25 Apr 2025 - Arrived at Stop #9 Covered Bridge RV Park in Fenton MO

 

This morning after reveille, at 0930 hrs we loaded up the "tenement on wheels" as Clark W, Griswold would say, and headed eastbound on I-44.  While loading the coach on the truck I took a couple photos of the yellow pollen that covered everything. 

This yellow dust - pollen, is primarily caused by coniferous trees, especially pines, and sometimes other conifers like spruce, fir, larch, and hemlock. It is released when these trees bloom.  According to what they say, the pine pollen is not usually a major allergen, but I have sneezed more in the last couple days than I have in a long time and I have never had allergies to anything.

So we got all loaded up and away we went.  Today's travels only lasted about 2-1/2 hours.  The scenery was nice.  Rolling hills and limestone cliffs,

125 miles later we arrived at Covered Bridge RV Park in Fenton MO.  This is a small RV park with what appears to be quite a few seasonal campers and a few spots for transients like us.  The sites are full hook-up that are wide and  paved.  The power is stable. 

 I have yet to sort out the whole "covered bridge" name of the park.  There is an old bridge here but it is not covered, in fact it leads to no where.  

There is a small stream that runs through here called Saline Creek, so it is really a nice park.  

On 4 Aug 2022 a flash flood caused Saline Creek flood waters to swamp the Covered Bridge RV Park. Rescuers went door to door through the campsite making sure everyone got out safely. No one was trapped and everyone was able to get out.  That may explain the "bridge to nowhere" we stood on this afternoon.

Photo credit:  kfvs12

So why Fenton MO?  Not far from the campground is Jefferson Barracks Military Post, which was an important and active U.S. Army installation from 1826 through 1946. It is the oldest operating U.S. military installation west of the Mississippi River, and it is now used as a base for the Army and Air National Guard.  

One of the units assigned to Jefferson Barracks was the 218th Engineering Installation Squadron.  These Airmen used to deploy to our Air National Guard unit in Des Moines to design and install  communications systems.  They installed our fiber optic network that supported our computer network.  They also repaired, upgraded, and replaced our copper telephone cable plant.  I was hoping to reconnect with any of them that might still be in this area but we will see how that goes.

Tomorrow there are several museums at Jefferson Barracks we want to see including a telephone museum, a POW/MIA museum, a civil war museum, ordinance museum and a heritage museum.