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Illinois: East St Louis Casino Queen RV-Park, Alton and Wood River Places Visited: Illinois: East St Louis Casino Queen RV-Park, Alton and Wood River Wednesday July 21, 2004 Casino Queen RV-Park Bogy Ave, east St Louis, Illinois: N38° 37.570': W90° 10.120' $24.00 for full hookup/50amps & cable no water but central dump. Telephone at site was $3 per-night extra. This place has LOCATION! Walk across bridge to arch. Arch is visible out our window across the river. LOCATION! Anheuser Bush Brewery Tour includes a tour of the Clydesdale Stables
We had another jam packed day. We started with the Anheuser Bush Brewery Tour complete with a tour of the Clydesdale Stables and horses. The Bush Brewery tour features three National Landmark Buildings all property of the Bush Brewery. It was a good tour but nothing comparable to the Coors tour in Golden, Colorado. Although the Bush tour takes you through all the processes you don't really stop and observe the processes. They have a tour guide at the front of your group and one at the back. There is NO way to slow down enough to determine what is happening other than bottles and cans are moving down conveyor belts at incredible rates. After taking both tours the Coors tour is head and shoulders above the Bush tour. After we finished there it was time for a cool treat. It was hot outside so this next treat was special. Ted Drewes Frozen Custard is a St. Louis tradition. Known for specialty "concrete" shakes so thick you can turn them upside down. Everyone visiting St Louis tells you about Ted Drewes frozen custard. Several people in the RV-Park drive across the River every day to get one. They aren't hard to find just find a St. Louis visitors guide and get their address.
After enjoying the Ted Drewes frozen custard we headed back across the Mississippi River to Illinois and up SR-3 to Wood River. Wood River is the location of Camp River Dubois located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River at the confluence of the Missouri & Mississippi Rivers. When Lewis & Clark reached this area in early December of 1803 some major obstacles had to be worked out: First it was early December and it was getting cold. They needed to find a place to hunker down for the winter. Secondly, they are going to head up the Missouri River. The Missouri River between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was part of "Louisiana Territory". Prior to leaving Washington on this journey the United States had asked permission to send this expedition up the Missouri River from Spain (Spain was the "owner" of Louisiana at that time". Spain refused to give permission. That was a major problem. However, a few months later Spain secretly transferred the Louisiana Territory back to France. Meanwhile Napoleon Bonaparte of France had major problems in Europe. He was out of money and his military stretched thin. Keep in mind Napoleon can't defend the Louisiana Territory should anyone decide to take it. He couldn't even protect France's other interest in the New World. He desperately needed money for his European campaigns. Then in April of 1803 Napoleon strikes a deal with Jefferson, selling the Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15 million. This more than doubles the size of the nation. On December 8, 1803 Lewis crossed the Mississippi River to St. Louis to obtain Spanish permission to travel up the Missouri River. (Things are a little convoluted here since Spain had transferred title to the Louisiana Territory to France and France had sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States back in April of 1803). I suppose news traveled slowly to this outpost of the "Spanish Empire". In any event the Span had troops that could and would prevent the Corps of Discovery from continuing. Spanish permission was not forthcoming no matter how many times Lewis visited with the Spanish Officials in St Louis. So it is December and too cold to travel up the Missouri and the Spanish have not given permission. The Corps of Discovery makes camp at River Dubois.
For those of you that need to put things into perspective this area of the United States was at the edge of the unknown. A few French trappers and traders were settled along the Mississippi in 1803 but they were few and far between. There were even a few adventurous "Americans" (Daniel Boon had brought a group of settlers from Kentucky over and were about 30-miles up the Missouri River) but they were scarce. Other than the "Boone Settlement" only a handful of French trappers and traders had ventured west of the Mississippi. The European world knew precious little about the territory west of the Mississippi River. The Lewis & Clark Expedition was going to document what was out there. We were visiting the Visitor's Center at "Camp River Dubois" today because it houses some historically significant items. A replica of the 55'keel boat that carried their supplies was the most interesting single item to me. Other exhibits detailed the supplies they carried from trinkets and beads to trade with the Native Americans to gun powder and lead shot. Food was another interesting item. By reading the exhibits we got a better understanding of the planning that went into this expedition. Confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers near Alton, Illinois
We then drove down to the river where we stood on the levy and could see the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. We took a moment to contemplate what a significant place this was in the history of our nation. This pic is looking west across the Mississippi River from Wood River. The Missouri River is flowing into the Mississippi River at the top left. The top right is north up the Mississippi. Our next stop was 6-miles north in Alton, Illinois. We were hungry by this time and the place to visit in Alton, Illinois is "Fast Eddie's Bon Air". The Bon-Air is a historic place even a legendary place in these parts. Back in 1921, Anheuser Busch decided to open a drinking establishment in the picturesque river town of Alton, Illinois. Busch constructed the yellow brick building housing the Bon-Air. Ten years later, Busch had to sell the tavern due to a change in the statutes prohibiting breweries from owning drinking establishments. For 50-years Sam Balaco and his son owned and operated the Bon-Air. Then in 1981 "Fast Eddie Sholar" purchased the Bon-Air. During his time the Bon-Air has quadrupled in size going from 80 chairs to 420 chairs. On weekends, standing room becomes a premium commodity. They have live bands on the weekend. The place is popular. Some say that Fast Eddie's Bon-Air is the #1 volume bar in the world! (I doubt that but it is a written claim) Somewhere along the line they added food. Cheap food! Good cheap food like ½ lb burgers for $.99, boiled shrimp for $.29 each, shis-kabobs & bratwurst. Out of this became one of the most notable hot spots of the Midwest. We have seen Fast Eddie's featured on the travel channel when they feature the best burger joints and when they do the "best dives" and such. The Travel Channel is where we heard about "Fast Eddie's". I took notes a put a map note in our SA-2004 file so that we would know about the place if we were ever in the area. We can now say "we have eaten at "Fast Eddie's Bon-Air" in Alton, Illinois. They had a brisk business at 4PM but neither of us could figure (Southern term) what the attraction was. It certainly wasn't pretty waitresses, the burgers were ½ lb for $.99 but there was NOTHING on it. They did have some mustard and ketchup, chopped onions and sliced pickles that you could put on your hamburger. Something must have been attracting the crowds that we did not see. People were coming in and ordering food like it was going out of style. After driving through Alton's historic neighborhood we headed home via the unique "cable stay" Clark Bridge a 4,620-foot link between Illinois & Missouri. Not long after crossing the Mississippi River we crossed over the Missouri River for the first time on this trip. We will be following the Missouri for several months as we follow the path blazed by Lewis & Clark 201 years ago. Thursday July 22, 2004 Casino Queen RV-Park Bogy Ave, east St Louis, Illinois: N38° 37.570': W90° 10.120' $24.00 for full hookup/50amps & cable no water but central dump. Telephone at site was $3 per-night extra. This place has LOCATION! Walk across bridge to arch. Arch is visible out our window across the river. LOCATION!
