White Haven, Grant Farm St. Louis
The Clydedales were beautiful, I imagine in summer when the grass is green it is really picturesque. I did park and in true tourist form, walked back down the road to get some pictures... and just like a greenhorn I had to whistle and get the horses to run... I'm sure the stable hands were impressed. :-)
Then as we were driving north along the river there were these crazy houses on stilts... they just didn't look safe to me. I'd think if it flooded, and trees and misc debris came down the river it would wipe these things right off their stilts.
Sigh... we did finally make it to Iowa last night. What a surprise to me... seemed like a pretty major highway running north that we were on. When we went through Hannibal, MO I wasn't ready to stop, and thought we'd make to IA, then shortly after I changed my mind and started to look for a place to stop... nada Made me laugh, cause people think that Burns is the end of the earth...
The first major town in IA, was 15 miles to SE, so I passed on leaving the freeway... when we got to the highway that will take us to Troy, looked like there should be a hotel/motel... only thing there was a Mom and Pop sort that looked like the "Bates Motel", my thoughts were, oh well probably none of the amenities that you hope to have (like a good mattress) but their lights were and there was a flashing VACANCY sign begging us to stop and we were there, and there were no lights ahead of us, signaling a more populated community on the highway up ahead of us.
the wind was howling and it was cold... I rang the bell several times, but no one came to help us... so off we went down the highway some. Finally we had to travel 10 miles off the highway in the wrong directions to find a room. secretely I was glad that they didn't answer at the Bates Motel... The whole point of this diatribe, is that there wasn't any lodging on the highway, and you had to drive so far off the path to find one. Finally got a bunk at a motel in Fort Madison. It's comfortable, and we needed to stop. I can just imagine the critical reviews that some people might write about this place, but we are safe and I was getting tired of driving. But no internet...
After we picked up the car, which is great ! We went to Grant Farm National Park before we left St. Louis, what we were really looking for was the Budweiser Clydesdale's and were directed out there. This was the home place of Ulysses S Grant's wife, Julia Dent. They built this house that they named White Haven (but it was always this color green) and it was intended for his retirement, but he died before they could live there full time. What I had in mind to go see was the ornate Budweiser Stable that is usually depicted in their advertising. They told us at the Park that the stable was in down town next to the Brewery... that was too much for me to try to navigate the city traffic when we really needed to head north... so we took time to look through the historical exhibit. I had a few melencholy moments, when I walked into the Visitor's Center and was greeted by a park ranger in full official green smokey uniform. 
When he put his hat on... I started to cry.... It took me a few minutes to exlain that I grew up within the Cape Cod National Seashore, and my favorite Auntie Bert, had worked for Park (NPS), from 1963 to the time of her death in 2004. She had proudly wore NP uniform complete with her smokey hat every day to work. The poor Grant Farm Park Ranger didn't know what to do with me, as I cried everytime I looked at him for the first five minutes. (my family will understand) It was a very good tour, and I learned a lot about Grant that I had forgotten. The scooter certainly makes it easy for Ansel to get around and look at things. It gives me an appreciation for all the work that the ADA folks do making ordinary places handicap accessible.
There is a Clydesdale operation next to it, the Grant Farm, There was a sign on the gate Budweiser Clydesdales, but everything was locked tight. There seemed to be lots of yearling clydes in different white wash fenced pastures. The farm was closed, and the roads were heavily signed no stopping or parking.
When he put his hat on... I started to cry.... It took me a few minutes to exlain that I grew up within the Cape Cod National Seashore, and my favorite Auntie Bert, had worked for Park (NPS), from 1963 to the time of her death in 2004. She had proudly wore NP uniform complete with her smokey hat every day to work. The poor Grant Farm Park Ranger didn't know what to do with me, as I cried everytime I looked at him for the first five minutes. (my family will understand) It was a very good tour, and I learned a lot about Grant that I had forgotten. The scooter certainly makes it easy for Ansel to get around and look at things. It gives me an appreciation for all the work that the ADA folks do making ordinary places handicap accessible.There is a Clydesdale operation next to it, the Grant Farm, There was a sign on the gate Budweiser Clydesdales, but everything was locked tight. There seemed to be lots of yearling clydes in different white wash fenced pastures. The farm was closed, and the roads were heavily signed no stopping or parking.
The Clydedales were beautiful, I imagine in summer when the grass is green it is really picturesque. I did park and in true tourist form, walked back down the road to get some pictures... and just like a greenhorn I had to whistle and get the horses to run... I'm sure the stable hands were impressed. :-)Then as we were driving north along the river there were these crazy houses on stilts... they just didn't look safe to me. I'd think if it flooded, and trees and misc debris came down the river it would wipe these things right off their stilts.
Sigh... we did finally make it to Iowa last night. What a surprise to me... seemed like a pretty major highway running north that we were on. When we went through Hannibal, MO I wasn't ready to stop, and thought we'd make to IA, then shortly after I changed my mind and started to look for a place to stop... nada Made me laugh, cause people think that Burns is the end of the earth...
The first major town in IA, was 15 miles to SE, so I passed on leaving the freeway... when we got to the highway that will take us to Troy, looked like there should be a hotel/motel... only thing there was a Mom and Pop sort that looked like the "Bates Motel", my thoughts were, oh well probably none of the amenities that you hope to have (like a good mattress) but their lights were and there was a flashing VACANCY sign begging us to stop and we were there, and there were no lights ahead of us, signaling a more populated community on the highway up ahead of us.
the wind was howling and it was cold... I rang the bell several times, but no one came to help us... so off we went down the highway some. Finally we had to travel 10 miles off the highway in the wrong directions to find a room. secretely I was glad that they didn't answer at the Bates Motel... The whole point of this diatribe, is that there wasn't any lodging on the highway, and you had to drive so far off the path to find one. Finally got a bunk at a motel in Fort Madison. It's comfortable, and we needed to stop. I can just imagine the critical reviews that some people might write about this place, but we are safe and I was getting tired of driving. But no internet...
