St. Louis. Riverboat Ride On The Mississippi.

Mr. Hawthorne and I are working the tourist angle. On the waterfront right below the Arch, they have riverboat cruises. We're taking a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi!

Mr. Hawthorne wanted to dip his toes in the Mississippi so he could say he did.

Pretty flower pots.

We're boarding the Tom Sawyer.

Arch from our riverboat.

Geyser on the Illinois side of the river.

Arch from the muddy Mississippi.

Helicopter rides started at $35.

This is the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River connecting St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois. It is a combined road and railway bridge. Named for its builder and designer, James B. Eads, the Eads bridge was completed in 1874 and was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6442 feet. Using steel as a primary structural material in the ribbed spans was the first use of true steel in a major bridge project and was considered quite daring. The Eads bridge was also the first one built using cantilever support methods exclusively and one of the first using pneumatic caissons. The Eads Bridge caissons, among the deepest ever sunk, were responsible for one of the first major outbreaks of "caisson disease," also known as the bends or decompression sickness. Critics of the Eads Bridge were skeptical that the bridge was safe. On June 14, 1874, a test elephant from a traveling circus was led on a stroll across the new bridge to prove it was safe. It was believed that an elephant's instincts would keep him from setting foot on an unsafe structure. Two weeks later, Eads sent 14 locomotives back and forth across the bridge at one time. After the Civil War, the domination of the river trade was not as important as it had been, and Chicago was fast becoming the center of commerce in the West. The Eads Bridge was conceived as a solution to reverse this situation.

Statue of Lewis and Clark. I don't know why they stuck them in the river. During floods they would be completely submerged.

Edward Jones Dome for the Rams.

Old Casino boat. It would summer in St. Louis and winter in New Orleans.

Retaining walls along the Mississippi.

Barges on the Mississippi.

Scrap metal being loaded onto a barge. Notice they start loading at one end and move to the other end.

Salt being unloaded from a barge to be used on the roads in the winter time.

Eads bridge with the Arch in the background.

The Arch dominates the skyline.

Grounded barges.

Pigeons like to catch a ride on the grain barges.

Next, the Hawthornes are hungry. Must find food.