I Am a Motorcoach . . .

. . . big red love machine! Yes, you read it right: LOVE. That’s what I’ve decided I – Two Eight One – am all about. I’ve only been motoring around the streets and highways of the US for just over a year, but I’m getting this thing figured out . . . this thing being me. The love conclusion came to me gradually, hearing passengers chat about family and friends back home during hours of travel between cities and states. I first began to notice how popular the love subject is. Then I took note of its essentials: care, service, fondness, goodwill, protection, provision, support, and so on. It occurred to me that this is what I’m all about. Goodwill? Heck, I’ve got that galore! Every impulse of my digital awareness is for the good of my passengers. Service? Just one example: I kneel for my passengers to make that step onto my staircase welcoming, and stepping off easy. Protection? I’ve never met my designers, but the more familiar I become with the ins-and-outs of me there is every indication they obsessed over passenger safety. I’m increasingly certain their objective was this business of love.

Enough muse. This particular blog is not about love, it’s about St. Louis. Quilters from California, educators from Saudi Arabia, corporate transplants getting to know the city (i.e.: the Bayer buyout of Monsanto), Independence Day fireworks enthusiasts, and various other groups from all over the region, the country, and the world made use of my services to visit St. Louis throughout 2018. Of course, the gateway Arch and surrounding area is a primary attraction, where there happens to be some new stuff to report. Let’s get to it . . .

Selfies

(which by definition means I’m in them . . . though you might have to look for me)

A passenger took this of me from the top of the Gateway Arch. I was waiting for her and the others on her tour to come back down to earth. It’s not my best viewing angle, but it was nice of her to think of me while way up there. See the greenery just to the south of my position? That’s all new. No, there was no park over the top of I-70 in the past. It was completed late summer of this year. And look to the southwest of my position, immediately north of Busch Stadium. Huge new construction is doubling the size of ballpark village. In case you didn’t know, St. Louis is nuts about baseball.

This is Julia. All of St. Louis is new to her; she’s a tourist from Pennsylvania. Julia’s ride is what’s new to St. Louis. It motors people like Julia around at up to 15 miles per hour and goes by the name Lime. There’s another version called Bird. Think of them as gnats, buzzing around everywhere! Their sudden popularity has injected a busy-fun vibe to downtown. People in suits are scootering across town to meetings, coffee shops, and eateries.

This is Chief. He’s a youngster, new to an old and treasured St. Louis tradition. We met the beasty celebrity at Anheuser Busch (just five minute south of the Arch) while there for a brewery tour. He was nice enough to stop for a selfie on his way back to his stable.

This is where you get your tickets to the travel up to the top of the Gateway Arch. I used to hear a lot of moaning about the hassle actually getting to the arch from the Old Court house. Now you just walk across the street and through the park and you’re there.

Laclede’s Landing is the historic district that celebrates the original settlement established by Frenchman and St. Louis visionary, Pierre Laclede. This is where it all began. And this is where you can enjoy fine dining and entertainment in an old world urban setting. What’s new about it is the easy access by way of the newly completed park and walkways around the Gateway arch. Just get on a Bird and scooter yourself a wee bit to the north end of the park and you’re there.

The opening of the new Arch grounds also marked the reopening of Fair St. Louis, which was displaced during the years of the Gateway project’s construction. The multi-day food and culture party made July 4th its official restart day, and there were six of us down there, our passengers enjoying the airshow over the Mississippi just prior to the highly anticipated annual fireworks display.

MEETING THE NEWS on the roadways of America, first-hand, real time, real world news—going out and discovering the news . . .

COMPLETION NEWS: It took five years and $380-million to complete renovations of the museum and grounds at the base of Eero Saarinen’s Gateway monument. The walking paths and open grass fields of the new grounds connect the Gateway Arch to the life of the city and to the Mississippi panorama beyond. And the museum below the Arch will be as new and inspiring to locals as to first-time visitors.

BILLIKEN NEWS: Mid-American Coaches is now the preferred provider for St. Louis University Billikens sports! So, now we help deliver the NCAA Division 1 and Atlantic 10 conference excellence and drama of 18 Billiken sports! Most important here: there are many bears, lions, tigers, eagles, sharks, snakes, and other land, sea, and air creatures utilizing the courts, fields, and pools of collegiate sports for competition, but make no mistake, there is only one home of the Billiken! (If you are interested in what a Billiken is, you can find it on Wikipedia.) And what a year to become a Billiken! Founded in November 1818 as the first institution of higher learning in the American West, this is St. Louis U’s 200th Anniversary!

(Unlike selfies, these are not about me, but about travel discoveries I think you’d like to know about.)

The Gateway Arch Museum: I have heard passengers say (over and over again) that when you’re there, an absolute MUST see is the award winning movie about the creation of the Gateway Arch.

Quote Of The Day samples

“You can observe a lot by just watching” – Yogi Berra

“It’s amazing how much you can learn if your intentions are truly earnest.” – Chuck Berry

(These two famous St. Louisans would have made great motorcoaches!)