Not in Boston anymore...

St. Louis...what to say about St. Louis?  It was a very small, clean city but I liked it and would go back in a heartbeat.  I didn't get to see nearly enough of what it offers but I still got a good feel for it.  I left Chicago pretty early, around 7 and got into St. Louis around noon.  I headed straight for the Anheuser-Busch factory to get a tour at 12:15 and it was as expected, huge! After the tour I shot over to Busch Stadium to get a ticket for the Cardinals vs. Cubs game.  I didn't even get out of my car when a scalper came running over to me and sold me a $45 ticket for $20 bucks.  Psyched that I had only been in town for an hour or so and that I'd already seen the brewery and gotten my ticket, I headed to the hotel (thanks Mom!) to check in and get cleaned up a bit.  It was a nice hotel, not uber nice but a pretty cool place with free food and drinks from 5:30-7:00.  Once I cleaned up I went to find some food and ended up finding the best pulled pork sandwich I've ever had (ok 2nd to my Nana's)...so good.  It was the St. Louis Brewhouse, supposedly a historic sports bar.  So I ate and then had to check out the city.  I didn't get too far, just to the arch.  How can you go to St. Louis and NOT go up the arch right?  I have to say it was an impressive sight to see.  It is 630 feet high making it the largest monument in the US.  Going up the arch is not for those that are claustrophobic or scared of heights though.  You have to squeeze 5-6 people in this very small compartment of which there are 8 total making up the entire tram.  It didn't take too long to get up there but it's not moving very fast.  Once you get to the top there are 32 windows allowing you to look out over the Mississippi River and the city.

Once I was done playing around 600' above the ground I went back to the hotel to relax and waited for dinner to be served.  They offered hot dogs, salad, baked potatoes, meatballs, chicken tenders and you were allowed three free drinks.  I ate real quick and headed out to the game.  I didn't have a great seat but it wasn't bad either.  Albert Pujols wasn't playing which was disappointing but it was still great being at a rivalry game, especially as an outsider.  The Cardinals sucked it up big time which surprised a lot of people because Adam Wainwright was on the mound (and on my fantasy team) but he didn't do too well.  They ended up losing 7-2.  It's a very nice stadium though and I highly recommend seeing a game there.

I took my time waking up in the morning because I was only headed to Kansas City (MO), a measly five hour drive.  I grabbed some breakfast, also free, and to my surprise they were serving biscuits and gravy!!!  Woohooo it was definitely my morning.  So I clogged some arteries with a couple biscuits covered in gravy along with sausage and eggs and I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come!

On my way out I saw my first (and so far only) hitch-hiker and actually found a good radio station.  Heading across Missouri was much different than I had expected.  There was civilization!  It wasn't just corn and flatlands there were plenty of things to do the entire way to Kansas City.  I'm not going to say it was highly urbanized or anything but it was not as desolate as I had ignorantly believed it would have been and there were numerous hills.

I rolled into KC and went straight for the Negro League Baseball Museum which was in the same building as the American Jazz Museum.  I went into the baseball museum first but was not allowed to take pictures, which was too bad because they had some astounding collections.  Not too many people know that a Negro League even existed and most certainly do not realize that some of the greatest baseball players to ever step on a field never played in Major League Baseball such as Josh Gibson, a hitter only comparable to Babe Ruth.  Once Jackie Robinson broke the barrier and more players were allowed to join the MLB the Negro League diminished but the opportunity for equality in baseball had begun.

The Jazz museum showed how jazz grew up in Kansas City, on 18th and Vine.  Next to New Orleans this was the place to be and in Kansas City this is where it all happened.  The museum focused on hometown boy Charlie Parker, but also greats such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and of course Louis Armstrong.  It had all kinds of samples from their early works all throughout their careers.  If you ever get to Kansas City, MO please make it over to 18th and Vine.

Of course I had to find food again...so I stumbled upon Arthur Bryant's bbq and had some ribs (outstanding), fries and some cole slaw.  Once I was done spilling bbq sauce all over myself I headed for the Holiday Inn near Kaufmann Stadium, home of the soon to be AAA Kansas City Royals.  It was pouring out, enough that they had to delay the game an hour.  I got down to the stadium around 6:45 and spared the last $7 I had to buy a ticket.  This entire experience was absurd.  $7 to get in, $1/hotdogs and sodas, $6 for a GOOD beer (not bud light), it was Elvis Night (out of control) and there were maybe 5000 people in the entire place.  I sat first row on the right field line of this gorgeous stadium.  It was a good game and Kansas City defeated another monster ball club, the A's with two home runs; one a grand slam and the other a two-run bomb.  Coco Crisp had a nasty catch in center field and there were a few other nice defensive plays.  I got to talking with one of the ushers and realize that's what I want to do when I'm his age.  He gets paid to watch baseball games!  One of these days...but the stadium really is beautiful if you ever get a chance to go.

