{"id":379,"date":"2015-05-09T03:36:32","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T03:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=379"},"modified":"2015-05-09T03:45:48","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T03:45:48","slug":"high-views-and-heavy-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=379","title":{"rendered":"High Views and Heavy Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 2, and we started a bit later today, than we did yesterday. We all got some much needed rest and were ready to continue west! As we crossed the Mighty Mississippi, we made a brief stop in St. Louis so Theresa and Darby could visit the Gateway Arch, including a trip to the top. I skipped the pod ride this time, having experienced the Star Trek-like journey two years ago with Tyler. I had no desire to repeat the outing! They both enjoyed the elevated view of the city and the Mississippi River from 630\u2019 up in the air! They even snapped a photo of me laying down below them in the grass, until I realized I had stretched out in a nest of ants, and jumped up and ran off the large lawn area, hopping up and down like a crazed maniac. I\u2019m surprised one of the National Park Service Park Rangers didn\u2019t call in a SWAT team to take me down!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Theresa and Darby stand at the bottom of the Gateway Arch, before ascending to the top.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Darby in the pod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Downtown St. Louis from the top of the Arch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\"DSC_0001\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Leaving St. Louis is was time to hit the road again and make our way across Missouri, and down into Oklahoma. We were quite aware of the weather we were about to face!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span>As we came into the city of Springfield, we had one quick detour we had to take-weather, or no weather. Hidden in the back of an office complex, behind of one of the buildings, stands the World\u2019s Biggest Fork, at 35 feet tall! It was very cool, and if you could actually lift it, you could probably stab the World\u2019s Biggest green bean, french fry or other food items you\u2019re supposed to use a fork for!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I prepare to grab the World’s Largest Fork to eat lunch!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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A large part of taking long distance trips, of any kind, is to experience the local culture. These experiences may not necessarily end up with a beautiful or captivating photograph, or purchasing a delicious meal, or hand-made craft from a local artist, but they are just as interesting in their own right. Many times the funniest stories are from these encounters. We had a small \u201ccultural experience\u201d today when we decided to stop for a late lunch at Hood\u2019s Truck Stop in south central Missouri. We were seated by a group of 10 people, who, by over hearing their loud bellows, decided all to come over to Hoods for lunch. We presumed they were all pretty much related and conversed in topics ranging from staying in a local motel where they had bed bugs and had to turn the mattresses over, to swimming naked in a cold pond, to pointing out the fact that the local Wal-Mart did not have everything on sale that was on the flyer they received in the mail the day before! The last topic (Wal-Mart) had everyone at the table in several heated discussions and sent them in to a mini feeding frenzy! Thank goodness the three of us had finished our sandwiches first, and quickly headed for the door!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A Patriotic Brown Thrasher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A\u00a0rat (species unknown)\u00a0welcomes us to Oklahoma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Our day ended in Oklahoma City, OK, as we arrived to pounding thunderstorms with heavy rain and wind, but thankfully, no tornados. Even as I finish typing this, the weather continues to hammer the hotel we\u2019re staying in (and all of the OKC metro area), and more tornados and flash flood watches have been issued. Tomorrow (Sat) may bring the worst of it, yet. We\u2019ll be up early and headed west across northern Texas and into New Mexico, as quickly, and safely, as possible. Weather is part of the \u201cgreat\u201d outdoors, and unfortunately, sometimes Mother Nature reminds us of the sheer power that she can unleash! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Day 2, and we started a bit later today, than we did yesterday. We all got some much needed rest and were ready to continue west! As we crossed the Mighty Mississippi, we made a brief stop in St. Louis so Theresa and Darby could visit the Gateway Arch, including a trip to the top. … Continue reading High Views and Heavy Weather<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}