Rabbits, Rabbits, Rabbits

We started the day at the Rabbit Ranch a few miles away from the hotel in Staunton.  Some old cars, petrol pumps and other Americana for me, and many, many Rabbits for Jane.

Next stop was to Colinsville to see the Brooks Catsup Bottle Water Tower (the biggest Catsup bottle IN THE WORLD - apparently).  Another Big Thing  added to the list.

We headed towards St. Louis could see the arch as we got close to the bridge.  We didn't want to drive through downtown but the car had other ideas and we got stuck in loops of one-way streets and diversions.  FINALLY we broke free.

Passing through nice little towns like Caseyville we headed towards St. Louis.  We didn't want to drive through downtown 

Two days to go

We're all packed and suitcases are by the door ready for VERY early Saturday morning.  It's really just clothes, camera stuff and various gadgets.

We're not planning on booking anything in advance bar the first couple of hotels (and a Wigwam hotel a bit later in case it gets booked up).  The difficulty in booking the Wigwam Hotel is it'll be tricky to guess which day we may arrive so far in advance and don't want to find ourselves either rushing towards it or loitering around because we arrived too early.

Jane booked the first couple of hotels. The first, in Pontiac, was a mere £30 and looks every bit like that's more money than it deserves.  Which of course is great.  Staying in bad motels is part of the fun.  The second which, it has to be said, looks a great deal nicer is in Staunton.  That'll put us, I think, about 150 miles into the trip.

There are many, many ghost towns along the route and I've made a list of them so we can remember to stop along the way at a few.  

I've been re-reading one of Wim Wender's photography books for the inspiration of the type of photographs I'd like to come back with.  Here's a photo of his called "Sunday Salon".

Sunday Salon by Wim Wenders.