CWF Day One - June 24, 2010

Hello and welcome to the CWF 2010’s first blog post. I’ll be your host, Brennan Walter for the evening. As of the time this post was written, we have just crossed the Mississippi River into our third of the nine states or districts included in this great union, under a beautiful sunset behind the silver Gateway Arch, headed towards our first nightly destination in Mount Vernon,

Illinois.

The wheels on the bus turned round n’ round at 7:30, and we were soon off on I-70 with our first in-bus movie, “Wild Hogs.” We arrived in Kansas City and stopped off at a shopping center for a prompt bathroom break and for the bus driver to exchange some paperwork.

The quest for some of our delegates was to track down a mascot for our bus trip – and it was swiftly decided that a garden gnome should be our standard. While we thought we could find just about anything at a Wal-Mart, a expeditious search found no gnomes on the premises. Feeling rather disappointed, we boarded the bus again and arrived at the Columbia Mall food court for lunch.

The quest for the gnome continued – members searched a nearby Target attached to the mall and successfully located a common garden gnome, but the bounty attached to the gnomes head was more than our group was willing to pay – The gnome had escaped our grasp again!

We departed Columbia sans mascot and started our second movie, “The Blind Side,” which defeated the movie “Cars” in a landslide election. Our bus rolled into suburban St. Louis at around 2:30 and our bus driver skillfully and tactfully maneuvered into the St. Louis Zoo parking lot.

Our group had about two hours to explore the expansive St. Louis Zoo during the beautiful afternoon. The group consensus was that the very chilly penguin exhibit was by far the favorite. We departed the zoo at 5:30 and travelled the few miles to downtown St. Louis’ Union Station shopping center. While some delegates were content to save time and eat in the food court under the 1890’s train shed, some people just had to eat at the Hard Rock Café, where they spent just over an hour getting their food and made everyone late. To further exacerbate the situation, those certain members came back to the bus with their food in carryout packaging, as they had not even began to eat. Yes, Brian sitting next to me, that means you.

Oh well.

We travelled through downtown St. Louis and went past the famous Gateway Arch, and are set to arrive in Mount Vernon in a few short minutes. When we arrive, our delegates are very much looking forward to jumping in a pool and/or just getting off the bus. While we are very much settled into our mobile recliners, the better part of another three days still must be spent in our speedy Arrowstage. We are very much looking forward to the days ahead and are expecting the trip to be very fun.

Until tomorrow,

Cheers!