Well not really, a pet peeve of mine regarding American motels: they supply a microwave. Microwaves imply food, which, in turn, implies cutlery, And food also implies a cuppa. Who, in a civilised world, doesn’t have a cuppa with their tucker?
But no cups are provided, nor even a jug to boil water…and no cutlery
Moteliers must be uncivilised bastards.
And the microwaves themselves…All that a microwave needs is two dials, one for power level, another for time.
And two buttons: one for start, and another to open the door.
So why do they supply a machine that’s so bloody complex you need an honours degree in electronic engineering to drive?
Bah!

Thursday 28th August.

And another good night’s sleep, and without the help of the rum bottle this time too.
Away at last a bit after nine o’clock, trying to get this lot moving is like trying to herd cats; mission impossible.
They can’t seem to realise that an hour wasted at this end of the day is an hour’s options lost at the other end of the day…and so it turned out.

Ultimate destination St, Louis, first stop Lebanon for the factory outlets.
Rick and She went out on a feeding frenzy, while I sat in the car and read several chapters of my book; so everyone was happy.
Next was another similar place…The Plaza…same scenario…
Then head to Rollo and the Stubby Stonehenge.
Time for munchies first though.
Joe and Linda’s Tater Patch caught my eye…the parking lot was full of good-old-boys type vehicles; battered pick-ups and Harleys…always a good indication of good cheap tucker.
And so it proved.
It was good, there was lots of it, it was tasty, and it was cheap.
I managed about two-thirds of mine, got a styrofoam box for the rest, (which was still the size of a normal meal,) and all for just over $30 for all three of us.
Highly recommended.

So on to the henge.
A waste of time; extremely disappointed. It gave a very, very brief synopsis of the astronomical reasoning/science behind the structure, and the stones themselves were too small to be accurate, i.e. they were too small to cast sufficient shadow across the truncated inner circle. The stones were not shrunk to the same ratio as the circle.
So if you’re thinking of going to look at it…don’t bother.
Come to New Zealand…the henge in the Wairarapa is far superior.
And you’re welcome to actually wander right through it, unlike the original in the UK which is off limits entirely to Joe Public.
(And although ours is orientated to southern skies, the principle is the same.)

Right…on to St Louis City Museum…arriving outside it at 4:10.
Remember that hour we lost this morning with all the disorganised dicking about?
Well here it is.
If we’d arrived at 3:10…no problem…but at 4:10…it ain’t bloody worth it.
¾ of an hour to ‘do’ a museum of this size?
Yeah right.
So we found a motel..