Quote Originally Posted by jcorb2d View Post
From St. Louis (where I live now - a half-tank trip. This is less than 200 miles of driving.):

South on I-55 to Ste Genevieve, stopping for pie at the Blue Owl in Kimmswick. If you want, get off 55 and follow US-61 South. (Either from Kimmswick or (better yet) from somehwere around Crystal City.) Stop in Ste Genevieve for the night if you are hotelling (it's a fun town) or, if camping, take MO-32 West to Hawn State Park. Hike depending on your ability/interest there (whether you camp there or not) and then be sure to do the ~2 mile loop hike nearby at Pickle Springs. Continue West on MO-32 to Farmington. Hang a right and get on US-67 N. Pass by St. Joe State Park and stop at St Francois State Park. Back on US-67 N. At MO-110 cut over W to MO-21 and follow back N to St. Louis. As I live about a block and a half off of MO-21, this leads almost to my doorstep.
My husband's dad's family all lived in that neck of the woods - Leadwood, Park Hills, Desloge, Irondale. There used to be a fantastic little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Irondale. I think it's real name was something like The Blue Plate, but my in-laws always called it "Earl's". Unfortunately, I don't think it exists any more.

We did a "one tank" trip back in 2008. We got in the car, drove up to Disneyland (1-1/2 hours, about 90 miles) and spent 3 days there. They were having a 3-day pass for $99 for SoCal residents special, so we took advantage of that. We then went a little further north and did the 3-hour tour of Warner Bros studios, and came home. All on one tank. The hotels were all at discount because my husband is retired military, so the only thing we really had to pay full price for, were restaurants. Even there, I had a coupon for one place.


Donna