Traveling When We Can

Home!

2011-10-25T08:12:00.001-04:00

Chattanooga TN to Kingsport TN

Monday, October 24, 2011

We were up and on the road by 8:30 and arrived home at 12:30. Back on Eastern Time will require a little adjustment! No surprises on the interstates coming home and we made only one stop to buy gas. Total mileage was 5,796. Other statistics when I get past the dirty clothes! Good to be home after a really great adventure.

Bay St. Louis MS to Chattanooga TN

2011-10-23T21:26:00.001-04:00

Bay St. Louis MS to Chattanooga TN

Sunday, October 23, 2011

We left Buccaneer State Park a little after 8 AM hoping for a quick trip up I59. The temperature was in the 70's - the sky clear and the water of the Gulf calm and beautiful. We need to get back down to this beautiful Gulf coast next spring!

We really wanted to be home by late Monday morning to attend a funeral; but traveling more than 400 miles in one day is very difficult for us. We made a tentative reservation in Gadsden AL but when we reached the correct exit it was CLOSED! It was 20 miles to the next exit and the only town of any size coming up was Fort Payne. Having been to Fort Payne once and having a less than satisfactory experience we just drove on to Chattanooga.

The trip was hardly exciting- maybe just our frame of mind -but it started out as swamp, moved on to scrub forests and then finally to hills and some trees. The trees are barely beginning to turn just an occasional barely red or orange tree. We watched for tornado damage in Tuscaloosa but did not see very much along the interstate. Since you can avoid most of Birmingham now, the few towns of size along this route did not hold much interest. I think we want to get home!

We had hoped to find a pecan farm along the way but nothing in Mississippi or Alabama. We enjoyed an mystery on CD which was ending just as we reached our stop in Chattanooga.

Dinner at Cracker Barrel was pleasant and we only had to walk across the parking lot from our motel room! That made it even better since it was a long day in the Sprinter.

No photos today. I have posted last 2 days photos tonight and will try to get the other 2 missing days done tomorrow when we get home.

New Orleans LA to Bay St. Louis MS

2011-10-23T20:36:00.004-04:00

New Orleans LA to Bay St. Louis MS

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Successful end to our journey down the Great RiverRoad! At 10:45 we reached the end of theroad in Venice LA so 24 days after we left Lake Itasca MN we ended our journeyfrom the headwaters of the Mississippi to as close to the Gulf of Mexico as roads go.What a fascinating journey it has been!

We left our campsite a little after 8 AM and found theWest Bank Expressway a lot less congested early on a Saturday morning. We turnedoff US90 on LA23 and headed south. We finally saw a LA Great River Road signand since we were not sure we would see another we stopped and took it even inbad light. Lucky we took it too because we only saw one more and it was coveredin mud.

We had expected a two lane road in a very rural area forthis 70 mile journey – surprise! Thejourney today was down a peninsula – we are calling it a delta peninsula. Onone side of our road was the Mississippi River levee – often ½ mile or more fromthe road or sometimes as close as 50 feet. You could not see the river but youknew it was there because every once in while you caught site of the upperportion of a freighter or container ship. On the oppositeside was slightly more land as we began the journey but midway down thepeninsula we could see a levee there as well and as we crossed a high bridgeover a bayou – there was water as far as we could see.

The road was four-lane more than half-way to Venice and thenbecame two-lane. Today was Election Dayin LA, so political signs were everywhere and supporters were lining the roadin groups both large and small.

Mostly there were small communities every 15miles or so. Small homes and large farmswere seen frequently. We saw a several cattle farms and a fair number of hayfields. One had round hay bales so close together the fields looked like acemetery – very high yield! There werenumerous citrus groves – very short trees heavy with fruit. We discovered theywere Satsuma – a fruit similar to clementines or tangerines. The fruit has verythin skin, sweet flesh, and no seeds. We bought a bag later in the day and theywere great. Seems they are ready for market the first of November and usuallysold out with pre orders.

Yes all those tiny specks are hay bales!

Several petroleum producers have huge refineries along theriver. We also saw two huge coal yards- the coal comes down the river on barges– is unloaded here and then loaded on freighters for journey to anywhere.Remember early in our journey, we saw coal barges being loaded on the Ohio tobegin their journey down the Mississippi.

One of numerous refineries we saw

Another very interesting business along this road was theheliports. There were several businesses with helicopters and huge parking lotsfull of cars and mostly trucks. The workers come here leave their vehicles andare taken by helicopter out to their work on the oil rigs in the gulf. When wereached Venice half the business operations were related to the oil business –lots of names you would recognize and others you would not.

The other half of the business in Venice and all along thelower half of the peninsula was fishing and shrimping – either for sport or forbusiness. At mid-way down the peninsula and at the end were more shrimping andfishing boats than either of us have ever seen. One unusual sight was a smallshrimping boat with an outboard motor…guess they could go where the largerboats could not. We drove all around thearea. We took some photos at the end of the paved road but we explored aroundseveral other roads. Before we left we stopped at one location with a Shrimpfor Sale sign and bought 6 pounds of shrimp for a grand total of $20. Sure wishI could have gotten more in my tiny freezer in the camper!

Scenery at Venice LA

Cabins to rent while you fished - note how high up

End of Road - less than exciting - we could not find anyone to take a photo for us!

We started back up LA23 and stopped at Fort Jackson toexplore a little and have a picnic lunch. This fort was built in the early1800’s and then had some armaments added in the late 1800’s. It had only reopened 3 months ago after thedamage done by Katrina. Fort Jackson,while built in the same style as other forts along the MS and AL coast, it was smaller and less formidable than the others. The fort was managed by Plaquemines Parish and the man staffing it explained how high the water hadbeen. He was talking to us in a room inside the fort that had been a museum before Katrina. Hesays “tourist stuff” comes last in getting repaired. The water was up to 2 Bricksfrom the sloping ceilings – probably 5 feet at least in the fort.

