After a lovely stay at the Days Inn in Topeka, Kansas , en route from Denver , we arrived at the Haffenreffers’ in St. Louis on Tuesday evening. Laurie, John ('66) and Annie Haffenreffer, parents and sister of Lisa Haffenreffer '05, graciously agreed to put us up in their home on our rest stay in St. Louis. After a very warm drive we were incredibly excited to see a pool in their backyard, which we literally ran in to. To Annie, who had to deal with us as we entered their home, we truly apologize for any unruly behavior as we sprinted through towards your backyard. (Note: As much as we love the bus, upwards of 8 hours on a bus travelling through the midwest in August with no air conditioning in the middle of a heat wave can get a bit warm. If there’s a body of water in sight, we generally bee-line toward it.) In any case, the Haffenreffers’ home was a delightful change of pace from the RV parks we had been frequenting; although surprisingly nice, they just didn’t quite have the homey feel of our St. Louis hosts. After a brief lounge in their pool, we enjoyed a barbeque with the Haffenreffers and some fellow Dartmouth alums whom Laurie and John invited over. Many thanks to Bill ('66) and Nancy Hobson and Doug Killebrew '62 for sharing your stories with us and letting us share ours.

Wednesday found us enjoying the sights and sounds of St. Louis. With no official bus stops, we were just touring the city by foot and enjoying the St. Louis treasures we found, talking with any interested passersby as we went. Our first stop was the Loop . Some favorite bus stops from the day follow: Fitz's, an awesome root beer brewery and restaurant where we treated ourselves to lunch and floats. Definitely stop here if you're looking to gorge yourself on delicious greasy foods and ice cream beverages. Whoever thought to put ice cream into a drinkable form, well, you're a genius. Subterrranean Books is another must-stop. An independent bookstore that basically had every great book I've ever read or heard of, plus some, you should definitely go here. I'll admit, I'm a bookstore person, so I might be slightly biased, but I think this place is a winner, book-lover or not. Buyers definitely beware.

After our brief but successful foray into the Loop, we made an even briefer foray into St. Louis proper to see the famed arch. And we have pictures to prove it. Though I am slightly ashamed to say it, it was definitely a drive-by arching. We didn't even get out of the bus. There, I admitted it. But at least we made an effort - we figured if we made it all the way to St. Louis we had better see the arch and the river for which the city is known. After our lame attempt at being tourists, we made a quick unscheduled stop at Whole Foods to stock up on dinner for the night. We were once again greeted enthusiastically by all the store's employees, headed by Ed, the shift manager at the time, who proved to be more evidence that Whole Foods is awesome and always a favorite stop of mine.

Post-dinner and another quick jump in the pool, it was time to catch a ball game in town for a few of us (Phillies 16 Cardinals 8), and grease-hunting for the rest. Grease-hunting was incredibly successful, and Sonic proved once again to be a gold-mine for the delicious used-vegetable oil our bus thrives on. There's nothing like finding a dumpster full to the brim of greasy golden caramel goodness - not too thick, not too sludgy, just a thin film covering it... Really, nothing like it.

And so with a tank full of grease, one ball game, several swims, and far too many root beer floats later, we are off again on the road, this time headed toward New Orleans ...

- Stepho