giving you a little taste of it through our journal entries. So for now from Rick, Russ, Steve, Patty, Alyce, and me, that's all for now from Busch Stadium. Oh, yeah, did I mention that we won the game 6 - 4?!!!!!! GO CARDS!!!!!!!

More Friends & the Zoo

Saturday afternoon found us driving over to Steve and Patty's house in Creve Couer for dinner and to watch the Cards on TV (are you catching a theme that we watch a lot of Cardinals games?!?) Mikey and Abby got to go along on this trip as Patty said she missed having doggies around and enjoyed being around ours the week before. Thanks to Mother Nature, the game in Chicago started an hour late due to rain and then midway through there was another rain delay! Of course, this delayed the start of dinner as we couldn't be away from the TV cooking dinner while the game was on! The game finally ended with the Cardinals losing by one run, so all we could do was eat. We dined on salad, rib-eye, potato casserole, corn, and garlic bread all with a bottle of Zinfandel. All was delicious and not a bad way to drown your sorrows.

Russ left at 5:45 a.m. Sunday morning to go play golf (got to get those early tee times in this heat!), and I met up with 4 of my best girlfriends from high school for lunch. Diane, Dana, Gloria, Ellen, and I have been friends since freshman year and have always stayed in touch. Of course, it seems like it takes me coming in town and organizing a get-together for them to get together!! Another friend couldn't make it but hopefully I'll get to see her before I leave town. We met at Culpepper's, not a fancy place, but a nice, casual place where we could hang for a couple hours, laugh, catch up on each other's lives (complete with photos), and reminisce about another one of our friends who passed away a few years ago. We plan to get together a couple more times while I'm here, but coordinating everyone's schedule can sure be challenging!

Later that day Russ and I took a drive down a portion Old Historic Route 66, since it's right outside the campgrounds here. We passed what we believe was once a gas station on the Route, drove through the downtown section of Eureka and the town of Pacific just as the Amtrak train was arriving from St. Louis.










Today we awoke to light rain and thought it might be a great day to go to the St. Louis Zoo (http://www.stlzoo.org/zoo.org/). We were right....lots of animals out, not as warm, and not many people. The St. Louis Zoo, located on 77 acres, is definitely one of the nation's best and is absolutely free! A few of the shows charge a fee, but there is no charge for entrance to the zoo itself, which houses over 11,000 animals. The World's Fair Flight Cage dates back to 1904 and also houses the Cypress Swamp. In this "cage" one walks right through the exhibit with the birds perched all around and flying above you. There are very few cages at this zoo with many of the animals being almost close enough to touch. One of the funniest things we saw today was a polar bear who kept swimming in circles on his back with a leaf in his mouth!

Growing up in St. Louis, the Zoo was one of my favorite places, and I loved spending time there. While in college, we had to do a project on some animal or species at the Zoo, and I spent many hours in the Primate House watching a little family of four Colobus monkeys. Though I didn't get any pictures of them today, we did take some other photos we hope you'll enjoy.

After leaving the Zoo, we drove around Forest Park again, taking pictures of the Art Museum and the statue of Saint Louis located in front of it. The beauty of this park continually amazes me.

St. Louis - Week 1

Well, you know how sometimes the best laid plans don't always work out? Our plan for Monday was to have lunch at our favorite St. Louis restaurant, Lombardo's, but when we arrived, they were closed. There had been a storm Sunday night, and some areas of the city lost power including theirs. So we headed to The Hill, an Italian neighborhood in St. Louis known for its nationally acclaimed restaurants, specialty groceries, immaculate lawns, tightly woven community, and red, white, and green fire hydrants (the colors of the Italian flag)! We had heard that Favazza's was still very good so decided to give it a try, and it definitely did not disappoint. Of course we had to start with an order of toasted ravioli, which is exactly what it sounds like....ravioli that has been breaded and toasted (ok, maybe they actually deep fry it) and served with a side of marinara sauce. Mmmmmmm! The rest of the meal was delicious, and we felt we made a good choice though I think any restaurant on The Hill would have been good.

After leaving the restaurant, we took a drive through Forest Park, a beautiful park located in the heart of the city. At 1,293 acres, it is approximately 500 acres larger than Central Park in New York, and was the site of the 1904 World's Fair. It's home to the region’s major cultural institutions—the Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, and the Muny Opera (the nation's oldest and largest outdoor theatre) as well as an 18 hole golf course and many other sports activities. As we drove by the Muny Opera, it dawned on us that this was the sight of our first date followed by a visit to an area bar where Russ was asked to dance....by a guy. After some hesitation, as he was quite cute, Russ declined and we quickly finished our drink and left. If you'd like to learn more about Forest Park, check out this link http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark/

Tuesday was another day spent inside except for our trek to Wal-Mart for groceries and a few other items. I'm sure you've been curious about the weather....it's been HOT! Every day since we've been here has been over 100, and since there hasn't been much rain recently, the humidity's been uncharacteristically low. But it rained last night, so the humidity has returned.

After running a couple errands Wednesday, we stopped by the San Bar again to visit with Bob while he was working. Mike stopped by again while we were there, and of course that meant more beer was involved! But we didn't overdo this time as we had John and Deborah coming over for pizza so we needed to get home.

Mainly because it's so hot, we decided to just stay inside Thursday and Friday and watch the Cardinals on TV. Kind of nice to just veg a couple days, but we've got plans this weekend so will write more later!