And now for the fun stuff!  I left Kansas City at 8:00AM and headed through Kansas on my way Denver.  Randomness of the day: While getting gas before heading out this guy asks if I'm from Mass (no I just steal their plates) and it turned out he was from Saco, ME.  What are the chances!  Anyway, I headed out extremely close-minded about driving through Kansas.  I didn't hear any encouraging words about this part of the drive, all I heard was how horrible it was and how there was nothing to see.  So I needed to make my own adventures or else I was never going to make it six hours across this state.  As I read my 1,000 places you need to see in the US/Canada (thanks again Mom) I noticed there were two things I wanted to find.
[MOM DISCLAIMER: I'D SKIP THE KANSAS SECTION SO YOU CAN SLEEP LATER]
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First on my list was the Wizard of Oz museum in Wamego...yeah, that's what I said too.  So I crossed my fingers, texted my sister in case I didn't return so she'd know my last whereabouts, and headed 9 miles out of my way in search of this impressive landmark.  The winding roads led me to the smallest of towns only held together by one of the greatest movies of all time.  My first vision on my left is the Oz wine store (no I didn't but I should have) and then just a bit further down this road with no street lights is the Oz museum.  I got there five minutes before it opened and of course waited!  How could I go through Kansas and not hit up an Oz museum?  Thankfully I was able to take pictures in here because if you are an Oz fan this is the place to be.  There was memorabilia and all kinds of history on Frank L. Baum, the many versions of the book, earlier movies, later movies, sequels; toys, dolls, games, replicas, everything you could think of!  I could have stayed here all day and learned every fact about the movie but instead had to get back on the road and finish my long drive.

The next page in the book that caught my eye was on the Niobrara Chalk formations.  If you've ever driven through Kansas and did not know these existed you never would.  And the only reason I was able to head in the right direction is because I had some help from a good friend back in Boston (thanks DB!)  There were two options, Monument and Castle.  Monument was 20 miles south of I-70 (of which I was currently on) and another six miles from there.  Castle was only 15/5.  I chose Castle.  I was told to "take exit 107 and look for signs."  Well I'm sorry Ace of Base but I did NOT see the sign here.  I got off the exit to a sign that said

<------ Castle Rock Rd. ------>  Awesome!  At least I knew I had to head south so I did so and eventually about a 1/4 mile down the road there was a very beat up sign that said Castle Rock 15 miles south/4 miles East...at least I was heading the right direction.  Another half mile down the road and the pavement turns into a dirt road.  At this point there is a red flag parade telling me to turn around...I'm in a Ford Focus not a Jeep but I said WTF and headed on 14 miles down this dirt road and kept telling myself that I'd go the entire 15 and if I didn't see anything I'd turn back.  Luckily at mile 15 I saw another sign that pointed east 4 miles.  At this point I could visibly see the rocks so I was a bit more comfortable about the whole situation.  Of course those rocks and one farm was all I could see and just like in the movies when you looked down each road all you saw was horizon, it was surreal.

I drove down as close as I could get my beast of a car and walked up to the top of the cliff where I spotted four limestone/chalk formations.  I was still pretty far away so they looked really small and with almost a "that's it" attitude I was kind of disappointed.  The actual rock formations were remarkable because there was nothing around them, I just thought they'd be bigger but like I said I was at least 1/2 mile away.  Thinking that was it I took a few pics (while being attacked by grasshoppers) and turned to head back.  As I was walking down I spied with my little eye more formations on the other side of the cliff.  Now I know everyone comes to this point to see the Castle Rocks but these other formations were way cooler and made this trip worth every ding in my car.  Great times!

It's not Boston, but I've gotta hand it to the mid-west, they've got their own thing going.  It may not be large buildings and historic monuments but at least you get to go on an adventure to find their hidden treasures, you don't follow a painted red line on the street.  So Mizzou and Kansas I give you both a big thumbs up and if I ever decide to drive through again I'll be making my next stop at Monument rocks to compare the two.

Now I sit in Denver, CO (thanks Nick!) and await another very long couple of days.  My last two days before I hit Cali.  I'll be heading through Bryce Canyon (per Em's suggestion) to the Grand Canyon and then to San Diego.  Next time I write I'll probably be in Monterey to catch everyone up on how the trip ended...until then wish me luck on the last leg of my journey and thanks to everyone for your support!

Date/Day: 9/16/10: Day 7
States: 11
Mileage: 2500
Next Stop: Utah
Games Back: 6
Baseball Games: 2