Day 163-4: Chester, Illinois / St. Louis, Missouri

While we'd driven and had stops at 3 states already yesterday, in the morning we crossed into yet another state, across the Mississippi River: Illinois! It's our 24th state on this trip. But more importantly, it's Michael's birthday!! It's not until we are a few days out that we tend to know where we'll be on a particular day. While we didn't have a traditional birthday celebration for Michael this year with cakes, candles, balloons, and the like, this year everyday can be considered a celebration, with us traveling around the country together with Sheila! Michael got a card from Lisette, lots of messages and calls from friends from all over the world, and beautiful, sunny weather.

The Home of Popeye

The Illinoisan town immediately across the Mississippi River is Chester. It's also known as the "Home of Popeye", as the cartoon's creator, Elzie C. Segar, was born here in 1894. We drove into what we believed to be the center of town, seeing various statues of characters from Popeye along the way. There was a Popeye Museum there that should have been open based on its hours, but it was shut and locked. But we got to take a photo of one of the characters, Wimpy, and see a couple of lovely Popeye-themed murals!

We weren't sure where Popeye's statue was, so we looked it up--only to realize that he is located at the Chester Visitor Center, which we passed as soon as we crossed the bridge to enter the town! We couldn't believe that we'd missed it, but we were focused on taking a photo of the "Welcome to Illinois" sign rather than noticing the building alongside it. Fortunately we were heading back that way anyway, so we were able to see the Illinois sign, Popeye statue, and take some time to look out into the Mississippi River.

Our First Day in St. Louis

Within an hour or so, we'd crossed the Mississippi River yet again (we'd end up doing this multiple times over the next couple of days) to return into Missouri, arriving in St. Louis! Shockingly (sarcasm), it was another hot day, so naturally our first stop was to try frozen custard for the very first time at a place we'd read positive reviews about: Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Frozen custard is a frozen dessert like ice cream, but frozen custard includes egg yolks, which makes it thicker and creamier. Maybe we've eaten it at some point, but it's definitely not something we recall seeing advertised! Meanwhile, in the Midwest it's big business, with a ton of fast food chains and dedicated frozen custard places.

We felt overwhelmed immediately upon looking at the menu. There's "concretes" (frozen custard mixed with candy, fruit or chocolate), malts, shakes, floats, ice cream sodas, and sundaes. And within each category there were dozens of flavors and options, resulting in what seemed like dozens of potential order combinations. Uh... we just want to try a frozen custard!

We both ordered sundaes; Lisette can't remember her order (but it had hot fudge and it was delicious!), while Michael ordered a Hawaiian Delight sundae which had pineapple, banana, macadamia nuts and coconut. We haven't had sundaes for a long time, but what was great about Ted Drewes is that you can order small or even "micro" sizes so that it's in a small kiddie-sized cup! Lisette ordered the smallest size while Michael ordered the next size up, although for some reason Lisette got hers in the same size as Michael, so hers was definitely better value! The frozen custard definitely tastes like a thicker ice cream, and we plan to try it again at some point later on this trip.

Day 1 Highlights

The Turtle Playground Sculptures was a fun find in St. Louis; it opened in 1996 as a playground for children to clamber all over the backs of the giant reptile sculptures, including turtles and snakes and snake eggs. The sculptures are so big that Michael was hard to spot in the photo we took of him on the back of a turtle! We did clamber to sit on them, albeit briefly so we wouldn't get third-degree burns as they were scalding from the sun!

We drove past the largest Amoco sign in the world (a gas brand that's now part of BP; the sign is 40 feet tall and 60 feet wide) and the Delmar Loop (an entertainment district in University City, an inner suburb of St. Louis) to get to the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). On a couple of street corners of this cute area that also had some upmarket shops, the WCHOF is place where chess enthusiasts can see exhibits, participate in events, see who has made it into the U.S. Hall of Fame and World Hall of Fame, and of course play chess! There's a huge chess set where people can battle against each other with pieces that are at least a couple of feet tall, with additional tables surrounding this with board-sized chess set waiting for folks to play. It's great that the area promotes chess for kids and people of all ages, as a way of bringing people together.

