Great start to a TR. Especially nice to see the pics of STL -- although yes more than a bit sad nowadays, at least to those of us who remember when it had life AND beauty to it. I always liked using it, it gave a sense of a center of worldwide commerce right in the middle of the plains. Nice restaurants, too.

Actually -- why did you go through there at all, wouldn't the direct AA ORD-LAX service have worked better for you as your time was short on that mini-trip?