This was taken from top of Fort Jackson - overlooking Mississippi

We continued about half way up the peninsula where a LAferry took us across the Mississippi so we could continue our journey on theother side and avoid going back into New Orleans and crossing in all thetraffic. The ferry was small and heldmaybe 10 vehicles at the most. There were 7 trucks and us on this trip. Thetrip across took less than 5 minutes. This ferry travels back and forth everyhalf hour from early morning to late evening. We crossed the McKenzie and Yukon both on ferries when in Alaska. Thoserivers were much wider than the Mississippi we crossed today near the mouthinto the Gulf of Mexico.

Ready to drive on the ferry.

Both sides of the river were very similar. When we reachedthe top and came back into the outskirts of New Orleans, Mr. Brit took us on acouple roads and suddenly we were through Challamete, Slidell, and over LakePonchatrain and headed into Mississippi.

We stopped about 4:00 at Buccaneer State Park near Bay St.Louis. The park is right on the Gulf andvery newly remodeled having been totally destroyed by Katrina. The ranger whochecked us in showed us how high the water had been 22 feet! They built theirnew park offices very high to avoid water that high again!

During Katrina water was 22 feet. They built new office 24 feet above ground!

Katrina damage to their water park - still not repaired yet.

The Silver Slipper Casino is a couple miles downthe road. We have been intending to eat a Casino Buffet somewhere this trip andtonight is our last chance. Knowing what slim pickings were left in my cookingdrawer – the decision was not a hard one at all! The Buffet did not disappoint at all. They had all you couldeat of anything – 3 kinds of crab, roast beef, many varieties of seafood andother main dishes, soups, oriental, Italian, salads, and desserts. Jane’sfavorite thing was the coconut shrimp bisque – it was out of this world! Everything we ate was good. We forcedourselves to eat dessert – Ben having 2 pieces of pecan pie. Jane had a funnel cake with sugar and strawberries….noone left that place hungry.

No gambling for us – off for a quiet evening of TV shows,blog writing and picture transfer. Weplanned the shortest route home.

New Orleans - French Quarter

2011-10-21T21:47:00.001-04:00

New Orleans - French Quarter

Friday, October 21, 2011

The blog writer is tired tonight. We left the west bank inNew Orleans on the Algiers Point Ferry about 10:30 for the short trip acrossthe Mississippi for the French Quarter and Canal Street area. The ferry is oneof two free ferries that run continuously from 6:30 AM until Midnight. One isgoes back and forth between Algiers Point and Canal Street. The second leavesfrom another point a bit more north on the west bank. The campground suggestedthe Algiers Point so we took it. It took 10 minutes for the crossing. Nothing very exciting about theride - it is free for pedestrians and $1 for cars. There were lots of people onbicycles and I don’t know what they paid. My estimate is 60 people and 10 carson the ferry on our morning run.

Our ferry for trip across in NOLA

We walked along the waterfront from the ferry station, nearRiverwalk, towards the Jefferson Square area. Ben was the navigator saying heremembered the area from when we were here in 1977 with Jeff to see the KingTut Exhibit. The riverfront is now avery nice park with benches and sculptures and even a few entertainers. We tooksome photos of the church in Jefferson Square and wandered down to Café DuMonde for coffee and beignets – yum, yum, yum! The place was mobbed. There werehuge lines for take-out and people standing in line to pounce on your tablewhen you got up – imagine it is worse other times of year.

YUM ! YUM! YUM!

We continued walking with a couple destinations in mind.First we came across the Jazz National Park Visitor Center and got the passport stamp.We enjoyed reading the menu’s posted outside restaurants considering what wemight eat later. I know it sounds like all we have done is eat on this trip –but the cultures are so different and to fully enjoy and understand them wehave to eat! We browsed around in shops and finally found the café where JudeAcers was supposed to be playing chess. He was not there yet (more on himlater) so we continued on our way. We found the other National Park VisitorCenter for the French Quarter and the War of 1812 Battlefield. The ranger wasvery helpful and gave us some good ideas for our trip to Venice (the end of theGreat River Road) tomorrow.

We finally settled on Bubba Gump’s for our lunch and had agreat Caesar Salad and a Super Shrimp Trio or Something – coconut shrimp,boiled shrimp, and tempura shrimp with really good dipping sauces. We split it all and it was the perfectamount.

After the rest we continued our exploration. There werenumerous artists, fortune tellers etc all around Jackson Square. We saw theLouisiana Museum was having a Katrina exhibit so we went through it and theMardi Gras exhibit on the second floor. That was a treat – what elaboratecostumes in some of the years past.

Jackson Square

Street dancer interacts with children

Back down Decatur Street we went to see if Jude Acers was athis chess playing location – he was. Jude was one of the Katrina evacuees from New Orleans that ended up inour Red Cross shelters in East TN when the government evacuated the last folksfrom the hurricane. He had lived upstairs in an apartment and did not want toleave but was finally forced to evacuate. He was put on a plane and did notknow where he was being taken until he was escorted from the plane atTri-Cities several hours later. We hadarranged for a 4H camp near Greeneville out in the middle of nowhere for thisgroup. It was a rather remote location and for the city dwellers must haveseemed like the end of the world. Benwas helping that evening when the folks arrived and he and Jude struck up afriendship. One request he had was for aNew York Times – not common place in Greeneville. I found him a New York Times a day or twolater and also enjoyed getting to know him. He was a world class chess player – and had played all over the world.He also staged expo’s where he played a number of people at one time. Long storyshort –he went back to New Orleans and now plays anyone who comes along thestreet for $5 a game. He is an interesting character to be sure. We just wanted to say hello. Jude was there playing chess. We had a shortconversation, took his photo and he said put it up on the World Wide Web!

We continued walking around the streets in the FrenchQuarter and did a little shopping. Eventually we were tired out and headed forthe Trolley and rode it back to the RiverWalk Shopping Center where I finallyfound a shirt to suit me. I know picky-picky! Then we walked back a short distance to the ferry terminal. We justwalked right on a ferry ready to depart for Algiers Point. This afternoon about4 PM there must have been 200+ people and a line of way more vehicles thancould fit on the ferry – what a change from the morning trip.

Part of Mardi Gras Exhibit - costumes from the "blue tarp" ball held sometime after Katrina. In case you are not aware - homes needing temporary protection after damage - cover their roof with blue tarps.

