The St. Louis Arch was anti-climactic. I figured it would be.

Now, the engineering of the Arch is… not for describing here. Though a cursory look at it into seems interesting enough, I don’t comprehend all the physics behind it, and won’t pretend otherwise.

I came to St. Louis because I wanted to see the terrain where Lewis and Clark began their journey, and, as silly as this may seem, I felt like I was paying homage to them. Those heroes are worthy of our honor.

I was also here for what can probably be called vanity. The St. Louis Gateway Arch is a National Park, and it was my 35th one to visit. Now I could say, “I’ve been to 35.” Why would that be important? The ability to boast about places I’ve seen, though, it is true that I love the land of the United States of America like no other, and St. Louis seems like the cultural center of it all, as the men who built the Arch also felt.

I could have taken the elevator to the top. But I didn’t want to spend $15, and wait 45 minutes for the next trip, and surrender my pocket knife to an federal worker after a body scan. I detest those people. Plus, St Louis has a lot of black… St Louis has a lot of crime. My Tundra was loaded with expensive stuff, and I don’t trust American cities.

I could have been motivated to explore more of St Louis. I could have gone to the City Museum or the Missouri History Museum. Places like that can fascinate me. My respect for this area was made clear in my previous post. But no. I would have had to get an expensive motel in a safe area, as there was no way in hell I’d stay anywhere else, and my pockets aren’t deep. So, after a little over an hour in the Gateway City, it was time to head to East St Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, and then south for an even bigger detour from my route to Syracuse.

What’s in Southern Illinois you ask? Well, three things…

One, there is the Shawnee National Forest. I wanted to see what the forested lands of Southern Illinois looked like. I’d read it’s hilly down there. I’d read that those Shawnee Hills were formed from the same upwarping of the Earth’s crust which also created the Ozark Mountain Country of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. That concept intrigued me.  Illinois possibly feeling like Arkansas? No way.  Plus, I’d also read there was a Grand Canyon down there too.  No joke.

Two, in far Southern Illinois, I’d seen on my Rand McNally Atlas an area called the Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge. A Google Image search revealed this area to be a cypress swamp. To those who don’t know, bald cypresses (taxodium distichum) are the trees that grow out of the water in the swamps of Southern Louisiana. What are they doing in Illinois? These are some of the northernmost cypresses in America. After maybe feeling like Arkansas, did Illinois suddenly feel like Louisiana? This concept also intrigued me.

By a land “feeling” a certain way, I guess I mean that I’m curious how the horizons will make me feel. Obviously, some horizons are prettier than others. Some horizons are inspiring. I didn’t think the Illinois Grand Canyon would inspire me like the Arizona Grand Canyon, but I was willing to spend time and money to satiate these nebulous curiosities.

And, three, down at the southernmost point of Illinois, there is the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo. The Mississippi was once called the American Nile for its central role in America’s geography and commerce, and the Ohio was also of great importance. A man named John Comegy in 1818 conceived that this intersection of these watery highways of commerce and settlement would one day make this muddy, humid wilderness the capital city of a vast economic empire, and maybe a new civilization. Why not name Cairo, Illinois after the capital city of civilization whose lifeblood was the real Nile?

And was there still something discernible in the air that once manifested such a grand notion? There’s a lot of fresh water down there, and fresh water is the lifeblood of civilization. How much water would actually be there? How wide were the rivers?

After Cairo – pronounced “care-oh” – I’d head eastward into Kentucky, with the intention of visiting Mammoth Cave National Park. My vanity, at that point, would allow me to add Kentucky as my 41st state and Mammoth Cave as my 36th National Park. But I was also curious to see the good land of America’s 1st State formed west of the Appalachian Mountains. And it wasn’t just vanity that motivated to see Mammoth Cave. America’s National Parks are treasures. They are some of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth. Why not divert to Mammoth Cave? Not caring to see National Parks reflects a lack of imagination that is unideal.

I’d not make it deep into Kentucky on this 9th day of June in the year of our Lord 2026. Maybe I’d not make Kentucky at all. I’d see. Going with the wind can be fun. No plans can be fun.

Perhaps most would consider me just plain weird to waste time and money venturing into Southern Illinois. But indifference to others is a blessing.