Day Seven, St. Louis, MO: Across the River

Today I drove from Bloomington to St. Louis, which went by surprisingly quickly, although on paper it was a 4+ hour drive. In the past week I’ve found that my definition of “the middle of nowhere” is both a bit anachronistic and woefully inadequate when applied to some other states. Having spent almost all of my life in Southern Michigan, I’ve grown accustomed to what amounts to a variable, but constant and thorough, population of the land surrounding myself. But even in Southern Illinois, there just are not a lot of things or people. I’m sure that at this point, the farther west I go, the more in-the-middle-of-nowhere I will find myself.

On the way out of Bloomington – on a road that rapidly progressed from main city thoroughfare, to city bypass, to country road – I saw something I did not expect to see this quickly; a herd of Bison. The herd was grazing in an enclosure and thus is, I suspect, being raised for human consumption. Most American Bison are now raised for human consumption and are not wild herds, let alone genetically pure, as they have been cross-bred with cattle.

(A note about pictures: clicking on the pictures within the blog will only link to a reduced size of the image, although still larger than what appears within the post. I’m working on a solution to that through separate photo albums.)

On the way to St. Louis I stopped at the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, which is about 45 minutes outside of Bloomington. Take Jurassic Park. Now, remove the genetics lab with the fancy robotic arms and the (faulty) electric fencing. Replace the dinosaurs with lions, tigers, and cougars. Keep the loud roaring and the blistering heat. What you’re left with are very exotic animals in very large cages.

However, this place is not a zoo. The main focus is on providing a habitat for these big cats, many of which have been abused and illegally kept in inadequate conditions. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, around 12,000 tigers are kept as private pets in the United States. When, inevitably, some of these animals need a larger or more legal home, they end up in places like the EFRC. The Center is open to the public and tours are offered, however, as I mentioned before, this is not the primary mission of the center. It is constructed to allow for easy caring of the animals; not to provide good viewing angles for guests.

But the view was still plenty good enough. The funny thing about these tigers is that they act like cats, which, of course, they are. But there is something unexpected about seeing a 1,000lb behemoth move with the same graceful saunter as your 10lb housecat. Some of the cats will – I suppose this word fits best – nay. It’s an odd sound, (see video at the end of the post). A roar, on the other hand, is not easily mistaken for much else. It is far deeper than I ever imagined, and carries much farther as well. The cats seem to carry on conversations with roars just as neighborhood dogs in close quarters often do.

After leaving the EFRC I continued to make my way to St. Louis, which is essentially a mindless track down I-70, through Illinois,  until you hit the Big River with the large city on the opposite bank. I’m staying in the heart of the city, right near the Delmar loop, and expect to do plenty of exploring around the city in the couple days ahead. This is also the first time I’ve been left of the Mississippi in roughly five years. The high tomorrow is 98 degrees, which makes it a great day to visit a brewery. With a special emphasis on the indoor aspect, as well as the cold beer aspect.

Tonight I went to the Cardinals game at New Busch Stadium, which is well known as one of the “better” parks in the country. The stadium recently opened in the 2006 season. To someone such as myself – a picky park fan who despises the encroaching commercialization of some newer stadiums (take Yankee Stadium), adores the oldest ones, (Tiger, Wrigley, etc), and admires the well done, newer ones, Busch Stadium is a beauty. The park is crafted in an entirely different mold than many of the newer parks, which have begun to shift to a retro with a finely-tuned modern aspect of design. Comerica Park and many others fit this bill; rather, Busch’s high, four-level bowl gives it a distinctly modern feel. It occurred to me that such a construction is possible in St. Louis, where a large majority of the skyline still projects over the tall bowl of the stadium. If you fold this collar in half, you’re left with Comerica Park – a structure that barely insulates you from your urban surroundings. This open air field is, in some cities, a nice effect. Detroit is not one of those cities.

It was a far different experience than a trip to downtown Detroit for a Tigers game. First, St. Louis, despite being roughly the size of Metro Detroit in population, has an actual public transit system. The Metro subway, while not delivering trains every minute and a half, is still a far better option that driving and parking. Second, the entire city goes to the ball game, they all wear red, and most of them take the subway. The Cardinals are a historically rich franchise, and fans in the city are truly devoted to the team. And they’re there to watch the game, not attend a social event. One couple that left early – with the Cards down two in the bottom of the ninth – was nearly shouted out of the park by the rest of the section.

It’s real late, (although I’ve entered the point where late for me is later for you,) so I must be going. More tomorrow!

For more pictures, see http://picasaweb.google.com/reidksmith