We are breaking new ground today, just as we did in Whitehorse way back when this tour began.  I am sitting on the bus behind the theatre on the University of Missouri in St. Louis.  All around me there are open green spaces divided by concrete walkways, and parking lots surrounding large brownstone and buildings.  In other words, I’m on a University Campus.  I could be in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Bristol, England, or St. Louis, Missouri.  There is nothing in my immediate view plane that suggests I am in anyplace new.  

So, I have a mission.  I must find some way to get to the famous Gateway Arch before the bus rolls to the next destination.  I know it is a touristy idea, but I hate the feeling that some new experience is just around the corner, and I can’t get to it.

It puts me in mind of the many conversations I’ve had with people in the Northern half of the US who’ve never been to Canada.  In particular, those folks that live within a few hours drive of the Quebec border, and have never bothered to nip up for a look.

I spoke at length one evening with a fairly worldly lady in Burlington, Vermont, who explained that she had never thought to go to Montreal or Quebec City.  I protested out loud wondering how any upright human could help themselves from exploring a place with unique and fascinating history, language, culture, cuisine, art, architecture, and music, that was less than half a days drive away from their own front step!  Growing up on an isolated Island must have embedded in me some odd sense of curiosity about all foreign people and places, and it amazes, and even slightly offends me, when others don’t share the same wonder.

Must find the Arch.

Cheers,
Alan