The Chrysanthemum Tea, young coconut water, sleep, and Advil seemed to improve my muscle aches and body temperature. The hotel breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express (Evansville Indiana) was much better than most of the breakfasts so far on my trip - there were scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, some type of meat patties, warm whole eggs, waffles, good coffee, apple juice, orange juice and some take-away fruit. I had thought about spending two days here to try and restore my health, but was feeling so much better that I decided to move on. Checked out about 11am, went to a nearby Buehler's Buy Low grocery store to buy some canned drinks and Advil.
Drove west on I-64, crossing into Illinois about 1pm.
Made it to Missouri about 3:30pm. It was raining very hard in St Louis as I neared the Gateway Arch. The parking lot for the arch was $6, and since I was not going to be getting out and walking in the rain, I just drove by, and then continued west on I-70.
After about 25 minutes, the rain had stopped and I saw a sign for Harrah's Casino. Harrahs St Louis is near the Missouri River, about 3 miles off of I-70 in Maryland Heights, a western suburb of St Louis. The Harrah's complex is clean, new, and attractive. To enter the casino, you evidently need a Total Rewards card, or a readily available free guest pass. I had a free carbonated drink in the casino, and had plans to eat some noodles (and was hoping they had a restaurant similar to the Joy Luck Noodle Bar in Harrah's Reno). Unfortunately they don't serve noodles in St Louis on Monday. Anyway, it was nice to see the casino and stretch my legs.
I drove west on I-70 for another hour and a half, and stopped at the Comfort Inn in Columbia, Missouri. When asked about noodles, the young desk clerk recommended his 'favorite restaurant', the 'Great Wall Chinese Buffet'. My $12 dinner really filled my noodle void - they had a good selection and the staff was friendly.
