St Louis MO to Gold Beach OR July 9, 1996

ON TO ST. LOUIS
  We headed northwest to St. Louis where we spent a couple of days visiting my sisters and families, Bud and June Pallardy and Lou and Ruth Chiodini. We spent the Fourth of July with them and the next day headed for home.

  On the return trip we stayed on I-70 to Reno. Our first night out we stopped at Russell, Kansas, former Sen. Bob Dole's home town. Local residents said he still has a house in Russell which he stays in when campaigning in Kansas. But none of them expected him to move back if he loses his bid for the presidency.

  The highest pass we went through on the trip (11,013) was Loveland Pass east of Vail, Colorado. Just outside Reno we had the hairiest incident of the trip, a flat which we changed along the freeway with trucks roaring by at speeds of about Mach 20.

  At Reno we turned northwest and retraced our route through Susanville and Medford and on home arriving Tuesday, July 9. Our total mileage was 6200, a long way to go for a boat ride but a great trip overall.

  Some observations were: the freeway system is deteriorating. Overall, paving and general condition of the freeways would score no better than C+.

  Many states still have advertising signs along the freeways. They don't look as pretty, but do furnish useful information. As an example, after changing a flat near Reno, a sign gave us the location of a tire store where could get a permanent repair.

  I took along my cellular telephone set for "roaming", but the cellular concept is "not ready for prime time" on a nationwide basis. Mostly we were able to call to where we wanted, although procedures varied from no problem at all to having to go through manual operators, or even not being to get out at all. We had to abandon trying to get incoming calls.

  If we were doing such a trip again, we would do a few things differently, but overall the trip went well and it was a thoroughly
enjoyable experience.
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