We drove back to the campground – it was slow going on theWestbank Freeway. Ben says for 2 miles we were neck and neck with a dad, hisdaughter on his shoulders, walking on the sidewalk. In the end we think the dadwon! I noticed a sign the road was afuture I49! They sure need something. We have now driven on this “Freeway”(US90) 4 times and there has been awful traffic each time. Not sure why it iscalled a “freeway” as there are traffic lights every two blocks and no limitedaccess at all. It runs the entire length of New Orleans on the west side of theMississippi. We will have to drive it one more time tomorrow when weleave.

Supper was the leftover sandwich from yesterday and somerestful TV. I can’t emphasize enoughwhat a great campground this has been. It has all they told us it would have –WIFI (just not strong enough for photos), nice restrooms, a free laundry, levelsites, water and electric. There arelots of big rigs here as well as tent campers. They have nice playground equipment near each restroom and a wave pooland other water activities in another area of the park that we have notvisited. Location wise it is pretty good – not perfect but for a huge city you can’tdo much better.

Tomorrow we complete our journey on the Great RiverRoad. I believe it is about a 2 hourdrive south from here and not much exciting along the way. Each part of the journey has been interestingin its own way so I am sure tomorrow will be no different.

New Orleans D Day and WW2 Museum

2011-10-20T22:09:00.000-04:00

New Orleans – D Day & National WW2 Museum

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Today was totally consumed with travel to and from the D Dayand National WW2 Museum. Travel to andfrom the campground to the museum was a challenge – thanks to Mr. Brit we foundour way and thanks to Ben’s driving skill it was not as bad as it could havebeen. Tomorrow, however, we will take a ferry to the French Quarter!

We thought the traffic crush might be over by 9 when we leftthe campground ; but no such luck. The museum was located in the WarehouseDistrict and we did not think travel on the ferry would work for that location.Well ,whatever, the day was very interesting, informative and enjoyable.

Toll Booth Traffic on Mississippi Bridge

We spent from 10 AM until 4 PM at the museum and were busyand involved the entire time. It is really more of an experience than strictly museum gazing. TheStephen Ambrose/Steven Speilburg/Tom Hanks collaboration on several multi-mediapresentations created an excellent experience. One was a 4D film presentation that involved visualand audio experiences, odors, shaking seats, and at one point during the Battleof the Bulge – snow falling on the audience. Many personal interviews with all sorts of military members andcivilians gave the exhibits depth. Allaspects of WW2 from the historical situation around the world prior to the war;the situation on the home front; and both the war in Europe and in the Pacificwere covered well. There were WW2 vetsaround throughout the museum to explain exhibits and answer questions. There wasan effort to be sure the participants understood notonly the story of the US but also information and comments from both theGermans and Japanese.

We had lunch in a 40’s Soda Shoppe that was part of thecomplex – we had a Sicilian Special Sandwich – should have shared it – we nowhave enough left for another day!

Sicilian Special - (half of it!)

There were additional films on the D Day preparations andthe Campaign in the Pacific. Both done using actual war footage but puttogether to tell the story very well. Inalmost all sections of the displays there were some video interviews to givethe information a personal touch. My strongest overall impression was what a great job they did of making all the various parts of WW2 fit together - at least for me it helped me see the time frame and interaction of many separate battles and situations.

I particularly enjoyed talking with a veteran about thelanding crafts on display. My Dad’s job in WW2 was teaching swimming as well ashow to get on and off these craft. I didnot recall ever seeing one as closely as here. This gentleman explained theywere made from mahogany which if used in saltwater would last forever…if usedin fresh water would rot…learn something everyday! Today I learned more than most days.

Higgins Landing Craft

The one thing we missed was a performance by the VictorySingers – a trio who present “Andrews Sisters” type music. During the offseason they only perform on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

We made it back to the campground after battling trafficagain. I was able to get one good photo of the Mississippi from the bridge.

We stopped near the campground and picked up some to-goseafood and enjoyed it back at camp. At6PM the temperature is only 54 so we expect another cool evening. It is very quiethere at the campground in the evening; but it is filled with construction sounds allday long – starting at 6:30 AM. They are building a flood wall separating thestate park from a canal of some sort right beside the road into the campground.

While it does not sound like a very busy day it was a goodone. This museum was an activity we had planned to do someday long before we planned this trip. Most of the photos were just not of the quality to post.

Baton Rouge to New Orleans

2011-10-19T22:17:00.002-04:00

Baton Rouge LA to New Orleans LA

Wednesday October 19, 2011

Wow what a day! Weleft our campsite in Baton Rouge after a good nights’ sleep, the sun wasshining, it was still windy but the temperature was up from yesterday. We founda Wal-Mart and made our way back across I12 and I10 and the Mississippi to findRt1 our beginning to the GRR for today. Today crossing the Mississippi we couldsee lots of activity on the river. I am going to post yesterdays photo and thismornings just to contrast the weather!

Late Afternoon in fog and rain (top) and Morning after cold front passed (bottom)

Route 1 was marked as GRR on the LA map but did not have anysignage at all. In fact while we have followed the roads on the map anddefinitely followed the river closely – LA has not had any GRR signs that wehave seen. Often the road was close tothe levee and it was not possible to drive up on it to view the river. Sometimes it ran further away from the riverand the following description was on both sides of the road. There were anumber of small towns, huge industrial complexes (chemicals, oil, fertilizer, no idea what someof them were), a small grocery, gas station, or café and lots of homes of alltypes. And sugar cane, sugar cane and more sugar cane. It was being cut, hauledto the processing plants in huge trucks, and we also saw fields being burned.

Sugar Cane Fields ready for Harvest

One of numerous Chemical Plants

Here and there we drove on smaller roads that went towardsthe river and then looped back to Route 1. The scene was much the same andthe levee was always present. Many small homes and trailers were along thesmaller roads as well as an occasional larger home. This continued for the first 40 miles or so.When we passed through Donaldsonville we transferred to another route – LA18that was known as the River Road. Along this road were more homes and villagesand huge plantations you have read about in books or seen on TV or in movies.Many of them have been used as sets for films. Some were easier to photographthan others. There were also many smaller homes and a good number of churcheswith accompanying cemeteries. The raised graves are not unique to this area –they are common in any part of the world where the water table is shallow. Theyare an unexpected sight for some people.

