Meet Me in St Louis

208 High Street, Boonville, Missouri, 2007 © Timothy Briner

We started the day in Kansas City and after a brief encounter with a weirdo at a Radio Shack in Kansas we hit up Brian Ulrich's show at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas. What an impressive space and what an impressive showing for Brian. He had twenty-one beautifully massive prints covering several rooms of the museum.

After the show we started out on the long journey east on I-70 towards St Louis. I-70 between Kansas City and St Louis (249 miles) is straight and long and has a billboard every ten feet. You can tell a lot about a state by reading all the signs that line the highway. It would seem the good people of Missouri love John McCain, hate baby-killers, and have a voracious appetite for porn. There were more adult superstores than there were Dairy Queens. Along the way we stopped in Boonville, MO for lunch (hello, Tim!).

Today was a great day for stranded motorists. I shot five encounters which definitely made up for the first two days. Just outside of St Louis I was lucky to photograph Orlando who was broken down on the west bound shoulder of I-70. Orlando had the most impressive gold grill I've ever seen and was a real sweetheart.

Once the sun started to set we headed over to the Arch. I have been to St Louis before but never really paid attention the city's most famous landmark. It really is a beautiful piece of art. When we were in Minneapolis we saw the Eero Saarinen exhibit as the Walker Arts Center and seeing the Saarinen-designed arch in person was the perfect compliment to our journey.

Tomorrow we are off to Chicago (298 miles) where we are hoping to see the Gitelson clan...