October 14, the start of our fifth week on the road and the third week of the Mississippi River Run tour. Today we traveled from Hannibal to St Louis, Missouri. Our destination, Sundermeier RV Park in St Charles. This was primarily a travel day, but it did have the sort of jewel box experience that makes RV travel fun.

As I mentioned earlier, we are following the Great River Road on this tour, for the most part. That keeps us off the interstate and on the scenic byways. There are more opportunities to “stop and smell the roses” on a route like this, especially when you have a long travel window and plenty of time to putter.

Today’s drive took us over some high bluffs overlooking the Mississippi. We passed a scenic view pullout, and decided that we would turn in at the next one. We did, and found a rather nondescript parking area in the woods. Its distinguishing feature was a picnic table with a couple of abandoned coffee pots and a jar of hickory nuts on it. Interesting, but not especially scenic.

A road led out of the parking lot further into the woods. Not wanting to get caught in a tough spot with the trailer we decided to walk in, hoping for a nice view as a reward.

We found a fabulous view of the river valley. We also found a small group of antique car enthusiasts parked in the large lot up there, enjoying the view. We got to visiting with one of them and found that all of the men in the group had tinkered with cars since their teens. They had restored and updated all of the cars in their fleet. The cars had modern engines, transmissions and so on, and any customizations that would make them more fun to drive. Now that they are all retired, the group has the time and resources to take their cars out on the road together and travel around. They are definitely enjoying their second childhood!