Meet me in St. Louis...Clever right??

Hello All!!
I am in St. Louis! Stages 1 and 2 have been completed almost exactly as planned. On Sunday I started my journey and made it to the Mackenzie house by 8:15 pm. I have to send out a big thank you to the entire Mackenzie family for putting me up for a night as well as feeding me dinner and breakfast; it was a good way to ease into my journey. Today I travelled through four states: Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. The last two I had never been to before so it is exciting to be here. While traveling through Tennessee I made a quick detour to Fort Donelson! It was very cool; this is the fort where Gen. Grant had his and the Union's first major victory in the Civil War. Yes, Fort Sumter was featured in the movie and I smirked a little seeing my old stomping grounds. Also at Fort Donelson, I saw my first bald eagle in the wild! There are two eagles who have set up shop there and have had 12 babies so far! This last one (which I saw) was just about to start flying so you could see it hopping around the nest just thinking about taking off. This was a really big moment for me, as I'm sure many of you can see the symbolism in this encounter. From Fort Donelson I traveled through the Land Between Two Lakes National Recreation Area (run by the National Forest Service). Here I saw American Bison, which of course I was not expecting at all! Who knew I would see so much wildlife before even leaving the south! I had lunch in the RA, just cold cuts and Goldfish I brought with me. Finally, I made it to the Granite City KOA where I set up camp and made myself dinner. It was simple but a hot meal cooked by yourself always feels good. At this point I have to send out a big Thank You to the Crawford family! I did not expect to use your goody bag so soon but when I realized I had nothing to clean my pots and dishes with, it was a HUGE help to have that dish soap in there! Well, tomorrow I am heading into St. Louis. I have a reservation to go up the arch, so hopefully I will get out of here early enough to make it there on time. Then I hope to hit up the Grant NHS just south of St. Louis. Finally, as you know, I am then off to Kansas City where I am meeting up with friends. Until then I hope all is well with everyone! Thank you to everyone who replied to my first email, it is a nice thing to read while filling up the gas or at a rest area. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers - I could use all the help I can get!
Until next time,
Yours truly,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park