St. James Church Cemetery

One of the plantations I had wanted to try to photograph wasOak Alley. The light was not perfect butI was able to get a fairly good photo of the Oak Alley. We were also able to park and walk up on thelevee here in front of Oak Alley. The river was right there on the other sideof the levee – no space for the water to go….

We stopped at BC Fish Market and Restaurant for lunch – acatfish Po-boy and fried okra. They were excellent.

Oak Alley

After lunch we drove to Laura Plantation fortheir tour. This was a Creole Plantation not one of the Antebellum White ColumnPlantations. I really knew little about the Creole culture and had read thiswas an excellent tour…it did not disappoint. We waited about 10 minutes and then were given the tour withanother couple from TX. We noticed twoother large tour groups as we left so we felt very lucky to have had only the 4of us. Our tour guide told us about the Creole culture and the history of thefamily who owned the home and managed the plantation for several generations.In the Creole culture and in Louisiana prior to it becoming a part of the USwomen were equals with men in ability to own property, manage business, andmanage money. The Duparc family who owned and managed this plantation were originallyfrom France. He was given the land where Laura Plantation was built by ThomasJefferson. We learned many stories of how the grandmother, then her mother, andfinally Laura lived on and managed the plantation. They lived in New Orleansduring the season (Mardi Gras) and lived and worked here on the Plantation inVacherie during the rest of the year – the growing and harvesting season. Theyalso had a large number of slaves – over 200 for the sugar cane plantation.

Laura Plantation front and dining room

The plantation home was lovely and had been restored by acouple and now managed by a board of directors. The restoration of a portion ofthe plantation and publication of the story of Laura and her family has taken place since1993. Laura sold the plantation in 1891 to the Waguespack family who continuedsugar cane cultivation until 1981. The location had been empty several yearswhen purchased in 1993 by the people who have restored it. The story of how therestorers found Laura’s memories is fascinating but I will not go into thathere. We toured the home, the out buildings, the garden and grounds, and theslave homes. I included a couple photos above.

Another interesting part of the tour was information aboutAlcee Fortier who wrote Compare Lapin the French Creole version of the BrerRabbit Tales by Joel Chandler Harris. Laura Plantation was one of the locationswhere the tales were collected from the west African slave descendants in thelate 1800’s and used by both of these men who wrote them down. The tour andstory was so fascinating I bought the book of Laura’s memories and Ben boughtthe French version of Brer Rabbit (in English of course!)

After the tour we continued down the River Road and about3:30 we put our State Park Campground in the GPS for Mr. Brit to help us findour way there before the office closed at 5 PM

We arrived about 4:30 and found a lovely campground withwater, electricity, free laundry, and wifi ! We were amazed. We are supposed to be able to drive a few miles down theway and park and take a free ferry over to the French Quarter area. That is our plan for 1 day, another we will go to the WW2 Museum, andanother we will drive to the Gulf – about 75 miles south. Nothing much on thattrip to see but the levee but we are committed to finish the tour! We will schedule our 3 days depending on theweather. We will plan to head to the museum for the day it looks like rain!

Dinner, some TV, blog writing and reading….I have so manychoices right now – Memories of the Old Plantation Home by Laura, Life on theMississippi by Mark Twain, or my paperback novels . I read 4 books on the Nookand then they expired. I had only been able to check them out for 3 weeks andsuddenly one night it just said “expired”! Good thing I finished the 4! I mightlike one but sure do not want to use one from the library that expires again…

Natchez MS to Baton Rouge LA

2011-10-18T22:47:00.000-04:00

Natchez MS to Baton Rouge LA

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

We are back on the road today feeling ready for a greatday. The temperature was between 80 and86 for two days with lots of sunshine…Ben got out his shorts and Jane put onsome Capri pants. Before we left camp it was beginning to sprinkle rain but wasstill warm. More on the weather as the day progresses….

We visited the Natchez National Park Center and Natchez CityVisitor Center located on the bluff above the Mississippi, the views werepretty outstanding but doubt my photos do it justice. The entire area from the visitor center highon the bluff to the river below is cudzu – we are back in the south! We havebeen seeing it since entering TN several days ago but this crop is outstanding!We drove through the Natchez Down Under area right along the banks of the riverwhich was the community for the lower class folks while the mansions andcommunity on the bluffs was for the higher class members of the community. Atone time Natchez was said to have the second highest number of millionaires inthe country – only place with more was New York City. Some of the homes were beautiful but touringmansions will have to wait for the River Road between Baton Rouge and NewOrleans.

Mississippi from Natchez - top one shows cudzu jungle

We crossed over into Louisiana here in Natchez and visitedthe Vidalia Riverfront Welcome Center where we received the most exceptionalservice we have ever had from a Welcome Center.. the young lady helped us withinformation on each of the areas we planned to visit.

From under the bridge at the Visitor Center - Vidalia LA

We headed west to Frogmore, an 1800 acre working cotton plantation with acurrently operating gin. They also had original slave quarters, out buildings,and an early gin. We thought it would be interesting to compare the cotton plantationof the past with the current operation we have been observing from the road forthe past few days. After a video presentation on the history of the plantationwe toured through slave cabins, slave kitchen, an overseer home, and a gin fromthe early 20^th century. We were able to follow the cotton from thebales through the ginning process, and packaging up for sale to mills. The number of bales completed in a day escapesme but well less than 50.

Gin Building and Gin in upper photo

We then drove to the modern gin run by the current owners ofFrogmore – the computerized process goes through all the same tasks as theolder gin but is huge in comparison and almost completely automated. Theyprocess 900 bales a day. They are inoperation from October through mid November. The gin was working today. Mr. Tanner operates the gin by processing thecotton for no cost – other than keeping the seeds. This must be profitable andhe must have lots of business – we could see where the modules (correct namefor the huge bales we have seen in the fields) previously processed had beenand the number would have been very large.

