On the Banks of the Mississippi
As many of you know, I have been spending the last year and a half flying back and forth across our country at least once month for the privilege of doing the Firm's Work. Today I flew only half way across the country and landed in St. Louis, Missouri instead of California, or Arizona, or Oregon, or New York. I was prepared for 24 hours of strip malls and large GM cars and a depressed urban core. Instead, I have found an American Nirvana!
St. Louis is wonderful! First of all, the best way to get here is on American Airlines which appears, based on my experience today, to be much better than United. The plane was very quiet, and my seat was as supportive as an Aero chair. We flew out of National, which is much easier to get to than Dulles. Because we flew out of National, we were not allowed to get up from our seats for half an hour. I realized that the only flights I've taken from National since 9/11 have been the shuttle to NYC, on which you cannot get up at all anyway, so this half hour rule was new to me. Do you know where you are half an hour after taking off from National? Pretty far away. Well beyond Interstate 81 -- practically in Ohio. That's where.
As is my wont, I fell sound asleep during the 2 hour flight. When I woke up, outside my window were those fearsome thunderstorms we've been reading so much about in the news. I saw huge black anvils going straight up into the atmosphere. As we descended to St. Louis, I saw endless railroad tracks and thousands of freight cars in sidings and yards, etc. I saw huge amounts of barge traffic on the Mississippi, which is very fat and brown. I saw miles and miles of rolling fertile farmland and hardwood trees. I didn't see any urban anything. The sun was setting and everything was glowing. I saw some highways but there was hardly any traffic. As we got lower we passed over some residential areas. I saw children riding their bicycles, I saw kids playing kick ball on oak-lined streets, I saw the Good Humor truck, I saw Little League games going on in neighborhood parks, I saw Moms calling children home for meatloaf and apple pie (honest!). The trees were huge and spreading and green. The moon was large and rising in the sky. I started humming that barbershop song about the Wabash:
Oh the moon is fair tonight along the Wabash,
From the fields there comes the breath of new mown hay.
Through the sycamores, the candlelight are gleaming,
On the Banks of the Wabash, far away.
As I drove along, I began to worry, inexplicably, that I would get lost. Everything is so flat and bucolic here, it's disorienting. I figured if I crossed the Mississippi then I would know I had gone too far and I could turnaround. Convenient landmark, that. My mind began to wander. I realized I had absolutely no idea what kind of car I was driving. "Hey, what kind of car is this anyway?!" I said out loud to myself. I had just gotten in it without looking very closely at it what it was. I didn't even know what color it was. White? Silver? Red? Was it a Ford? A Chrysler? I knew it wasn't an SUV, but that was about all. I became obsessed with trying to figure out what I was driving. It seemed somehow irresponsible not to know. I looked around the inside of the car whilst flying down the completely empty interstate at 60 mph trying to find something that would indicate who the manufacturer was. Nothing. All I saw was a "SRS" logo which I think has something to do with airbags, and a very complicated radio. I gave up.
Just then the St. Louis Arch hove into view. It is much larger than it looks in postcards. It's humongous, and it's really more like a piece of outdoor sculpture than a monument. It changes color as you drive along -- I guess it reflects light or something. It's actually very alluring. In fact, it's completely hazardous for to the inattentive driver (me). I gazed at is out my driver's side window, with my mouth open.
Eventually I found my hotel, the Westin St. Louis. This place is unbelievable. First of all, it is immediately across the street from the St. Louis Cardinal's stadium -- and the street is not very wide. It's probably about as wide as Wisconsin Avenue in DC. Second, it is in in an old warehouse or factory building or something. My room is on the corner of Spruce and Stadium, immediately across the street from Gate 3 of the stadium. My windows are floor to ceiling factory windows -- like a loft in Soho. One of the many windows is cracked -- I wouldn't be surprised if it was hit by a baseball flying out of the stadium. The decor is super uber modern -- way more upscale than the Mandarin in San Francisco even (can you believe that?). The room is ridiculously large. It is larger than the whole first floor of my apartment. The bathroom is bigger than my office. I had to RUN to my door to get room service and the RUN took a little while. From my giant windows I can see the concession stands in the stadium. There is a game tonight so I watched people buying hotdogs and beer. I am on the fourth floor of the warehouse/factory building, so I about the same level as the second tier up from the field. I can here the loopy stadium organ music and see through the two tiers and see people in their seats waving flags. There is also a saxophone player on the street corner playing what I guess is St. Louis Jazz. I can gaze down on the people directing parking. It all seems very small town -- I had always imagined the Cardinals were a big deal team, but this is all very folksy. It's like a carnival out there.
Now I'm in my room watching West Wing and Law & Order and eating an organic field green salad that I envision coming from those fertile fields along the Mississippi. I see on television that there are severe thunderstorm/super cell warnings out for several counties. Too bad I don't know what county I'm in. Apparently there's hail and everything on the way. I hope my massive factory windows can withstand hail. I just heard the crowd go wild across the street at the stadium. Maybe I should switch to ESPN and see what just happened.
By the way, the car turns out to be a silver Alero.
