Final Weekend of Fun

Our last weekend in St. Louis proved to be as busy as the rest of the month. There’s always lots to do when getting ready to hit the road again especially after you’ve been parked somewhere for a month. However, we couldn’t leave town without making our annual trip to the American Legion Fish Fry on Fri., but Bob called and instead of meeting us there offered to bring the fish to us! About an hour later he showed up with a couple pounds of the best fried cod and tarter sauce around, and we all enjoyed it with a couple brewskies while watching the Cards game on TV.

Earlier in the month Steve and Russ had talked about driving down to Columbia for the Mizzou football game on Sat. the 25th, but there was no way we could leave the dogs for that long (the drive is a couple of hours). However, thanks to Gloria offering to come over about mid-day to let them out, I was going to be able to go after all, and we planned to pick up tickets at the stadium. Unfortunately Steve and Patty couldn’t make it last minute, but we knew Jim and Judy would also be going to the game. We had made plans to meet them for lunch at The Heidelberg (http://www.theheidelberg.com/), a local hangout on campus, but before leaving Sat. morning, Jim called to say that one of his partners was not going to make the game and asked if we wanted to use the tickets. Sure! Turns out the seats were 26 rows from the field on the 50-yard line!

Walking across campus to the restaurant and the stadium was fun as we passed tailgating students and alumni…there’s nothing like a college game atmosphere! We also passed Memorial Student Union, a beautiful structure with its impressive Memorial Tower that was completed in 1926 to honor 117 Mizzou men who lost their lives during World War I and whose names are inscribed on the inside walls of the tower archway. And of course we had to get a picture of Russ in front of the stadium with the bronze statue of legendary Coach Don Faurot (pronounced fuh-row)!

At halftime we all went out to “tailgate” at Jim’s car, which was parked right outside one of the stadium entrances, and their oldest son (another MU grad) joined us. The opposing team was Miami University of Ohio, and the Tigers dominated the game from the beginning with a final score of 51-13! It was a long day but what a great one…thanks Jim, Judy, and Gloria!

As we were doing final preparations on Sun. for the next day’s departure, Steve and Patty showed up with a birthday cake and card for Russ! Steve was feeling much better and after chatting for a couple hours, they joined us for a final dinner of Imo’s pizza. It had been a great birthday weekend and so glad we got to spend it with friends.

The next day it was time to head for a week in Gettysburg, PA,

another one of our favorite locations.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

The past 3 weeks have flown by with the calendar full on a daily basis. Seems that one or both of us had somewhere to go and/or friends were dropping by our place for a visit. Any few hours of down time were spent doing mundane chores like laundry, grocery shopping, or sometimes just resting. However, we enjoyed every minute of our time in St. Louis even though Russ says he’s had enough beer for another year!

This trip was a little shorter than previous years, but we still managed to cram in a lot and saw nearly everyone we intended to see. Russ played a couple rounds of golf, I attended my first Bunco party (winning $20!), and I toured the brewery with a friend who never had in spite of living here all her life. We took flowers to our families’ gravesites and made another trip to Lombardo's Restaurant (http://www.lombardosrestaurants.com/) visiting with Carmen and Angelo plus there were a couple more trips to the San Bar visiting with some of Russ’ high school buddies. I had a couple get-togethers with a few of my high school friends, too, and made my annual visit to see friends at the bowling alley and then joining them for lunch.

Russ' brother invited us to join him and his wife for dinner one night at a local restaurant near their home in Wentzville (about a 45 min. drive) as a surprise for their 49th wedding anniversary. Joining us in the surprise was one of their long time friends along with their daughter and her fiancé…quite an enjoyable evening.

Some days had back-to-back events scheduled, sometimes on opposite sides of the city. One such day I enjoyed delicious homemade chili and a great visit with Denise, and then I drove across town to meet Patty for a bite before we headed for a chorus rehearsal visit. St. Louis Harmony Chorus (http://www.stlharmony.org/tlharmony.org/w.stlharmony.org/) has nearly 80 members, placed 1st at last year’s Regional contest, and will compete in the International Competition in Seattle this Oct. They worked on perfecting several Bob Fosse numbers complete with Fosse choreo that will be part of their International package should they make it into the top 10. Bet you never considered Fosse done in the barbershop style! They have a great sound, a great look, and I wish them all the best next month in Seattle.

Over the course of the month we were in town, we had several dinner invites, and one of those was another back-to-back day. After a girls’ get-together at Dana’s (complete with yummy barbecued pork steaks!), I drove back to the campground to pick up Russ so we could head to Jim and Judy’s in the other direction! They have a lovely home in Clayton that is about 90 years old, and we ate outside with music provided over the outdoor speakers. We enjoyed a fabulous meal, and it would have been a perfect evening had someone not spilled a glass of red wine on Russ’ beige shorts…hmmm, who’s fault was that guys? LOL Honestly it was a great dinner party...many thanks to our wonderful hosts.