The temperature was continuing to drop – it must have beenin the low 70’s or upper 60’s. The wind was blowing and we were glad to getback to the Sprinter and put on long sleeve shirts! We drove back towards the river and our GRRroute for the next portion of the trip LA15. Right at the cut off was a Sonicand a hot hamburger and fries sure did sound good so that was lunch! Not many choices for eating in the small townof Ferriday. Route 15 was different – wedrove beside the levee, on the levee, and away from the levee. Definitely an interesting afternoon! On our left was the levee and we could seldomsee the Mississippi and on our right was either harvested cotton fields orthick vine covered forest – maybe you could call it a jungle because you couldcertainly not penetrate it on foot. Occasionally we could see fenced in portions with DO NOT ENTER signsposted and a sign to a hunting lodge. This was very remote terrain that continued for about 60 miles.

Highway 15 runs along levee - river to left and fields to right

We passed an area where large containment structures hadbeen built by the Corps of Engineers to hold back the river from what wascalled the Old River Area. Supposedly this was a previous river channel. Then we came to the Morganza Spillway –remember it from the flooding last spring – there are 125 gates that can beindividually lifted to spill water from the Mississippi on the left side of theroad into the farmland on the right side of the road and on into the AtchaflayaRiver Basin. The road was running on top of a levee built maybe 30 feet higherthan the river level at this time. Therewere still huge pits in the ground to the right of the road where the water hadrushed through when the gates were open. I remember seeing it on TV and itlooked like a huge dam spillway. Today it was peaceful green farmland withcattle grazing. The current riverchannel was small in relation to the huge area that would fill with waterbefore the spillway would be opened. It had only been opened once in 1973 sinceits construction. In 2011 seventeen of the 125 gates were opened. It was definitely an interesting adventuredown this roadway.

Morganza Spillway - lower shows gates on left and upper shows the pits in ground where the water was forced through the spillway during the 2011 spring floods

We then entered the sprawl of Baton Rouge. Our selectedcampground was on the east side of the city and we were not able to findanything else so Mr. Brit and Ben braved the 4PM traffic and road constructionand we made it to the KOA by a little after 5. We set up a little in this verynice campground with all the amenities you could want at the highest price wehave paid yet for a campsite - $47. Itwas the only campground in the metro area that we could locate….and it is quitefull. The “snow birds” are heading south– we talked to a couple from Ohio at Natchez that was headed to Gulf Shores forthe winter. You can tell by for a highclass campsite is better by far than a cheap motel!

Campsite at KOA in Baton Rouge

Jane had selected several Baton Rouge restaurants but wesure were not going back into that traffic so we searched around here in ourarea and found Don’s Seafood Hut which was highly recommended and turned out tobe excellent. Cajun seafood – shrimp,catfish, crab stuffed shrimp, gumbo, oysters, etouffee – all great. Ben met the Parish President Candidate when he mistakenly went into a banquet room full of folks at a political party function. .

Great Dinner and Ben met the Candidate for Parish President

The temperature is now 55 and wind is rocking the Sprinteroff and on. We have the heater out again. Jane packed her fleece jacket away yesterday and will now get it backout! Weather forecast is to be clearwith temperatures at 68 tomorrow and then climbing back to the 80’s by theweekend….what a change. To be honest we prefer the cooler temperatures it isjust a rather abrupt change! With internet Jane is uploading all the past blogsand Ben is watching cable TV – we have seen very little news - so it was goodto catch up a little on that and then of course NCIS!

Natchez Trace State Park

2011-10-18T20:55:00.000-04:00

Natchez Trace State Park

Monday, October 17, 2011

This will be a short post – we drove to the park office toregister since it was closed when we arrived on Sunday. Other than that we wentnowhere. Managed to eat 3 simple meals, read books, Ben whittled a walkingstick. Jane caught up on a couple records for the trip, did her walking andcleaned up the Sprinter which takes about 5 minutes. We are rested and ready to finish and enjoythe last leg of our trip down the Great River Road. We have stayed 2 nights inthe same place only twice – both times in cities where we were very busy…soafter 23 days on the road we deserved a down day! Natchez MS is 10 miles awayand it did not tempt us to drive that far…..did not even take one photo! Thereis always tomorrow. We have lots of time to explore as we are only going 100+miles to Baton Rouge.

Greenville MS to Natchez MS

2011-10-18T20:51:00.003-04:00

Greenville MS to Natchez Trace State Park, Natchez MS

Sunday, October 16, 2011

We were on the road by 9:30 and drove to downtown Greenvillebefore heading south. We needed to find the Great River Road and it was US1. Wefound the MS visitor center but they had no nice guide to GRR like TN had. Thewoman there told me the GRR Group did not print them anymore so it is probablethat I got an old one at the Wickcliffe Visitor Center in KY since it was arather remote location. Too bad they do not print them because they wereexcellent guides.

The levee is just a block off of the main street of downtownGreenville. We drove up on the levee to look at the Mississippi – the only wayyou can see it now other than when crossing a bridge. There were tows as usual – even on a Sundaymorning.

One of the sites mentioned at the Visitor Center (modeledafter a River Boat and was used as the Mississippi Exhibit for the World’s Fairand then brought here to serve as the visitor center) was that Leland – justbefore reaching Greenville is the home of Jim Henson the creator of theMuppets. We saw it as we can into Greenville last evening but it was already closed.

Kermit was created here near Greenville

Heading south on US1 we saw cotton, cotton, and more cotton.Occasionally we caught sight of the levee. It was interesting to see the pilesof debri between the fields of cotton and many of the transformer boxes stillhad sandbag protection around them. This area must have had some flooding inthe recent past.

We arrived at Vicksburg and since we had just toured theBattlefield Park when we went to Texas in 2009 we did not visit the park. Wedid go down to the river and took some photos at the flood wall and photos ofthe casinos. The river is wide and far below the town that is primarily on thebluffs.

Mississippi from Bluffs in Vicksburg

We stopped at an unusual place –The Tomato Place – for some local color and food. We split a catfish po-boy andsome sweet potato fries. Very good onboth counts. They had produce, local crafts, bread, jellies, peanuts, and lotsof colorful decorations.