As many of you know, I have been spending the last year and a half flying back and forth across our country at least once month for the privilege of doing the Firm's Work. Today I flew only half way across the country and landed in St. Louis, Missouri instead of California, or Arizona, or Oregon, or New York. I was prepared for 24 hours of strip malls and large GM cars and a depressed urban core. Instead, I have found an American Nirvana!
St. Louis is wonderful! First of all, the best way to get here is on American Airlines which appears, based on my experience today, to be much better than United. The plane was very quiet, and my seat was as supportive as an Aero chair. We flew out of National, which is much easier to get to than Dulles. Because we flew out of National, we were not allowed to get up from our seats for half an hour. I realized that the only flights I've taken from National since 9/11 have been the shuttle to NYC, on which you cannot get up at all anyway, so this half hour rule was new to me. Do you know where you are half an hour after taking off from National? Pretty far away. Well beyond Interstate 81 -- practically in Ohio. That's where.
As is my wont, I fell sound asleep during the 2 hour flight. When I woke up, outside my window were those fearsome thunderstorms we've been reading so much about in the news. I saw huge black anvils going straight up into the atmosphere. As we descended to St. Louis, I saw endless railroad tracks and thousands of freight cars in sidings and yards, etc. I saw huge amounts of barge traffic on the Mississippi, which is very fat and brown. I saw miles and miles of rolling fertile farmland and hardwood trees. I didn't see any urban anything. The sun was setting and everything was glowing. I saw some highways but there was hardly any traffic. As we got lower we passed over some residential areas. I saw children riding their bicycles, I saw kids playing kick ball on oak-lined streets, I saw the Good Humor truck, I saw Little League games going on in neighborhood parks, I saw Moms calling children home for meatloaf and apple pie (honest!). The trees were huge and spreading and green. The moon was large and rising in the sky. I started humming that barbershop song about the Wabash:
Oh the moon is fair tonight along the Wabash,
From the fields there comes the breath of new mown hay.
Through the sycamores, the candlelight are gleaming,
On the Banks of the Wabash, far away.
As I drove along, I began to worry, inexplicably, that I would get lost. Everything is so flat and bucolic here, it's disorienting. I figured if I crossed the Mississippi then I would know I had gone too far and I could turnaround. Convenient landmark, that. My mind began to wander. I realized I had absolutely no idea what kind of car I was driving. "Hey, what kind of car is this anyway?!" I said out loud to myself. I had just gotten in it without looking very closely at it what it was. I didn't even know what color it was. White? Silver? Red? Was it a Ford? A Chrysler? I knew it wasn't an SUV, but that was about all. I became obsessed with trying to figure out what I was driving. It seemed somehow irresponsible not to know. I looked around the inside of the car whilst flying down the completely empty interstate at 60 mph trying to find something that would indicate who the manufacturer was. Nothing. All I saw was a "SRS" logo which I think has something to do with airbags, and a very complicated radio. I gave up.
Just then the St. Louis Arch hove into view. It is much larger than it looks in postcards. It's humongous, and it's really more like a piece of outdoor sculpture than a monument. It changes color as you drive along -- I guess it reflects light or something. It's actually very alluring. In fact, it's completely hazardous for to the inattentive driver (me). I gazed at is out my driver's side window, with my mouth open.
Eventually I found my hotel, the Westin St. Louis. This place is unbelievable. First of all, it is immediately across the street from the St. Louis Cardinal's stadium -- and the street is not very wide. It's probably about as wide as Wisconsin Avenue in DC. Second, it is in in an old warehouse or factory building or something. My room is on the corner of Spruce and Stadium, immediately across the street from Gate 3 of the stadium. My windows are floor to ceiling factory windows -- like a loft in Soho. One of the many windows is cracked -- I wouldn't be surprised if it was hit by a baseball flying out of the stadium. The decor is super uber modern -- way more upscale than the Mandarin in San Francisco even (can you believe that?). The room is ridiculously large. It is larger than the whole first floor of my apartment. The bathroom is bigger than my office. I had to RUN to my door to get room service and the RUN took a little while. From my giant windows I can see the concession stands in the stadium. There is a game tonight so I watched people buying hotdogs and beer. I am on the fourth floor of the warehouse/factory building, so I about the same level as the second tier up from the field. I can here the loopy stadium organ music and see through the two tiers and see people in their seats waving flags. There is also a saxophone player on the street corner playing what I guess is St. Louis Jazz. I can gaze down on the people directing parking. It all seems very small town -- I had always imagined the Cardinals were a big deal team, but this is all very folksy. It's like a carnival out there.
Now I'm in my room watching West Wing and Law & Order and eating an organic field green salad that I envision coming from those fertile fields along the Mississippi. I see on television that there are severe thunderstorm/super cell warnings out for several counties. Too bad I don't know what county I'm in. Apparently there's hail and everything on the way. I hope my massive factory windows can withstand hail. I just heard the crowd go wild across the street at the stadium. Maybe I should switch to ESPN and see what just happened.
By the way, the car turns out to be a silver Alero.
posted by Anonymous @ 10:46 PM
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