St. Louis, Missouri

Heading west from Bloomington, Indiana, we quickly entered Illinois.
Then we quickly left Illinois and were once again in our home state of Missouri.

We spent three nights in the historic St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, Missouri at the Sundermeier RV Park.

We drove by the famous St. Louis Arch.

We visited friends Matt and Jeff at their business, Four Muddy Paws.

A complete mutt store must include gourmet doggie treats...

resident dog food connoisseurs...

and self-service doggie wash bays.

We had a barbecue at our friends' mansion. It was a little bigger than our motorhome...

and the cat even had its own apartment!

The next day we took a bicycle tour of a new development nearby called New Town.

New Town features traditional homes, as well as housing inspired by cities in America and around the world, brought together in a small town community.

Row houses feature front stoops of yesteryear.

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/july/sundermeier-rv-park/ , http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/july/visiting-matt-and-j/ and http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/july/visiting-friends-at/ .

To be continued...

Wylie House, Bloomington, Indiana

Today we visited the Historic Wylie House Museum.
Built in 1835, it was the home of the first president of Indiana University, Andrew Wylie.

Using an inventory taken in 1859, the house is furnished as it would have looked prior to 1860 with Wylie family heirlooms and other period pieces.

Take a look at some of the furnishings...

Space-saving trundle beds provide two beds which can be made into the size of only one when not in use.

Marlon decided he wouldn't fit it this chair. They must have been shorter and had smaller rears in the 19th century.

An herb garden dominates the Wylie House Museum's backyard.

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/july/wylie-house-bloomin/ .

To be continued...

Lake Monroe, Bloomington, Indiana

Cedar Ridge Camping Resort is just down the road from Lake Monroe and its dam.

The man-made reservoir was completed in 1965 at a cost of $16.5 million.

According to wikipedia.com, musician John Mellencamp resides lakeside.

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/july/blue-spring-caverns/ , pictures 109-123.

To be continued...

Offbeat Attractions, Bedford, Indiana

After leaving Bluespring Caverns, we began looking for some of the offbeat locations around Bedford we had read about on the internet.

We found the location of what Roadsideamerica.com calls the Obsessive Sign Maker of Bedford, Indiana.

Sam Shaw has been erecting his signs and exercising his freedom of speech regarding political, religious and other issues for years despite the many fines assessed him by the City of Bedford.

We found this neat, old abandoned Phillips 66 Station in Bedford.

In the nearby town of Oolitic, we found the 10 foot tall statue of mid-20th century comic strip character Joe Palooka. Carved out of limestone, Joe weighs in at 20,000 pounds...making Marlon a true lightweight.

Bedford is known as "the limestone capital of the world" and was to be the location of a limestone-themed tourist attraction featuring limestone replicas of the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramid of Cheops.

Marlon stands at the abandoned park's entrance.

It seems the park was granted federal funding of $200,000 in the early 1980's but fell victim to Senator William Proxmire's Golden Fleece Award which he awarded to projects he felt were wasting taxpayer money. Funding and work on the project were abruptly halted in 1981.

This was a view toward the property from a nearby cemetery. We aren't sure if this was to represent the Great Wall but it sure looked neat.

Using the Consumer Price Index, $200,000 in 1981 would be $473,000 in 2009 dollars. Doesn't sound so much in the whole scheme of things...

It sounds like it could have been an interesting attraction featuring replicas of world landmarks most people will never see in their lifetime.

One thing's certain...it would have better than the abandoned piece of land it is now.

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/july/blue-spring-caverns/ pictures 62-108.

To be continued...

Bluespring Caverns, Bedford, Indiana

Today we started out with the Myst'ry River Voyage inside Bluespring Caverns located in Bedford, Indiana.

Walking down into the cave...

Loading onto the boat...

Man...this is neat...

LOOK...a stalactite!

Mysterious light...

Rock walls...

Cave darkness...

Walking up out of the cave...

Watch a brief video of the cave below.

For more pictures of today, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/july/blue-spring-caverns/ , pictures 1-61.

To be continued...