Site of the 1904 worlds Fair in St Louis the area is known as Forest Park
There are still things that I know but do not understand like; Why was Lewis having to get permission from the Spanish Official in St Louis for his party to continue up the Missouri River when Spain had transferred the Louisiana Territory to France and France in turn had SOLD the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. for $15 million in April of 1803. Remember that L & C and the Corps of Discovery are camped across the Mississippi River at Camp River Dubois waiting on permission from the Spanish to continue up river. As of December 8, 1803 Lewis was in St. Louis attempting to obtain Spanish permission to travel up the Missouri River when it was not forthcoming they had no choice but to camp in the area for the winter. In 1803 when Lewis was in St. Louis dealing with the Spanish the "official" government language in St. Louis was Spanish while the predominant language in St. Louis was French. The point being virtually everyone in St. Louis was speaking either French or Spanish and not English. It was not until March 9th and 10th of 1804 that Lewis and Clark attend ceremonies in St. Louis marking the official transfer of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States. This legitimizes the Louisiana Purchase and eliminates the need for Spanish permission to travel up the Missouri River. Thomas Jefferson was a man way ahead of his times. He was an avid reader and consumed all the latest books. He was acutely aware that the world knew precious little about the North American Continent west of the Mississippi River. What was known was know by other imperial governments. A Scotsman working for a French Fir Company had made his way across the Continent in what is now present day Canada. He wrote about his journey describing 7-ranges of incredible mountains between the Great Plains and the Pacific Ocean. This dashed Jefferson's hopes of a "water route" to Pacific. Russia was claiming the North West Coast of the North American Continent. Spain was settling the South Western part (Texas, New Mexico & California) of the North American Continent. Jefferson dreamed of the United States extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The French were moving into the Continents interior from Canada and up the Mississippi River from New Orleans while the Spanish were also moving up the Mississippi River from New Orleans. These countries were locating and exploiting the area's natural resources primarily the lucrative trade in beaver pelts. Jefferson felt that it was in the newly formed United States best interests if we CONTROLED that area. That is why he pushed so hard to send the "Corps of Discovery" into the interior. He wanted to document transportation routes and other resources that would be available to settlers. Now back to the Museum. The L & C Exhibit was nothing short of awesome but the building hosts 5 or 6 other sections dealing with St. Louis history between 1600 and 1900, then 1900 to 2000 another excellent museum detailing the 1904 World's Fair hosted in St. Louis. On our way back to the motorhome Joyce had us stop at St. Louis's historic Union Station, the oldest Rail Road Station west of the Mississippi. Today Union Station is a Mall. We were dead on our feet so did not spend an excessive amount of time there. We are realizing that try as we might we are not working our way through the things we have lined up to do in St. Louis nearly as fast as we anticipated. From the way it looks now we may be here another week or so. St. Louis and the surrounding area has a LOT of historical things to do plus we want to do the Purina tour, the Dodge Mini Van & Truck Plant tour and Mc Donald Douglas has a plant tour. Friday and Saturday there is a big waterfront celebration where they
have live music on the waterfront. Seating is on the steps leading
from the Arch down to the river. The top deck of the Eads Bridge will
be closed to automobile traffic and food vendors will set up concessions
on the bridge. Locals say it will be fun. This added bit of fun wasn't
even in our plans but how can we pass it up?
Click here for more Missouri travellogsUntil next time remember how good life is. More Missouri AdventuresAdventures by State ** 2004 Travel Adventures
Mike & Joyce Hendrix
Mike & Joyce Hendrix who we are We hope you liked this page. If you do you might be interested in some of our other Travel Adventures: Mike & Joyce Hendrix's home page Travel Adventures by Year ** Travel Adventures by State ** Plants ** Marine-Boats ** Geology ** Exciting Drives ** Cute Signs ** RV Subjects ** Miscellaneous Subjects
We would love to hear from you......just put "info" in the place of "FAKE" in this address: FAKE@travellogs.us Until next time remember how good life is.
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