I am going to St Louis Missouri.

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joel

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I will travel though Kentucky & be in a small town out side of St. Louis for a wedding.
I leave Friday 7 & be home on Tuesday 11.
Anything I should know about a trip this long, it is the longest I have traveled in a automobile.
 
You're near SC aren't you? Not trying to dox you, not sure where you live. That's a long haul to St. Louis, 800 miles or so. As a young man I'd drive that straight through and not blink, now, not so much. Are you traveling alone or with others who can share driving?

Don't forget you'll be crossing to another time zone, EST to CST. That'll throw you unless you've done it a few times, gain and hour going, lose one coming home. For a short trip I'd leave my watch alone in years past.

I always tried to put a 3 or 4 hour buffer in the drive time of a trip that long, blowout, big wreck on the interstate, never know what might happen. I hit a 40 mile detour once, that'll put a kink in your plans.

Also, will you be crossing the Missouri river? I had a problem catching a ferry across the river, timing it right between St Charles and St Louis. I stayed in st charles, every thing I did was in st louis. That ferry was a pain in the butt. I'd avoid ferry's if I were on a tight schedule.
 
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Give yourself plenty of time. Pack some snacks. I like to eat sunflower seeds it gives me something to do. Bring your own tunes. Changing stations every half hour bugs me. Try to enjoy the trip. That gets hard for me after about 5 or 6 hours.
 
Columbia, S.C. to Washington, Missouri, sleeping O'Fallon & brides family live in Troy. We are going into St. Louis to the Arc, before we leave Missouri.
We have to be their by Saturday & we can not leave before Friday at 2:00 am, when my son gets off work.
 
Columbia, S.C. to Washington, Missouri, sleeping O'Fallon & brides family live in Troy. We are going into St. Louis to the Arc, before we leave Missouri. We have to be their by Saturday & we can not leave before Friday at 2:00 am, when my son gets off work.

Be safe! St Louis can be a rough town. 800 miles is a straight through drive pretty much, you should be there by Friday mid afternoon.
 
Give yourself plenty of time. Pack some snacks. I like to eat sunflower seeds it gives me something to do. Bring your own tunes. Changing stations every half hour bugs me. Try to enjoy the trip. That gets hard for me after about 5 or 6 hours.
I like to eat sunflower seeds when I travel as well, the ones in the shell. I stop when I need gas. Gas, restroom, food and drink, on the road until the next gas stop. I have traveled 16 hours in a day by myself. I get in and drive, no stopping and monkeying around. I have traveled with people who have to be stopping all the time. It takes forever to get somewhere that way. When I travel with someone else who drives, it helps me a lot. I am a morning person and drive the first several hours. When my eyes are tired, other person takes over. I have traveled 24 hours straight with another driver. Good music helps or someone with whom I can have good discussions with. I like to read signs on the road and discuss what could have happened there, or what was that about?

St. Louis, I've been there several times. I have had roommates from there. There are much better parts of town to be in than others. I was safe, but East St. Louis is a place I would not drive at night. Just saying.
 
Give yourself plenty of time. Pack some snacks. I like to eat sunflower seeds it gives me something to do. Bring your own tunes. Changing stations every half hour bugs me. Try to enjoy the trip. That gets hard for me after about 5 or 6 hours.
How do you shell sunflower seeds while driving?

We often drive from Tulsa, OK to Rockford, IL. We snack in beef jerky, fruit, coffee and stop for meals.
 
I will travel though Kentucky & be in a small town out side of St. Louis for a wedding.
I leave Friday 7 & be home on Tuesday 11.
Anything I should know about a trip this long, it is the longest I have traveled in a automobile.

Just be sure you have a cooler with plrnty of ice and water. What are you traveling in?
 
Columbia, S.C. to Washington, Missouri, sleeping O'Fallon & brides family live in Troy. We are going into St. Louis to the Arc, before we leave Missouri.
We have to be their by Saturday & we can not leave before Friday at 2:00 am, when my son gets off work.
Check out the arc, really cool! Even if you don't drink, check out the Busch tour. St. Louis used to have tourist friendly maps of the city. That was many years before Covid. Hope you have fun
Take time to stop for ice cream
Not just on the trip, everyday.
 
