Traveling Rat Royce

	*Greater St. Louis Area* My hosts and I have set up camp in St. Francois State Park.
	Behind me is the Big River. Not sure why it's called that because it doesn't seem so big, really. The bluffs behind me are limestone and are characteristic of the geology of this entire state. Missouri is full of sinkholes, caves, and underground rivers. A sinkhole forms when the roof of an underground passage gives way. My goodness, but from the number I saw, this entire park is like one big piece of limestone Swiss cheese! Several sinkholes along the park trails were fenced off so hikers couldn't fall in. I didn't get too close. There is one small part of the state which is different, and I had a chance to see it. On to the next picture . . .
	Wow, are these boulders big! They are called Elephant Rocks, and are formed from granite which is over one and a half billion years old, according to geologists. St. Louis' pink granite cobblestone streets were mined at a quarry only about 100 feet away from where I'm standing now.
	After touring the rocks themselves, I decided to take in the view. Geologists say the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri were once as high as the Alps. That must have been quite some time ago! As you can see, they have weathered down into mere nubbins.
	My hosts taught me the little rhyme, "leaves of three, leave it be." That's because around here you're likely to run across this little gem of a plant, poison ivy. No touching!
	I like to keep track of my progress on a map. This map shows where I've been this weekend. The blue dot marks where I'm staying with my hosts; my "base camp" as it were. The pink dot marks where we camped and the yellow dot shows the location of the Elephant Rocks. Whew! What a weekend! My hosts promise me the week will be full of more sights to see
	I had heard there was a traditional American folk song called, "Way Down Yonder in the Paw Paw Patch." Fortunately, my hosts knew where such a thing could be found, and took me there to see for myself. Here you can see a paw paw on the tree.
	This is the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. This bridge played the part of the "69th Street Bridge" in the movie Escape from New York. Now it is part of a trail used by walkers and bicyclers.
	Behind me you can see the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The Missouri is directly behind me, and the Mississippi is in the distance. The two meet here at this point and together form the third-longest river system in the world.
	I've traveled across the Mississippi River to Alton, a little town with a lot of history. This spot, which is marked by the two statues behind me, is the site where Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held their last debate in 1858. In those days, the town hall stood immediately behind this area. Alton was also the home of the world's tallest man, Robert Wadlow.
	While traveling just a few hundred yards north of the city, I found this on the bluff face. It's a Piasa bird. The first European explorers to see a fearsome creature painted on a bluff in this area were Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet. They canoed down the Mississippi River on their own travel adventure in 1673.
	This is a reconstruction of one of the walls of a prison which housed many Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. The actual site of the prison is now a car park. Hundreds of soldiers died in this prison during the Civil War, as conditions were overcrowded and unsanitary. Mass graves were dug in the prison yard itself, approximately under my very paws! Some people have reported seeing a Confederate soldier around the car park and assume he is a re-enactor. But when they try to get a better look, he disappears. Sounds like some poor soul just can't get any rest.
	This is the Lovejoy Monument in Alton, Illinois. It was built to honor abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy, who was killed by a pro-slavery mob in 1837. At that time, Illinois was a free state, but Missouri, just across the river, was a slave state. Alton was a major hub of the Underground Railroad in the days before the American Civil War.
	Here I am hanging out with one of my host's cats, Mango. As you can see, he is a mellow guy, just the sort to watch TV or share a snack with.