Today turned out to be a day of serendipity, although it had rather a rough start.
First off, rain, rain, rain from the remnants of the tropical storm that plagued us on and off during yesterday's drive. Poor Henry didn't get much of a walkie. Sue went to breakfast and I stayed in to watch news -- and saw alarming reports of a mudslide along I-40 in North Carolina ... and threat of a dam break that would devastate Marion and Old Fort. Knowing that Sue has friends in Marion, I ran, still dressed in my PJs, to find her at breakfast.
Then, after we returned to the room, we got a call from the front desk warning us of the rapidly rising creek behind the hotel and the threat of a flash flood.
Don't have to tell me twice! "It's raining all over the world."
So we set out for Columbia, where truly I expected practically nothing except a nice place to lay my head. After a couple of hours we passed through St. Louis and glimpsed its famous Gateway Arch.
Then, after we returned to the room, we got a call from the front desk warning us of the rapidly rising creek behind the hotel and the threat of a flash flood.
Don't have to tell me twice! "It's raining all over the world."
So we set out for Columbia, where truly I expected practically nothing except a nice place to lay my head. After a couple of hours we passed through St. Louis and glimpsed its famous Gateway Arch.
Sue poked around a bit on the Internet while I drove, and she found an "attraction" near Columbia called BoatHenge. Who could resist? It was way off the beaten path on an old railroad bed now called the Katy Trail, a hiking/biking path maybe 200 miles in length.
BoatHenge is a little bit of a mystery. Not like Stonehenge! But apparently after a flood, some unknown artist found a washed-up boat and decided to bury part of it so that it stuck up like one of the standing stones of an ancient henge. Next flood he -- or she -- buried another boat in similar fashion. There are now a half-dozen boats in all.
After studying BoatHenge for a bit, we continued walking along the Katy Trail for some bird-watching. Next we set out for Rock Bridge Memorial Park. The whole thing was apparently once a large cave system, much of which has collapsed to leave a small "cavern" that's open at both ends. A little stream runs through this cavern -- aka the Rock Bridge -- and Henry really enjoyed picking his way over the rocks to eventually lie down in the cold water.
We then took a boardwalk to look down on Devil's Icebox and Connor's Cave. Beautifully cool draughts of air came up from the caves below. There weren't a lot of visitors this day, so we had the quiet walk mostly to ourselves. It was so peaceful back in there!
Eventually we found our way to our hotel in Columbia and then to a wonderful meal at a pub named 44 Stone. Dined outside, so that Henry could be with us.
Nice meal at the end of an exhausting, but rewarding, day! Now for sleep, in preparation for a killer driving day tomorrow.
More photos from the Forces of Nature Tour at Flickr.
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