When I went to the arch long ago I went all the way to the top on the inside of it. There were viewing ports. Not a pleasant experience. It was 90 degrees outside, about 115 inside, after all I was in a tiny metal tube that had baked in the summer sun all day.

Even worse the air was very stale and so humid the metal surfaces dripped water, from people breathing...

Then for the kicker!!! The arch sways in the wind. It's like a queasy case of vertigo... You can't see the sway from the ground but up in the top of the arch... you move 5 to 7 ft.

So, if you're not claustrophobic, need no oxygen, are comfortable when it's 115 degrees, enjoy breathing water vapor and peoples stinky breath, are fine with vertigo, by all means... take the trip to the top of the arch.
biggrin.gif
 
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Have you ever seen someone chew bacco & spit in a can. That me eating sunflower seed & spitting the seeds out, past me on the road, you would not know I hate chew bacco.
Pearl, we will see the Arc Monday before we head back home.
 
When I went to the arch long ago I went all the way to the top on the inside of it. There were viewing ports. Not a pleasant experience. It was 90 degrees outside, about 115 inside, after all I was in a tiny metal tube that had baked in the summer sun all day.

Even worse the air was very stale and so humid the metal surfaces dripped water, from people breathing...

Then for the kicker!!! The arch sways in the wind. It's like a queasy case of vertigo... You can't see the sway from the ground but up in the top of the arch... you move 5 to 7 ft.

So, if you're not claustrophobic, need no oxygen, are comfortable when it's 115 degrees, enjoy breathing water vapor and peoples stinky breath, are fine with vertigo, by all means... take the trip to the top of the arch. View attachment 65683
It's something you have to do to say you did it!
 
Before we moved to Virginia and became farmers we lived in Florida and traveled every year for 3 weeks, driving all over the US. So anything you want to know , you can probably ask me, don't think all that much has changed in the last 6 years ( last big trip we did was 6 years ago, drove from Florida to Washington State , and various other places , put 11000 miles on my truck in 3 weeks....).
Your trip is not bad, you are not driving through any terrible traffic areas ( like Atlanta, or DC, or Houston). Nashville can have a lot of traffic, so plan extra time for that. My advice, check your google map frequently for accidents or other traffic jams , and if there is a big one ahead, get off the interstate and go around it. Nothing worse than being stuck in a interstate traffic jam for hours.
St Luis: been there several times, the Arch is interesting, has a little museum at the bottom. Is it even open or shut because of Covid? If you are allowed to go up to the top, it is very claustrophobic and sort of scary on top and on the way. I was glad when we were back down. I am not afraid of heights but I didn't like this.
We also went to the oldest Lutheran church , and on a boat trip. Again, not sure what is open now. Beware, most of St Luis downtown is scary ghetto, don't get lost, don't get out anywhere except the touristy areas.
Have fun!
 
It's something you have to do to say you did it!

I did a little research and figured out when I was there. It was the summer of '80 and st louis was in their worst heat wave in 30 years. I think 24 people died of heat stroke while I was there. An old newspaper article online gave a few details.

I went up in the arch about sundown, it was incredibly hot. The lack of ventilation was the worst aspect. I soaked the shirt I was wearing and had to buy another one before friends and I went to dinner. It was a miserable experience I'd rather not repeat.
 
As a rather experienced road tripper (40-60K miles per year) I recommend:

Stay hydrated. Being hydrated will make you stop to pee. Stopping to pee means walking around. Walking around is good when you're traveling.

I didn't see any mention of what you're driving. Small cars are miserable for road trips. If you're in a car, be sure to take time to stretch your legs and back every time you stop. If you have a truck or SUV it's not quite as necessary because you sit in a more upright position than a car. But it's still a good idea to stretch often.

800 miles in a day is very doable. On western interstates that's about 14 hours or so. Out east it might be a little slower. If you can do it, great. Don't be afraid to hit a rest area and grab a nap if you're tired. It sucks to be slow because you stopped but getting in an accident cuz you're tired sucks a lot worse.
 
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