1 Apr 2021 - The Trip Commences: Griff's to St Louis

Today we headed out from Griff's... finally!  The 2021 trip commences!  We departed about 0707 hrs and headed southbound through Iowa and past my birthplace, Mount Pleasant.  We crossed the state line and continued south  past Hannibal towards our first overnight stop, the Casino Queen RV Park in E St Louis MO

 We pulled into the RV park at about 2:11 pm traveling 361 miles for the day.  This will be one of our longest travel days on this trip.  Normally we try to use the "Rule of 2's" - no more than 200 mile travel days; arrive at the campground by 2 pm;  stay at least 2 nights; and have 2 cold beers in the fridge to enjoy after setup!  We broke our own rules today because we are trying to get as far south as quick as we can to get away from the freezing temperatures.  We already unwinterized the coach at Griff's so we need to be careful about freezing pipes, etc.  So only one night in St Louis.  We have visited St Louis several times before so seeing the sights is not in the plan for this trip.

You can tell we were headed in the right direction as the trees were in bloom!  Good sign!

Arriving in the early afternoon we were able to enjoy the crystal clear skies and warming sunshine, plus a beautiful view of the St Louis Arch.  

Our St Louis overnighter was at the Casino Queen RV Park.  Nicely maintained, not too busy just a few "snowbirds" here obviously headed back north from areas like Florida, Texas and Arizona.  

After setting up and getting settled for the night we walked over the the nearby casino for dinner, and then called it a night as we have another long day tomorrow.