August 7, 2021
Vanlog, Cracker Barrel, Springfield OH
If you guessed the bonus photo stop was going to be Gateway Arch NP, aka the St Louis Arch, then you were right! We had about a two-hour drive from out Crackerdock to St Louis MO. Found a metered spot on the street and squeezed in and then walked several blocks to what is now one of the 63 national parks. When we were last there in 2010 it was The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, built in 1965 at a cost of $13 million, it was designed by architect Eero Sannarin, who beat out his father in a competition for whose design was the best. The arch is constructed of a stainless steel exterior and a carbon fiber interior with concrete sandwiched in between. It was built from both legs up and joined in the middle. If either leg was off by more than a millimeter, the two legs would not have joined in the middle correctly and it would have collapsed. The arch is designed to sway by up to 18 in in the wind or in the event of an earthquake. It is actually a semicircle and the largest freestanding arch in the world with a height of 630 ft and a base that is also 630 ft in diameter. It only looks like an oval to us because of an optical illusion as a result of us standing on the ground looking up at it. This is the 11th national park on our trip. We then drove to Springfield OH where we once again Crackerdocked.
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