Old Friends

Spent most of the day on Friday cleaning our home and doing some grocery shopping as we were hosting our first dinner party that night! John, Rick, Steve, and Patty started showing up around 4pm, which happens to coincide with our daily happy hour time. Steve was Russ' college roommate for 3 years, John also went to school at Mizzou and was always hanging around, and Russ had met Rick while at college. In fact all 3 of these guys were in our wedding almost 25 years ago. Patty is Steve's wife, and both her and I had fun laughing at the boys as they became more inebriated. A long story short, we dined on Italian sausage and bratwurst, baked beans, and chips. Thankfully the boys did have a little to eat because there were only a few bottles left out of the two cases of Bud that we had purchased earlier that day! I would have to say that Russ and John led the way in consumption, but they had the advantage of starting the earliest. A great time was had by all with many true and exaggerated stories bringing laughter all night long.

We had already made plans to visit some of Russ' high school buddies on Saturday at a corner bar near where Russ grew up. The San Bar Tavern is not to be confused with The Ritz, but it is one of those colorful neighborhood bars that seem to only exist in the St. Louis area. On the way there Russ still suffering with a hangover stated that he didn't plan on drinking much. Well, after about 5 hours and a dozen beers, being the designated driver I was able to get him home. We both enjoyed the afternoon as about a half dozen of guys that he played baseball with and hung out with showed up for the afternoon. It's fun to sit there and listen to the stories from 35 years ago, and if you listen closely, it's amazing the things that you did not know about your husband! The guys were a lot of fun and went out of their way to make me feel part of the day. Only two of the pictures I took came out, so you only get to see Russ with Bob and Mike, and Russ and Mike shooting a game of pool.

Sunday, mercifully, was a day of rest and definitely no drinking. We watched the Cardinals on TV and caught up on some of the mundane tasks. Russ didn't move far from the couch as he was really hungover! He made the comment that coming to St. Louis may kill him!! And considering he probably drank more beers in less than 24 hours than he has totaled in the last year or two combined, he may be right!

We plan on heading to our favorite restaurant tomorrow and will add another post soon, but for right now, that's it from the Folly!

St. Louis here we come!

We stayed an extra day in Harpers Ferry just lounging around and taking the dogs down to the river. It was now time to head to St. Louis, and our plan was to make it all the way across the state of Ohio in one day. So we left about 9am and started on our way. We saw lots of cornfields on this trek, and we must say that those in IL were looking a little scraggily and thin. Guess they haven't been getting enough rain.

Nearly 11 hours later we arrived at the parking lot of the Camping World store just outside of Indianapolis. They were closed, but we had been told that we could spend the night in their parking lot, which was quiet, well lit, patrolled by security, and there was electricity that we could plug in to. But best of all, up at the corner was a White Castle! Now for those of you not familiar with these burgers (affectionately called sliders or belly bombers), they're small thin square burgers that have 5 holes punched in them which are steamed with grilled onions and a pickle. They're similar to Krystal Burgers, only better! Of course, some people would say they are an acquired taste.

The next morning after returning some items at Camping World and picking up a few more things (of course), we started the rest of our journey to ol' St. Lou. The second half of Indiana seemed longer than the first half, and Illinois seemed even longer. Not much to see but farmland and not many towns between. But finally we could see the Arch off in the distance, and we knew we were close to the end of our trip. As we crossed over the Mississippi River, there right in front of us was the new Busch Stadium! How exciting! I didn't realize it was that close to the highway!

We finally arrived at the campground, passing a Steak 'N Shake just a few minutes away! Steak 'N Shake is another hometown favorite of ours, which we've missed, so after getting everything set up, that's what I picked up for dinner! Coming home never tasted so good!!

Antietam National Battlefield

Antietam (pronounced an-TEE-tum) National Battlefield, located north of Sharpsburg, MD, is the site of what is commonly referred to as the bloodiest day of the civil war. Amazingly the Battle at Antietam lasted only 12 hours but counted for over 23,000 men being wounded or killed and greatly altered the course of the Civil War. It provided Lincoln with the victory he needed to announce the abolition of slavery in the South with the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation effectively eliminated any chance of Great Britain or France joining in the fight of support for the Confederacy.

Upon arriving at the Visitor Center, we sat in on an orientation lesson given by one of the park rangers, and then viewed a 30 minute film. This was all very helpful for the actual tour we took later in the day with a park ranger to the three major battle sites.

Our first stop was near The Cornfield. More fighting took place here than anywhere else at Antietam with the battlelines changing hands across the field for nearly three hours. The Union troops advanced through this cornfield not realizing that the Confederate troops were stationed on the other side waiting for them. When all was said and done, bodies laid strewn over this cornfield in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks and with the corn being cut down from gunshots as closely as could have been done with a mower.

Next was Sunken Road also known as Bloody Lane. For nearly four hours Union and Confederate infantry fought over this sunken country road resulting n over 5,000 casualties. It is said that after the battle, the bodies were so thick that as one walked across the road your feet would not touch the ground, only the dead. To stand on this hallowed ground was not only a little eerie but also very emotional.

The last stop was at Lower Bridge also known as Burnside Bridge. About 450 Georgian sharpshooters had taken up positions behind trees and boulders on a steep wooded bluff some 100 feet high and overlooking the Lower Bridge. For several hours they were successful in driving back the Union soldiers, but finally the Federals were able to cross over the bridge. Then about 4pm the Confederate reinforcements arrived from Harpers Ferry and drove the Federals back nearly to the bridge. After this last skirmish, the battle was finally over, and the next day Lee began withdrawing his troops back across the Potomac River.

Although neither side technically gained a decisive victory that day, Lee's failure to carry the war further into the North was a turning point. After Lincoln's proclamation, the war now had a dual purpose to not only preserve the Union but also to end slavery.