Have Tea Will Travel: 2014

Chain of Rocks?! What kind of name is that for a bridge? We'd have to do some reading and head out toward St. Louis and see for ourselves.
The Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River from the north-end of St. Louis, MO into Madison, Illinois.
The bridge's name comes from a series of hazardous rocky rapids that are called the "Chain of Rocks". They made this stretch of the Mississippi extremely dangerous to navigate.
(In the late 1940's and early 1950's the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a 8.4-mile long canal to bypass this treacherous area of river.)

©Have Tea Will Travel

It is definitely one of the more interesting bridges in America because it makes a 30 degree turn midway across its mile long stretch {as you can see in Aaron's photo below} and for more than 30 years it was a significant landmark for those traveling Route 66 across the Mississippi River!

©Have Tea Will Travel

Originally a motor route, it is now used to carry walking and biking trails over the river.
The Chain of Rocks Bridge is one of the word's longest pedestrian and bicycle bridges.
Because of its significance and history the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

©Have Tea Will Travel

The Chain of Rocks Bridge is a great place to view Eagles in the wintertime; especially January and February! Do you think a thermos of hot oolong tea would help in bearing the extreme wind and cold? Would like to come out here in better weather and relax more with the tea. {Shivering tends to interfere with the relaxing portion} .

©Have Tea Will Travel

Happy Sipping,

Viktorija and Aaron

For you Trivia folks:

The Chain of Rocks Bridge was used as a filming site for Escape from New York in 1981.

More on the Chain of Rocks Bridge here.

More on Route 66 here.

Also, please visit us - HAVE TEA WILL TRAVEL on Facebook!

The Eads Bridge is an iconic structure of numerous firsts -
it was the world's first steel truss bridge, the longest arched bridge in the world, the first river bridge in St. Louis and the southern-most Mississippi River bridge when it opened in 1874. Many other engineering firsts were associated with it's design and construction.

It crosses the Mississippi River just north of the the Gateway Arch over to East St. Louis, Illinois.
The inspiration for the bridge came from the need to link St. Louis to the rail lines running east to west.
After the Civil War, St. Louisans realized it was a matter of economic survival that the City become a major link for the railroad. The only transportation across the river, at the time, were three ferries.

Today the bridge is still a prominent feature of the St. Louis Riverfront.

Statue: The Captain's Return by Harry Weber

depicts the return of Lewis and Clark along with their dog Scout

is at the foot of the Eads Bridge

TEAriffic day to you all,

Aaron

Visit HAVE TEA WILL TRAVEL on Facebook too.

For more information on the bridge's namesake, click here.

Pages

The Chain of Rocks Bridge

Eads Bridge