IT WINDS FROM CHICAGO TO LA, OVER 2,000 MILES ALL THE WAY

I wanted to post a picture of an unusual design feature of the Chain of Rocks Bridge but I'm going to have  to go back and find a better viewpoint. For now, we have this marker on the eastern side in Illinois. Route 66, made most famous by St. Louisan Chuck Berry, is no longer an official U.S. highway designation. But as the song had it

Well it goes from St Louis, Joplin, Missouri
Oklahoma City looks ooh, so pretty
You'll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don't forget Winona
Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernadino    

The original route ran within a moderate walk of my home.. Now it's something to remember and perhaps make a buck off.       

MUSCLE POWER ONLY

This is the Illinois entrance to the old Chain of Rocks Bridge I've discussed lately. Hard to believe that this narrow strip, as part of Route 66, was once the major auto and truck crossing on the central Mississippi. After it went out of business, so to speak, there was talk of demolishing it. The reason it was not razed is that the price of scrap metal was so low it wasn't worth the bother. Now it's managed by the National Park Service and you can walk, run, bike of skate across.             

YOU'VE HEARD OF CASTLES IN THE AIR

"Castles in the air" is an English expression that means dreams, hopes, or plans that are impossible, unrealistic. We don't have any of that around here, except occasionally about our Missouri state government. (OMG! 😖) We do, however, have a couple of small castles in the water. No half-witted medieval lord would build something so impractical.

Actually, they are disused water pumping stations in the Mississippi. (For some reason, we now get our water out of the Missouri although it has a lot more mud.) The background is the northern tip of the City of St. Louis proper. The outline of the city limits looks like a teardrop, which has some poetry. Anyway, the rapids you see in the background are part of the chain of rocks mentioned in Sunday's post.                   

CITY DAILY PHOTO FEBRUARY RTHEME DAY - SMILE

It's February 1 and the City Daily Photo community marks another theme day. Denton and I chose smile for today, a commodity that's been in short supply for too much of the last year. These charming ladies allowed me to take their photo at our Mardi Gras parade some years ago. Genuine warmth on a cold winter day.

Remember that the March 1 theme is mirror(s). Get creative. Denton and I need to decide on the themes for at least the following three months. We will put a notice on the Facebook page and the portal.        

STEEL WORK

There are some other good pictures from the aquarium but after a week I think I'll give it a rest. Last weekend's other activity was an attempt at eagle watching. During January and February bald eagles hang out around the junctions of the Missouri, Mississippi and Illinois rivers just north of STL. The waters in their territory in the far northern US and southern Canada are frozen, so they can't fish. They come our way where there is usually a mix of ice and open water. No ice this year, though. We went to some of the usual spots and saw one lousy eagle swooping away.

One of the places we went is the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/chain_of_rocks_bridge_illinois_missouri.html, across the Mississippi. The link explains the reason for the name. It was the original crossing for Route 66 (https://youtu.be/frwybMReZ3o). The bridge has been closed to vehicles for years but is maintained by the National Park Service for pedestrians. The engineering of the old steel work is worth a look.