For the Guys: Cars and Football!

(Edwardsville, IL) Hi 60 Lo 54 -- While Dee was with her sister and some friends touring the Missouri wine country yesterday (Monday), I spent a day with son Frank and the grand kids doing guy stuff. But the weather did everything it could to disrupt our day. A front came through the area, bringing with it some severe weather. I left the RV park in a pouring rain to make a stop at the Scott AFB BX before going to Frank's. While inside the store an announcement came over P.A. system informing everyone that a tornado warning was in effect and for everyone to gather at the back of the store in the ladies lingerie department. A tornado was spotted in a town about 30 miles south of us. Wonderful! The last three times we've been in this area we've experienced either a severe thunderstorm warning or a tornado warning. Finally, after about 20 minutes of standing amongst the women's bras and panties we were given the all clear. After I made a phone call to the RV park office to make sure everything was OK there, I finished my shopping and headed to Frank's.

Frank has been wanting to show me a cool classic car dealer in O'Fallon, so we brought grandson Kendall along to Gateway Classic Cars. It's a car museum and dealer all in one. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Most of the cars were from the 60's and 70's, which is my favorite eras. And all of them were for sale or trade. There were all types of cars. Like this 1972 Rolls Royce.

Every car had a price sticker on the windshield, just like at a regular car dealer. $22,995 isn't bad for a Rolls Royce!

Kendall made it very clear which car was his favorite, this 1980-something Delorean.

Of course, I was drooling over all the beautiful muscle cars. Here's just a small sampling:

1970 Chevell SS and 1965 Pontiac GTO.

There was a nice selection of Mustangs, like this 1970 Cobrajet.

And this 1969 Boss 429...

... which was one of the pricier cars in the showroom. But look closely at the mileage; only 1,493 miles!

This rare 1970 Shelby GT 500 could be yours for only $115,000.

There were a couple of 1963 Ford Galaxies.

Nice 1970 Pontiac GTO "Judge". I can still see that guy in the old TV commercial banging a crowbar against that rubber front bumper.

I've always been a fan of the late 60's and early 70's Mopar muscle cars. Like this 1967 Dodge Coronet R/T.

And one of the "holy grails" of Mopars, the 1970 Dodge Daytona. This one had a price of $150,000. Very cool, but I sure don't like that drab color. Think they'd re-paint it if I bought it?

This is just a small sampling of the hundreds of cars in the huge showroom. There were trucks, drag cars, customized cars, about anything you could think of. It was a better selection of classic cars that I've seen at a lot of museums. It was strange to be charged $3.00 to browse a car dealer, but it was well worth it.

We returned to Frank's house for a quick dinner of crock pot roast beef, then Frank and I left for what turned out to be a very special evening. The circus-like atmosphere of Monday Night Football was in town, with the St. Louis Rams taking on son Frank's favorite team, the San Francisco 49'ers. Courtesy of Stub Hub Frank found a couple of seats for only $18 each. So we headed in my truck to the Casino Queen casino in East St. Louis on the bank of the Mississippi River with the intention of taking the Metrolink train to the Edward Jones Dome across the river. The train station is right at the Eads Bridge, which is the oldest bridge across the Mississippi River. When we got there we noticed a walkway runs along the bridge all the way across the river.

The rain had cleared out and it was turning into a fairly nice evening, so we came up with the idea of walking across the bridge. Why not?!

Here's a look back at the casino from up on top of the bridge.

It was a pleasant walk, and ended up being about a mile, according to the Runkeeper app on my phone. The famous St. Louis Arch and the city skyline were beautiful with the setting sun as a backdrop. You can also see our destination, the football stadium, on the right edge of this photo.

And it's getting closer.

Couldn't resist taking a selfie of me and my boy

Another view of the Arch.

We finally reached the Missouri side of the river, and the stadium was now only a couple of blocks away.

Our seats were very high up in the corner of the end zone, but it was a great overall view of the field.

We had a great time, but we missed the TV commentary, and being able to go to the fridge for a snack during time outs. (And there are a LOT of time outs during an NFL game!) The hometown Rams got off to a 14-0 lead and put a scare in the 49'ers and their fans (including Frank), but the Niners ultimately prevailed 31-17.

Here's a panoramic view from our seats.

I think when we decided to walk to the game we forgot we'd also have to walk BACK. It was another pleasant walk, but we were a little tired by the time we got to the truck. On the way I snapped this night shot of the St. Louis riverfront. It's a little noisy (grainy) due to the limitations of my smart phone camera, but I think it adds to the look of the shot, especially with the low clouds over the city.

It was a magical day and evening. Today (Tuesday) Dee came back home and we relaxed the rest of the day and evening watching the Cards playoff game and some recorded TV shows.

See you tomorrow.