I never ended up doing much of anything last night, except for laundry, which of course is as boring as it gets.  So I intended to wake up around 6:30 this morning to eat, shower and get to the Harley Davidson final assembly plant around 8 am when the tours begin.  Fate would not have it though.  First I didn't go to sleep until around 2.  Second the fire alarm went off around 4 am for what ultimately seemed like no apparent reason.  I got up and went downstairs but the guy at the front desk told us all that there was no fire and we should go back to sleep (easier said than done).  After that some guy knocked on my door around 6 am looking for someone named Chris or something.  The place was like a regular circus and I ended up sleeping through my alarm.  I was able to get up around 9 or 10 and made it to the Harley plant around 11 for a tour.  The tour was cool of course although a lot of the machines were not doing anything because the workers were on lunch break.  The tour guide gave me and the other guy on the tour shit for both having Japanese bikes but despite her idiocy the tour was still fun and made me want to get on a motorcycle right away. That couldn't happen though so I got in my car and headed to St Louis.

    I arrived in St Louis around 5pm after an extremely frustrating drive on interstate 70.  Generally I don't like the interstates (as I have mentioned) but I didn't have time to loaf around so I figured it would be quicker.  I'm sure it was quicker but there were so many idiots driving slow in the left lane (1 of only 2 lanes) that it made the journey difficult for anyone who wanted to drive 90mph the whole way.  The first thing I did upon arrival to St Louis, naturally, was to go to the Gateway Arch (aka Jefferson National Expansion Memorial).  I took the tiny pod to the top, jammed in with 4 other people, for some nice views of the city and the surrounding areas.  The room at the top is small and only has small windows to look out through.  Unfortunately, you loose the sense that you are in the arch at all which has the potential to take away from the experience if you don't take a few minutes to think of the significance of where you are really standing.  After a bunch of pictures I descended the arch and met up with Ellen who I knew from my short lived time in Boston.  She lives in St Louis and her and her boyfriend Jamie had tickets to see Oliver at an outdoor venue in Forest Park.  I decided to tag along.  Sure it was 100 degrees during the day but by 8:00 by the time it started it had cooled off to at least 90. Wow, what a great relief!  I didn't really anticipate there being beer at this event but it was there in its locally brewed glory in the form of Bud Light and Bud Select.  Being a beer snob I would normally not drink either of these beers if I had the choice.  However, it was these or nothing so I took a plunge for a Bud Select, a supposedly upgraded form of watered down trash.  When its too cold we drink beer to warm up and when its too hot we drink beer because its refreshing.  It can do everything.  Oh yeah and it can also get you drunk if you drink enough of it.  Who knew?  Anyway, I threw back the first beer and felt nice so I decided to go for a second.  Two quickly turned into five as the girl working the taps gave me three free beers.  Buying two and getting three in return was surely the greatest buy back I've ever been a part of.  The musical was good and was probably enhanced by my mild inebriation.  My attention span usually lasts about 6 seconds so the beer helped keep things interesting.  When it was over we left the park and took a quick drive by one of the rib joints we had spoken about earlier in the evening.  Now here's the thing.  I've been led to believe that St Louis is the home of a great many rib joints and even claims to be one of the originators of the wonderful grub.  If this is true the locals do not seem to know it or are really trying to keep it a secret.  Jamie was the only one who was able to put forth any names and the top of his list was Smokin Als so this is the one we drove by on the way home.  As luck would have it, its pretty close to Ellen's apartment which should make it nice and easy to find tomorrow (Ellen was kind enough to let me sleep in her apartment which I thank her for and I also thank Emmy who put me in touch with her).  So tomorrow I'll head to Smokin Als for some ribs and then head to Louisville to meet up with Meghan (who I used to work with at my previous job) and her husband.  It was great to see Ellen and hanging out with her and Jamie was particularly nice since I haven't seen a familiar face since Seattle.  By tomorrow I'll have seen two people I know two days in a row which is certainly nice, especially this far into the trip.