First stop was Wickliffe Mounds, part of the pre-European Cahokia/ Mississippean native culture. Why they disappeared about 100 years before contact with the first Europeans is not known. I really appreciated how the scientist who curated the site debunked all the common theories and acknowledged that they also do not know why. Besides a few mounds they excavated one long low mound, serving as living quarters, shown below. The holes are where wooden posts stood and the white tags are where infants were buried below the floor of the living quarters. Again we do not know the cultural significance of the practice, older individuals were buried in separate mounds.

Further on, more rivers and bridges, going from the Ohio to the Mississippi. The pictures below (both bridges span the Mississippi) illustrate the difference between the crushing poverty of Southern Illinois, and the increasing prosperity of the area closer to St. Louis.

RN: Friendships begin in different ways.  It’s always interesting to figure out what relationships stick; how some wither; and how some flourish. I first met Paul in the eighties when he was a postdoc at Stanford; the next time our paths crossed in 1997, we had him and his wife Annaliese over for dinner at our house in Portland OR when he gave a seminar at Oregon Health Sciences University; and in 2022, we ran into each other at a conference in Anaheim CA and had a drink together.  As a result, I felt perfectly comfortable asking him whether he and Anneliese had time to have dinner with us when we blew into St. Louis.  We went to a restaurant right around the corner from their house with a funky name and yummy tacos.

After dinner, we took the Metro to see a Major League Soccer game of St. Louis SC vs the Portland Timbers.  The stadium is located next to an old revitalized train station and a giant Ferris wheel. It was sold out and rocking with loud fans.  What an experience! Too bad the game produced a scoreless tie, but we had fun! We ended the evening chatting over a glass of wine on the deck back at Paul & Anneliese’s house.  All in all, this is a friendship that has flourished and we are looking forward to seeing them in Cape Cod next year!

FE: I was pleased to see that one of my favorite Swiss players, Roman Buerki, goalie extraordinaire and captain of St. Louis SC, was Man of the Match and a major reason why the Portland Timbers did not score.