Bottle Tree at The Tomato Place

We had twooptions for tonight one was Grand Gulf Military Park and Campground near PortGibson and the second was Natchez Trace State Park near Natchez. We elected topass up Grand Gulf and drive 50 miles down the Natchez Trace Parkway and stayat the state park.

We passed through Port Gibson – a small town known as “toobeautiful to burn” by General Grant. The homes were beautiful and wephotographed the Presbyterian Church with the golden hand pointing to heaven onthe top of its’ steeple. I am not a Monty Python fan but they say it is in oneof his films.

First Presbyterian Church in Port Gibson

Driving down the Trace was quite different than the cottonfields along the GRR. It is natural landscaping with pine and oak treesdripping with Spanish moss. We stoppedat Mount Locust Inn which was a stopping place for travelers on their journeydown the Trace from Nashville to Natchez. The national park ranger told us itwas the usual thing for groups of 15 – 25 to stay the night at the location.Often they stayed on the porch of on the grounds since the home was 3 bedroomsand the family had 11 children! There were many of these inns along the Tracebut this is the only one still standing.

Mount Locust Inn on Natchez Trace

We continued down the Trace for another 15 miles or so anddrove to see Emerald Mound. This was another Mississippian Indian Mound. This one said to be the secondlargest in North America – Cahokia being the largest.

Nearby was Natchez Trace State Park. We found a site weliked and set up for some relaxing. We are both tired and Ben thinks we willjust stay here tomorrow and do nothing. Staying may be a good idea particularlyif we can drive around and find a site with cell service. We have it one minuteand not the next…so a site on slightly higher ground may work better. We cooked dinner and had a very quietevening. The evening entertainment waswatching an armadillo root around in the campsites nearby. Another interestingthing to watch is the variety of camping set ups that people have.

Our Campsite at Natchez Trace State Park

Easy to track Armadillo

Memphis to Greenville MS

2011-10-16T09:08:00.002-04:00

Memphis to Greenville MS

Saturday October 15, 2011

Very lazy start for us today – we left our “resort” besidethe Mississippi about 10:30 and made our way to Sun Studios for a tour. When wearrived we had to wait about 45 minutes for the next group to go in for thetour of the recording area and to see the memorabilia. We sat down in the sodashop part of the gift store which was FULL of every possible thing they couldput the SUN logo on – shirts, cups, buttons, decals, etc. You could buy SunRecords – from $35 to $70. You could have your own recording made…any way theycould think of to make a buck they were doing it! We did our part by having a chocolate malt –and it was VERY good!

When it was time for our tour we first entered a room wherethere were lots of memorabilia from Sam Phillips days in the recordingbusiness. He was instrumental in the discovery and first recordings of Elvis,Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison… oh the list goes on and on…They playedmusic for the enjoyment of the group. Then we went into the recording studio and heard how they made records,how Sam Phillips sold Elvis recording rights to RCA for $35,000 in 1954. Hestill saw a lot of Elvis and one suchoccasion was a famous photos of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry LeeLewis, and Carl Perkins – just jammin’ – called the million dollar quartet.

Million Dollar Quartet

One of Elvis' Guitars

We heard more songs and got the opportunity to take a photoat the microphone that was original to the studio in the 50’s so all theartists had used it…

Jane at the Famous Microphone

Our short stay in Memphis was over and we headed south onthe Great River Road headed into Mississippi. We stopped in Tunica at the Welcome Station and Jane was able to postsome of the last 3 days of blog. We ate lunch and decided we did not want tostay here and visit casinos for the afternoon so we headed on south. We had twopossible campgrounds both of which ended up being closed due to water damageearlier this year.

One of many casinos in Tunica

Cotton is definitely the crop in Mississippi. These twophotos show they use different types of baling here. Some the square we hadseen in TN and the second looks like the hay bales of IL, IA, etc.

Round and Square Cotton Bales

We stopped in Clarksdale MS but it was 4 PM and all theBlues museums were closing. We did stop at one of the two competing “HotTamale” spots and bought some “to-go” to have for dinner with our left-overribs from last night. This was quite an experience. We stopped at Hicks HotTamale and BBQ which was one of the two written up in most sites. At first we thought we could not get in. Thefirst door we opened was into a banquet room that was full of probably 100people eating at large tables. The second door was locked and so was the third.Finally at the 3^rd door someone waved us back to the 2^nddoor. Mr. Hicks himself let us in – saying “you just can’t be too carefularound here, lot’s of bad stuff going on.” We talked a while about the tamales,his special slaw with Italian dressing and spices - NO mayonnaise! Then we talked about themilitary service display he had prominently displayed on the wall. Now thisplace was nothing fancy. The banquethall looked like a church fellowship hall in a small church and the room wewere in had very little seating and was primarily for take-out orders. This military display of purple heart,numerous letters, other medals, other memorabilia and an Alaskan flag covered awhole wall. Mr. Hicks has been inbusiness for 30+ years – a young man came to work for him when he was veryyoung and he had no family. Mr. Hicks was his male role model I guess you couldsay and followed the guy as he went on to other communities and he finally settledin Baltimore. This guy had a son who ended up in the military and was deployedto Afghanistan. He was killed and the father said he did not have any place todisplay his son’s medals etc. and asked if they could be in Mr. Hicksrestaurant since he was like a grandfather to the soldier. The AK flag was given to each deceasedmilitary member coming back to the states through Alaska – interesting storyand rather sad.

Ben and Mr. Hicks

We left with 6 tamales and some of the special slaw andquite an appreciation of the work ethic of Mr. Hicks. As we left a black guy inshirt and tie was standing beside the building just where he had been as wewent in – Ben said he guesses either Mr. Hicks had a guard or the group havingthe banquet had a guard. We felt glad we were leaving and that our van wasstill with all its’ parts!

We just headed on south to Greeneville where we discoveredthe second campground was closed. We were been unable to locate anothercampground and it was 6 PM so we pulled in to a motel for the night. We had the tamales, slaw, andleftover ribs from last night thus ending a 3 day spree of eating very good butfairly unhealthy food! The tamales were really good – neither of us had much tocompare them with but we enjoyed them.