The last 3 years Michelle and Randy have traveled across the river to have dinner with us, but this year we drove to their home in Columbia, IL. We sat on the back deck enjoying the view and chatting, Randy barbecued, we ate a scrumptious meal, chatted some more, and before we knew it, it was midnight! We always seem to have plenty to talk about!

The trip would never be complete without visits to Aunt Dori and Bill and Alice Riley. Aunt Dori still has her apartment in the retirement community and invited us to join her for lunch in the main dining room. Baked chicken, rice, corn, and dessert sounded fine to us, and we had a lovely visit. On the day I visited the Rileys, Alice and I picked up Subway sandwiches and took them to share lunch with Bill at the nursing home. He still has his great sense of humor, and we had a great visit.

Soon it would be time to hit the road again but not before a final fun weekend!

Tradition

Our annual trips to St. Louis are always jam packed, and even when we have nothing planned for a few days, the calendar always seems to fill up. However there are always certain scheduled events that are marked on the calendar a couple months in advance and have become “traditions”. We arrived at the KOA in Eureka (just outside St. Louis) the afternoon of Aug. 27, and got settled into the same spot we’ve occupied the last three years. Our first night in town John always stops by after work for beer and Imo’s pizza, and this year Rick stopped by, too, for a brief visit before heading to work.

Sat. night was the “4th Annual Drink As Much Beer As You Can As Fast As You Can Without Puking Party”! As you may recall, the first year the boys drank way too much beer our first night in town, and thus a new tradition was begun. Of course, after that first year, all swore they would drink in moderation each subsequent year, and they’ve been pretty true to their word. This year shortly before arriving in town we found out that our good friends, Curt and Linda, would also be in town this weekend so of course they were invited to join in the festivities! Patty and Steve brought munchies for appetizers, Deborah and John brought a salad, and I made homemade lasagna. Though a little crowded in the RV, everyone had a great time and no one over-imbibed in spite of the party’s name…it’s just tradition now.

The following week found us visiting our friend, Bob, at the San Bar Tavern in Russ’ old neighborhood, Angelo and Carmen at Lombardo’s while enjoying one of their yummy pizzas, and Steve coming over to help Russ with an oil and filter change on the RV’s generator. Then the next couple of days were spent coordinating and preparing for the 4th annual tailgate party to be held prior to and after the Missouri/Illinois football game on Sat., Sept. 4, in downtown St. Louis. The first year there were only about 15 in attendance, but it has grown over the years with about 40 this year. The day before the big game I cooked up 5 lbs. of potatoes for my special homemade potato salad, made 60 deviled eggs, and 2 big pots of gumbo (all part of the tradition). We had purchased 5 cases of Heineken (tradition!), 2 cases of soda, a case of water, 4 bottles of wine, 30 Italian sausages, 18 brats, all the condiments to go with them, and all the fixin’s for 48 dollar roll sandwiches. We were ready to party!

The alarm had been set for 5:30a.m., and we pulled the RV out of the campground at 6, stopping for diesel and ice along the way. We were the first ones to arrive an hour later at the designated parking lot and got our traditional spot. Another friend named Bob was the first to arrive 10 min. later, and after helping us set up, was ready to start the day with Bloody Mary’s. It was an early game this year (11:30) so the major tailgating wasn’t taking place till after the game, but John brought donuts and Danish, and we brewed a pot of coffee. Our tailgate was the meeting spot before the game as John had everyone’s tickets, and even though we had the coffee, most started with beer or Bloody Mary’s.

At 10:30 we played the Missouri fight song on the outside CD player, locked everything up, and headed to the stadium. As usual, the streets were packed with folks walking to the Edward Jones Dome from several parking lots with Mizzou and Illini chants filling the air. This year our seats were near the 50-yard line about 2/3 of the way up, and as what seems to have also become a tradition, were on the Illinois side. There were several Mizzou fans on this side, too, but the Illini fans were rather rowdy and noisy the first half as the Tigers did not play very well…we were down 3 – 13 at halftime. But the team got their act together the second half, and the Tigers crushed the Illini with a final score of 23 – 13!! This was the last year for the Arch Rivalry supposedly because Illinois wants to play more home games in front of their fans in their new stadium, but we think that they just got tired of being humiliated every Sept. as the Illini have lost to the Tigers all 6 years!



















After the game nearly everyone returned to the RV to drink, eat, socialize, and watch the Cardinals game on the outside TV. As is tradition, Steve grilled while we got everything else set out and ready for consumption. A couple people had brought additional sides, and Jessica supplied lots of homemade brownies and cookies for dessert. Mike and Betty even stopped by as they had a couple hours to kill between a wedding they had attended downtown and the reception. We didn’t pull out of the parking lot till about 9:30 that night as the people in front of us were still partying hardy, but we didn’t mind as we enjoyed chatting with a few of our friends who had hung around. Another year of traditions of good food, good times, good game, and good friends!