St. Louis in the early morning - and I am now solo



Sunday, August 18 2019
Day 8 on the Loop – Alton, IL (O miles)

Had a very restful night at the Hyatt Hotel in St. Louis, and loved the luxury of having a long shower in the morning where I did not have to think about how much water was left in the tank, though to be fair that has not been much of a worry on Sunny Tug, with its 70 gallon water tank.

John and I went out for a walk before breakfast and enjoyed the peacefulness of early Sunday morning.  




We saw snake on a ramp that looked like it did not have a way out, so reported it to an NPS Ranger who was patrolling the area.  We also got some nice views of the Arch with the sun glinting off it.


The Arch in early morning light

John’s flight had been delayed, so we had a chance to visit the old courthouse, a very grand building located opposite the Arch.  It was also an NPS facility, and they had more good information about the westward expansion and the Lewis and Clark expedition.





The old courthouse, as seen from the top of the Arch




Looking up into the dome of the old courthouse

We returned to the hotel and John got a call from reception to let them know that they had mistakenly charged his card $5,800 for valet parking!   They also said they had reversed the charge but wanted to let him know.  As compensation, they removed our parking and breakfast charges so it worked out well in the end.

I took John to the St. Louis Airport for his return flight to California and then drove back to Sunny Tug.  It did feel like coming home!  Alton marina has a nice laundry room (two washers and one drier load cost $3), so I did laundry and some other boat chores.  I also decided to hook up a second separate power cable, since the system seems to trip the circuit on the cable when I use one 30 amp cable with a splitter.

I also received my first shipment of mail from St. Brendan's Isle, the mail forwarding service I am using in Florida.  Most things are handled electronically, but some things have to go through the mail and they provide an excellent service, opening and scanning mail that I ask them to, or holding it until I am at a place for long enough that I can receive mail.




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