That evening, we drove across the Mississippi River again to stay at Cahokia RV Parque. Despite it being in Illinois, it was a mere 5 minutes drive to get back into St. Louis! Of course it had a pool, which was a max of 5 feet deep. We've realized that the deeper the pool, the better so that the water isn't so hot. Otherwise it needs a fountain or hose of some sort to keep adding water back into it (which fortunately this one had). We had planned to visit and go inside one of St. Louis' top attractions, the Gateway Arch, tomorrow, but because we'd forgotten to reserve in advance, all the spots were booked by the time we'd looked in the evening. So, we'll be staying 2 nights in this RV park to go the day after next!

Day 2 in St. Louis

Not far from the RV Park is the Holy Family Log Church, a French colonial style church characterized by its dark walnut timbers, which was built in 1786. It's one of 5 such surviving buildings in North America, so the church is very unique. The church has been a Catholic parish since 1699, which makes it the oldest continuously operating parish in the U.S. We couldn't go inside as it was closed, but it was cool to see it and read about its history.

After that we had a very quick stop at the National Building Arts Center. Again we couldn't go inside but we got to see a replica Statue of Liberty lying on the ground reminiscent of the movie the Day After Tomorrow.

The Anheuser-Busch Brewery & Tour

Driving back into St. Louis gave us a fantastic view of the Gateway Arch from the highway (we'll see you tomorrow!), ahead of arriving at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. In 1852, a German-American brewer started Bavarian Brewery, which was purchased on the brink of bankruptcy by William D'Oench, a local pharmacist, and Eberhard Anheuser, a German-born soap manufacturer a few years later. Adolphus Busch, who immigrated to St. Louis from Germany, married Anheuser's daughter, and purchased D'Oench's share of the company in 1869, leading to the company being renamed to Anheuser-Busch. Today, the company continues to be headquartered in St. Louis, and is the world's largest brewing company, producing beers including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Beck's, and other alcoholic drinks.

We decided on a whim to take the Day Fresh Tour, the most popular brewery tour option, which would take us through the factory where we could see how the beer was manufactured. One of the first places we visited was the stables that had several Clydesdale horses. Clydesdales are from Scotland, but they're part of Budweiser beer's history, as these horses were purchased to celebrate the end of the Prohibition era in the country. Today, they're synonymous with the brand, and are featured in commercials, parades and events.

The first beer that we tried as a Budweiser Light, which we both agreed tasted pretty good! We're not Budweiser drinkers, but it was easy and smooth to drink. We walked into the much cooler, underground cellars to see the gigantic, stainless-steel fermentation tanks, and other equipment like the mash tun, which is used to turn the starch present in grains into sugar for the fermentation process.

We that they can package 1,300 beer bottles a minute(!), and we each received a freshly-sealed bottle of Busch Light to take home. Before the tour ended, we also got to try one last beer, where we both opted for a Golden Road Mango Cart, a craft wheat ale with real mango.

The tour was fun and very educational, but our tour guide spoke very monotonously and seemed to be going through the motions of taking us through the different areas over the hour and a half. He didn't engage with any of the people on tour, didn't ask if anyone had any questions, and as soon as the tour ended, he disappeared immediately back into the building without saying "thanks for coming" or even a goodbye! We weren't fazed by this, but it would certainly be better to have someone lead the tour that was more excited and engaged!

Water and Gooey Butter

By the time we finished the tour we were starving (and Lisette who rarely drinks may have felt slightly tipsy at one point), so after a filling lunch back in the RV, we headed to the Venice Cafe, a bar and music venue covered with funky folk art & bright mosaics. It was closed because it was still early, but we could peer through the windows to see some of the quirky art and kitschy items inside (limbless Hulk Hogan figurine from the 80s, anyone?), and through the fence we could see clearly into the outdoor seating patio which was filled with more zany pieces.

