The Road Back Home

According to Google Maps, it takes 6 hours and 4 minutes to travel from the temple in St. Louis to our apartment in Ft. Smith.  That may be true if you take the main interstates and follow their directions exactly....as you probably realize by now that isn't how we "roll"--

Sweet Gary, knowing my love of bridges, had figured out a way for us to cross two different bridges across the Mississippi River into Illinois and back and only add about 35 minutes to our over all drive time.  That was a no-brainer so after the temple, we headed east to travel the first bridge.....

I was trying to get a picture of the skyline including both the Ferris Wheel and the Arch...I can see one leg of the arch between the buildings on the very far right, but only because I was there to see it.  My other photos didn't turn out at all.

Big cities stack their roadways anyway they can.  They had some complicated freeway exchanges like most large cities.

The bridge we rode on was just like a basic roadway, but the train bridge was cool,,,,

especially with a train on it!

We made it to Illinois and then headed south for a bit to make our return crossing back into Missouri.

And we learned a little bit at the stop sign near the Historical village of Cahokia.  We had read some in the museum the day before about the working of the Native Americans with the French and the Americans--mainly in peaceful trade.

The Mid-West love their chickens...

A bridge with some beauty!

I grew up near the Columbia River and I love rivers (and of course, is one of the reasons I love bridges as well.)  The Columbia River is fast flowing and usually fairly clear.  Most of the rivers of the Mid-West are muddy like the Mississippi.

And back to Missouri and on the road home...

Along the sides were lots of wild flowers as well...

And the water towers are always fun to find.  I wasn't quite ready for this one so almost missed this red white and blue one with a tribute to the troops.  They are very near Ft. Leonard.

Since we were heading near Joplin, we reached out to Sister Lee Anne and Elder Ellery Bennett, our newest senior missionaries, to make a quick visit with them  (which is why we are in our traveling clothes in this picture.)  Our quick visit was about an hour and a wonderful hour it was.  As I mentioned before, Elder Bennett grew up in Syracuse and knew Gary's parents and they had so many people in common.  He is a cousin to our dear Norm Bennett and so we shared this photo with his daughters, Debbie Woodrow and Karla Robinett--our dear friends after our visit.  It was wonderful to spend time with them and we are excited to serve with them in the AR Bentonville Mission.

We started getting some rain as well, but were able to capture a shot of this cross in Joplin, MO on the way out of town.

Made it back to Arkansas...

and pass the temple in Bentonville which is just off I-49....and then 1 1/2 hours later, we were home.

Quick trip but filled with sweetness, fun, and connections....and the world is a pretty place even if the Mississippi River is muddy!