Tamales swimming in grease !

Cape Girardeau to Reelfoot Lake

2011-10-15T15:32:00.002-04:00

Cape Girardeau to Reelfoot Lake (out of order)

Tuesday October 12, 2011

Post out of order - sorry - I posted this with photos and lost it when the computer system at Tom Sawyer kicked me off the internet. Know this may be confusing but such is life on the road.

Up early and loaded the blog, drank coffee, ate a littlebreakfast and we were ready for the Rush Limbaugh Self Driving Tour! The things you can get at a visitor center! Benlistens to Rush most days for about an hour so since we were here it justseemed like the thing to do! We saw hisfamily law firm, his high school, his childhood home, his college, and theradio station where he first worked. We endedthe tour in down town Cape Girardeau and it was very interesting. The floodwalls were decorated with murals depicting the history of the town and one partwas the Cape Girardeau Wall of Fame… many individuals on it Mark Twain, WalterCronkite, Harry Truman, and more. The flood walls are probably 20 feet high andcontinue for several miles. There are heavy steel doors that open somewherealong the water front. A sign says they are built and maintained by the ArmyCorp of Engineers. Rush is depicted onthe Wall of Fame too.

Rush Limbaugh Childhood Home

Flood Gate in Cape Girardeau

We left Cape Girardeau by crossing back into Illinois andheading south to Cairo. This lower part of Illinois seemed like a forgotten land.There were levees, a few adult movie stores, strip clubs and bars right afterthe bridge across the Mississippi and from there to Cairo a few farms andnational wildlife refuge. There were two or three very small towns with nooperating businesses but nothing else until we reached Cairo. There have been many towns along theMississippi that seem to have had better days; but Cairo is the worst we haveseen. Signage at the city limit says population 3,000. The town appears to havebeen at one time at least 2-3 times that. Most buildings very dilapidated; windows boarded up; piles of rubble;very few open businesses, and men standing around on empty lots. The oldCustoms House from the 1800’s was still standing and the tour book said it wasbeing restored by a group of volunteers. We saw no signs of life around it – nocars or people at all. There was a smallgrocery, a gas station, a bar or two, and a couple small cafés but we did notget out to check on any of them.

Example of Buildings in Cairo IL

Ourpurpose in coming here was to go to Fort Defiance State Park where theMississippi and Ohio rivers converge. There was an old park sign pointing off to the left as we came to thearea where two bridges crossed the rivers – one to Missouri over theMississippi and one over the Ohio to Kentucky. The grass had not been mowed, the road was in poor condition, the grasswas overgrown in the area that had been a campground –obvious because of theelectric posts – they are usually 2 feet high but here the poles must have been4-5 feet high with the outlets at the top! We passed a children’s swing setwith vines growing on the swings that had obviously not been used in a longtime. We continued to the confluence wherea metal and concrete building with a deck for viewing had been built. Weclimbed up to get a view and what a view it was! There was no one around at all. Just as we were leaving another couplearrived; the guy (from Texas) told us hehad grown up in a small town north of Cairo and coming back here to see thearea as it is today was very sad for him.

Mississippi and Ohio join right behind my head

We drove out of the “State Park”? and lucky for us we weregoing to Kentucky since the bridge across the Mississippi to Missouri wasclosed – there were numerous trucks and repair vehicles out on it. There werenumerous barges lined up in the Ohio ready to start down the Mississippi. Themost tows we have seen on the river so far.

Barges and Pushers in the Ohio

As we entered Kentucky we stopped in Wickcliffe for a postcard since we were only going to be in Kentucky for 40-50 miles and this wasthe largest town – maybe 100 people. The farms were small but the crops thesame – corn and soy beans. We followedsmall state routes swapping back and forth always following the one closest tothe Mississippi. The road stayed well away from the river for most of the waythrough Kentucky but went down to the river at Wickcliffe where we observed drydocks for the river tows. In Columbus westopped under a tree near a church and ate a picnic lunch. Jane walked about ½mile down the road to the small post office and bought some post card stamps.Killed two birds -got the stamps and a little exercise!

We kept noticing garages and other out buildings on farmswith unusual rather unusual coverings. Finally it dawned on us they were usingthe barge coverings for a roof. Whether they were purchasing them new for theirconstruction or using ones that were no longer suitable for protecting the cargoon the barges we do not know.

The third small town in Kentucky was Hickman. Hickman had aflood wall and a small ferry that could have taken us back to Missouri for $30.There was a large Bunge Elevator here that was very busy – huge trucks werecoming and going quickly. They were driving up to the huge round elevator tounload their crops for reloading onto barges for travel up or down the river.There were farmers harvesting in most of the fields with machinery that loadedthe trucks for transport – this must be the height of the harvest season. We were surprised at the size of the fieldsin this area. This town was also past its prime.

We continued on following the GRR through rural Kentuckyuntil we reached the Tennessee State line. Tennessee will have the same GRRsignage but in brown instead of green! Soon after we crossed into TN we saw the huge Northwest CorrectionalFacility – in a rural area with nothing else around. All of a sudden we sawfields of cotton – some harvested and some not. There were also some fields ofa red grain yet to be harvested – we thought either millet or milo.

Soon we came upon Tiptonville and Reelfoot Lake. We walkedaround their museum and observed two eagles that are kept one because it hadlost a foot – other one we do not know. The eagle is a regal and free bird….sadto see it having to live in captivity.

Eagle at Visitor Center

Not far past the museum was the campground with maybe 1/5 of the sitesfilled. It is a lovely campground and we have a spot looking right out on thelake. The shoreline is ringed with cypress trees each with numerous knees allaround. It was very cloudy and the wind was picking up. Jane took photos rightaway although the light was poor thinking it might get worse…. We have beenexpecting rain all day.

