10-2-17  heading back to Buford, GA, by way of Red Clay Historical Park:

I like trying to find a waterfall or something interesting to stop at on the way home from Knoxville, but I didn't spend much time researching that this time.  In the short amount of time I did before we left their house, I came across Red Clay Historical Park.  Never heard of it before, but it was close to I-75 and made a good bypass around Chattanooga.  So we decided to check it out.
Along the way, we enjoyed the views along I-75 towards Cleveland, Tn.

the Tennessee River?

It was another pretty day weatherwise and cloudwise.

10-1-17  a day in Knoxville:

No big plans for today.  Started it off by going out for breakfast.   After a great breakfast, we headed up to a park on top of a mountain overlooking Knoxville and the mountains beyond.

 Close up of the Sunsphere in downtown Knoxville from the top of the mountain (with my 150-600mm zoom lens).

9-30-17  our drive from St. Louis to Knoxville:

Well, another 2 weeks pretty much flew by.  Time to move along.  This time we were on our way to Knoxville.  Pretty much the same route as to Atlanta, except that we switched to I-40 in Nashville instead of staying on I-24.  We're becoming quite familiar with the scenery along the way.
At first, there's lots of flat farmlands in Illinois.

 Looks like the soy beans are about ready for harvest.

9-29-17  Angie and Josh's 10th year anniversary!!!!

10 years ago today we attended their fantastic wedding!  Hard to believe it's been that long ago!!!

Still as beautiful 10 years later---

9-28-17  Shaw Nature Reserve with Karen Fletcher:

My first time here, too!  Karen and I both have a huge love for photography, so it's become a thing that we go out and shoot when I'm in town.  It's always been MOBOT, so today we decided to try somewhere different.  Since I'd never been to Shaw Nature Reserve, she suggested we go there.  And we did---stopping along the way at Subway to pick up a couple sandwiches for a picnic when we got to the Reserve.
 The area was opened in 1925 when pollution from coal smoke in St. Louis threatened the garden's live plant collection, especially the orchid collection. The orchids were moved in 1926, but the pollution in St. Louis decreased with waning use of coal for heat, making it unnecessary to move the rest of the live plant collection. The reserve is currently dedicated to environmental education, to the maintenance and restoration of the region's native flora and fauna, and to public enjoyment of the natural world.

We parked near the Bascom House by the wild flower area.

 Took our lunch and headed into the wild flower garden.

9-26-17 to a Cardinals-Cub game:

I do believe this is the first time I've been to a game between these 2 teams!  Unfortunately the Cubs were looking to win and lock down the National League Central Championship and the Cardinals were trying to hang in for a wild card spot---which meant we had to win all the rest of our games and the Rockies had to lose all theirs.  It was also the only Cardinal game I got to this year.  Turned out to be the right one to go to while we were there.
We picked up Fischers and headed to the ball park about 6pm.  Got there the same time the protesters were starting to assemble.   I wondered if we would hear them in the ball park as the marched up and down Market street, but we fortunately we didn't.  The police were there in force, too, to keep them away from the baseball fans and even got them to disperse by the time the game was over.

 Once in the ball park, we headed to the customer service counter to get a free soda coupon for signing up as designated drivers.  It looked like it wouldn't be very crowded tonight, so we just sat there for awhile----until people showed up wanting their seats.  We moved over a few seats until those people showed up, too.  At that point I suggested we go sit in the empty section on the other side---it was also close to the exit we needed after the game. 

9-25-17  back to St. Charles county:

Today we met with our Prudential agents again.  Won't have to deal with those life insurance policies anymore---at least while we're both alive!  They pushed hard again to take over Ken's pension and invest it for him.  Ken's still too leery to jump.  Fine with me.  It's doing well enough for us right now.
After taking care of business, it was time for lunch---Golden Corral.  The kids think we're nuts, but we do like the senior early bird special.  $7.99/person including drinks---can't cook for that price!  So we enjoyed more St. Charles county countryside as we made our way from the Prudential office to the restaurant.
Love the silos by the church.

 This might be the nicest Golden Corral we go to---really clean, quiet, and not too crowded.

