18. St Louis – 15 April 2012

Gateway Arch is pretty big, I think over 600 feet high. It does dominate the skyline, and it looks pretty cool up close.

St Louis is one of the those places I really want to like more than I do. Downtown has Busch Stadium, relocated home of the Cardinals, the big arch and a riverfront park. The drive in from Arkansas (I44) is pleasant enough. But the city has some challenges and some very rough edges.

The mighty Mississippi River forms the border with Illinois, but the bridges and broken down factories and sketchy casino bring it down. That arch is magnificent, but when they built it, I think those folks got in their wagon trains and kept going west.

It was a cool morning in St Louis, I had stayed downtown so it was not far to go to the start line. Uneventful run,  but enough supporters on the course and great volunteers, so it was a good run. The last part of the course finished with the Arch in view.