Hello, St. Louis

It had been a long time since I'd been anywhere. St. Louis was familiar, even if I'd not been in a long time. It could be fun. Except for two trips to Mt. Vernon, and one to Boonville, I'd not been out of Evansville in well over two years. I was due, that's for certain. The question is: Was I ready?

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It started simply enough. Saturday morning, I posted a link on one of our stations' Facebook page giving details of the parade to celebrate the Cardinals' World Series title. I wasn't even thinking about the fact that my best friend Cathy is a Cards fan. (If you're new to LIFE 4.0, meet Cathy.) It crossed my mind that I'd not been to St. Louis in ages, 2005 to be precise, and 1995 before that. Each time, I'd been passsing through on my way out west, so maybe those don't even count.

My best friend Cathy properly attired in her Cardinals shirt. Usually, she stands out from the crowd, but not that day. Several hundred thousand St. Louisians were showing their colors as well.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained... We hatched a plan that afternoon. We would head to St. Louis Sunday morning, and see the parade. It was supposed to be a nice day, and it's an uncongested drive. I-64 from Evansville is usually sparsely traveled until you hit the St. Louis suburbs. What the hell, we'd try it. If the three-hour drive knocked me out (which it could, because of the swelling in my calves) I'd drop Cathy off where she could watch the parade and pick her up after it was over.

It was a fantastic day. We left about 9:00, so after a lunch stop, we hit downtown St. Louis about 1:00. The parade would start after the Rams game, about four o'clock. People were already lining up along the route, so we parked and walked the four blocks to 15th & Market, right across from the American Theater. Windy as can be, and some rain here and there, but who cares? It was party time. How often does your city's team win the World Series?

It was just one of those days that makes life special, Everything went right. We found a great spot right by the barricade, and set up our chairs. Yes, we brought chairs. Cathy may be tough, but I'm not. No way could I stand for four hours. Between the two of us, we took about 200 pictures, and several videos. You can see the pics on my Facebook page. (Hey, friend me if you're not one already) and Cathy's videos on here.

Manager Tony LaRussa even waved in our direction! The following day, he announced his retirement, so we can say we saw him as Cardinals manager on the last day of his glorious career.

   I hope this doesn't sound like bragging, but I far exceeded expectations, I walked without a lot of difficulty, and actually stood for almost 45 minutes once the parade got underway. We met a lot of nice Cards fans, some of which were impressed that we drove all the way from Indiana.I got to run through Jack In The Box, and Cathy introduced me to Imo's Pizza.

And there's a great sense of satisfaction in knowing that I accomplished something which I really thought was beyond my ability.

Today's lesson? Consider the road not taken. It's impossibile to know what we miss by playing it safe. Had I been sensible and done the "right thing," and not pushed myself to the limit, I would have missed one of the most wonderful days of my life. It's good to know that the spirit of The Year Of Rule Six rocks on, loud and proud.

StevenK