9-24-17  another beautiful Midwest sunset:

This afternoon I met with a bunch of my volleyball buddies.  Hadn't seen most of them in over a year.  We had a great time catching up over lunch.
When it was time for dinner, Ken and I headed to Alton.  Thought we were going to Mamma Mia's, but they were closed.  Ended up at Fast Eddie's---another place we hadn't been to in a while.  It was great as always.
So was the sunset we stopped for in West Alton along the way.  Right before crossing over the Mississippi river there are a couple neat areas to catch a sunset.

 It's also a bird migratory route, but we didn't see any this time.

9-23-17 to Nick's house on The Hill and dinner with Bill, Lena, Nick, Christina, and Jamie.

When we were at Stef's one of the first nights we were there, Bill asked if we wanted to join them on the Hill for dinner Sat.  Sounded good to us!  They were tearing down a Jacuzzi and doing house repairs on Nick's house, so we showed up there and cheered them on.  While Bill was finishing up a few more things, Lena and I went to the Italian market down the street.  Gotta get the kids their cavatelli noodles and Zia's salad dressing!
When it was time to go eat, we decided on Rigazzi's.  I hadn't been there in years and was very happy to go again.  It was even walking distance from Nick's place.
Strange statue along the way

 Rigazzi's

 We even drove through the city on the way home---gave Nick and his friend a ride to the Blue's game.

Great visit, great dinner!

9-22-17  Fredbird Friday:

The super Cardinal fan friend Becky knows how to get free tickets to a lot of Cardinal games.  So when she asked me if I wanted to go with her to get free tickets today, I said sure.  Apparently throughout the season, Fredbird would announce on Thurs. where he was going to be on Friday noonish, and the first 50 people there were get a pair of tickets for a future game.  This time he was going to a Mobil on the Run location in St. Peters.  Becky picked me up about an hour or so early and we headed out there.  Even took lawn chairs and queued up and got $.50 drinks from Mobil on the Run since the Cards had scored 6 runs the night before (even though they lost).  There was a lot of visiting going on.  Apparently a lot of people don't know about this so the same people go to most of them.
Fredbird has arrived!

 Becky and one of her granddaughters----and Fredbird.

 the line behind us. 

We managed to get good tickets.  They were for a day Don was able to go and it was for a Cubs game, so we made plans to go together the next Tues. night.
We even went out to lunch---Pirrone's Pizza buffet.  Yummm! 

9-21-17  sunset walk:

We started the day by having breakfast with Josh's folks.  Always a great visit with them!  From there Ken and I split up---me to get my hair cut and him to visit a scout buddy.  I was somewhat surprised when he wasn't home by 7pm.  So I decided to walk up to Arby's and get a roast beef sandwich.  Hadn't had one in ages.  It was good----as was the sunset I watched on the way back home.

 I'd never realized what a good spot it was between Arby's and our street for watching the sunset!

 Lots of trees and a big open field.

 The hospital the kids were born in use to be here.  But it's been torn down and a health care center has been built in part of the area.

Ken must have had a good time.  He didn't get back until after 8.  Not quite the dinner I had anticipated, but enjoyable none-the-less.

9-20-17  riding around St. Charles:

The first couple days were spent taking care of business---getting a tire fixed on the Escape and getting the Taurus inspected and registered.  Ken later decided to also have the brakes replaced and have the oil changed.  He also had a Dr. appointment.  While he was busy taking care of that stuff, I was busy going through more junk in the house and purging, going to the pool, having lunch with friends, taking a walk or two, even doing a little sewing.  We managed to have breakfast, lunch, or dinner with just about everybody.  It was nice catching up.
One of the times we were in St. Charles, we took a ride to one of our old favorite bike routes.  How I miss those flat paved roads to bike on!

 and checking out the farming changes.

 and the old familiar buildings.

I had hoped to find a bike to leave there.  I would have loved to get out there and ride again.  But with the temps being up in the upper 90's about 10 days and being so busy, I would have only had one chance to go.  Still plan to get another bike to leave there.

9-16-17  off to St. Louis:

Time to make another trip to St. Louis.  No Dr. appointments for me for a change, but Ken had a check up and it was time to get the Taurus inspected and registered again.  So the new car sat in the driveway of our apartment and we were off in the Taurus.
We elected to go down I-85 to I-285 to I-75 this time instead of heading cross country on SR 20.  If there's no accidents---and that's a big if!---Sat. usually flows pretty good that way.  Here's the normal low traffic at Spaghetti Junction (intersection of I-85 and I-285) on Sat. morning.

 One of the landmarks along I-285.