Further along, we stopped at the Compton Water Tower, one of several historic water towers in the City. One of the towers, the Grand Avenue Water Tower, is also the tallest free-standing Corinthian column in the world, at 46.94 meters (154.0 feet). It was scorching by this time, so despite the heat, we bolted across the street so Sheila wouldn't have to run on the black road for long (plus we don't trust drivers here--everyone seems to be in a rush, and drivers will happily cut right in front of you on a pedestrian crossing).

Next... it was time for dessert! Whenever we visit a new state we check with the state food is, and the gooey butter cake originated in St. Louis. It has a gooey, custard-like center and a crisp, sugary top, often dusted with powdered sugar. We'd heard that Park Avenue Coffee sells over 70 flavors made by a company called Ann & Allen. We chatted to the guy at the cafe who gave us a lot of info on the flavors (they don't make all 70 at the cafe, but these can be ordered in advance), before settling on the traditional flavor (cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar), and the red velvet flavor. Two of the red velvet slices were stuck together, so we ended up with 3 slices for the price of 2! The cakes were pretty good--a bit of the crunch to the crust, custard center, and sweet powdered sugar dusted on top. You can't go wrong--and actually, this was in a way, Michael's birthday cake!

One of the Best Churches We've Ever Seen

While we use Atlas Obscura often to check out quirky places that aren't on the standard tourist plans, we will also look at Google Maps to see what the attractions are there--and in some cases, these places really should be listed in Atlas Obscura as well.

This was 1,000% the case with The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Planning began in the 1870s, and while the cathedral was completed in 1914, the mosaics only started to be installed in 1912 and finished in 1988. There are a staggering 41.5 million glass mosaics in more than 7,000 colors, covering more than 83,000 square feet (7,700 square meters). It's the largest mosaic collection in the world!

The cathedral itself in gigantic and incredible, but these mosaics are absolutely stunning--the craftsmanship and how precise each individual tile is upon close inspection was unlike anything we've ever seen. There are so many religious scenes depicted, and we could have stayed for much longer (and gotten sore necks in the process) just looking up at all the mosaics high above us. We've been to a lot of churches in our travels, such as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City, but we agreed that this cathedral is without a doubt one of the best churches we've ever seen. Who would've thought that one of the best churches in the world is in St. Louis, Missouri? Downstairs, there's a museum that includes a number of religious artifacts, details about the mosaic installation, as well as burial crypts. It closes at 4pm, so we zoomed through this as we were there around closing time.

The Ville

We needed to refuel, and on the way there (and not far from the incredible Cathedral Basilica), ended up driving through a neighborhood called The Ville. As soon as we drove in, we knew realized that this was a very poor and unsafe part of town. The red brick houses built about a century or so ago were all run down. The majority of houses had roofs that were caved in, with only a few able to be a covered by tarps. There were piles or brick rubble strewn in the front yards of many homes. Some windows had been smashed, while others were just boarded up with cheap plywood. We've seen dilapidated neighborhoods before, but nothing to the extent of this, as if the zombie apocalypse had come and gone. It was really heartbreaking to see, and it'll take a lot of support, money, and resources to clean up this neighborhood and help the community that lives here. We'd read that from 1910-1950, The Ville had a thriving culture for the African American community, but it has sadly been in continual decline since then.

Union Station

Returning towards downtown, we visited Union Station. Today, it's an entertainment complex and historical area, with a hotel, train station Grand Hall, an aquarium, and numerous stores and restaurants. There's also a 200-foot ferris wheel nearby. We went to the retro St. Louis Union Station Soda Fountain, which appealed to the senses with its bright neon colors, dizzying array of candies, and various desserts and other treats. Michael got himself an old school soda float, with vanilla ice cream. Being the hot day that it was, it started melting quicker than we could say, "Eat it before it gets all over your shirt!"

Heading back to the RV Park for the second night, it was unsurprisingly another pool evening to cool off before wrapping up for the day!

Route Map