Right behind our campsite at Reelfoot Lake

Luck held until about 7:30 when it got dark and a steadyrain began. This gave us time for a long walk and time to cook and eat dinner.Tonight we are debating driving down the GRR in TN or in AK. Neither state hasthe road close to the river unless we drive toward the river to small townsmuch like the ones we saw today in KY. Our plan is to stay the next two nights inWest Memphis at the Tom Sawyer RV Park right on the Mississippi. We have several sights and restaurants tovisit in Memphis so will stay two days. Sleeping tonight with the rain on ourmetal roof should be great.

Memphis

2011-10-15T15:10:00.003-04:00

Memphis TN

October 14, 2011

Photos later....

Today was a lazy morning for us. About 10:30 we left for our visit to theMississippi River Museum on Mud Island. The day was absolutely perfect withtemperatures in the 70’s and not a cloud in the sky. Mr. Brit directed us tothe Museum and then we had to find the parking lot that would admit our heighton our own. The ticket included roundtrip on the monorail and the museum. Turned out it was a pretty good deal sinceit was $9 and if you bought the museum along on the island it was $10. The monorail was interesting as it was on anoverhead track. The trip over is short but impressive.

Monorail to Mud Island

We headed for the museum first and it presented the mostcomprehensive history of the river transportation, flood control, politicalsituations, and agriculture of the lower Mississippi we have seen. It puteverything we have heard and seen to date together very well. There was a mock-up of a steam boat thatincluded the engine room, a stateroom, the cargo hold, the pilot house, and theballroom. It was very well done and gave you a real feel for being on one ofthe steamboats.

Two sided of depicted stateroom on steam boat

They also included a portion of the history of the Civil Warrelated to the Mississippi River – they had a mock-up of the inside of a UnionIron Clad Boat and the inside of the fort at Vicksburg. What a difference. The final portion of the museum covered thehistory of music as it related to the river. I feel this will be expanded uponsignificantly over the next couple days as we visit Sun Records and the DeltaBlues Museum.

After the museum we searched for somewhere to eat lunch. Theonly place to eat was a small snack shop with 3 offerings – nachos, a hot dog,or a pizza. All were straight out of a package. None were very appealing but wehad nachos and will eat a good dinner.

After eating we went out to explore the “Mississippi RiverModel” The model was 1 foot of the model to 1 mile of river. The model coveredthe Mississippi from Cairo to New Orleans – the portion known as the lowerMississippi. The major cities were depicted as well as all the twists and turnsof the river. The depth and width of the river as well as the flood plains wereincluded. Children were having a ballsplashing around in the water. The end in the gulf was depicted with a largepool with paddle boats to rent. Therewere more people here today than anyplace we have been but it was obvious bythe eating options and no one available to rent the paddle boats that it waswell past the peak season… but what a beautiful day to be here!

My three observations – Lake Ponchetrain is much larger thanI had thought, the river gets deeper the further south you go, and we stillhave a LONG ways to go!

Along the "Mississippi" Model on Mud Island

We found our way back to the monorail and then the Sprinter.We were tired so headed back to the RV park for some relaxation along theriver…well for some of us…Jane did the laundry but I must say it was one of themost pleasant laundry days I have ever had. Relaxing in a chair watching thetows go by and getting a little late summer sun.

About 5:30 we headed out to find Central BBQ. Voted #1 BBQin Memphis by several groups we felt we should give it a try. We found it withno difficulty and ordered ribs, slaw and home-made potato chips. The ribs werevery good – we are not experts but they are the best we have eaten in a longtime! I would certainly recommend it to others.

Stain Glass at Central BBQ

The Tom Sawyer RV Park has been so convenient to getting oneither I40 or I55 and we are in Memphis in 10 minutes. The free laundry wasexceptional. The only down side has been difficulty for Jane getting on thewireless internet. Finally got on this afternoon and got most of one days blogposted and was kicked off - since I hadnot published it I imagine it was lost. Just not up to dealing with it tonight so I am writing today; walkingalong the water under the full moon; and going to bed!

Tomorrow we head for Sun Studios and then head south – maybenot very far if we decide to visit the casinos in Tunica.

Reelfoot Lake to Memphis

2011-10-15T10:51:00.004-04:00

Reelfoot Lake to Memphis

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Up early and away from the campground by 9. The rain wassteady all night but stopped sometime early this morning. Our TN flag was roundtightly around the flag pole this morning and small waves were lapping at theshore – there was s stiff wind all night and it is still blowing quite hard.

Our Campsite as it dried out...

Westopped along the shore to view birds and the cypress trees and then headedback towards Tiptonville. We passed through Tiptonville and crossed over thelevee to see the Mississippi. Tiptonville sits on a small portion of higherland and has been spared from most flooding through the years. It wasinteresting we drove right on the levee for several miles and the river wasquite different here. This area is right to the south of the New Madrid Meander– if you look at a map you will see there are several very significant loops inthe Mississippi through this area. The one near New Madrid is the mostsignificant. The graphic below shows all the changes in the river over theyears. There were huge sandbars hereparticularly on the west side. The current was running very fast and from thechannel markers the navigable channel was not very wide. A tow of 3 emptytankers with a pusher tug was coming upriver against the current. It wasinteresting to watch him from this vantage point.

Graphic indicates changes in river flow

Tow we watched from levee top

There are significant crops planted which would have beenflooded if the water topped the levee. It was obvious it had done that in thepast. Here there are no flood walls just the levee. Tiptonville was a smalltown but seemed to be doing OK.

The GRR passes through primarily farmland – the crops havechanges slightly – soybeans continue and cotton has replaced corn as theprominent crop. There are a few fields of corn but they are by far theminority. Huge bales are prepared rightin the fields as the cotton is cut, and the cotton separated from the plant andit is compacted into a large bale weighing 16,000 pounds. I know that soundslike a lot but the bale was huge – and we got that information later today atthe cotton museum. This was a change from the last time we saw cotton beingharvested and placed into large metal train car type vehicles.

Huge Cotton Bale

We passed by Dyersburg – the home town of Emmitt Kelly(sorry no photos JoAnne) ,Carl Perkins birthplace in Tiptonville and Alex Haley’s birthplace in . It seems every town has its’ claim to fame and if we stopped for themall I am not sure we would ever make it to the end of the GRR! We did stop for lunch as we came into the outlying areasbefore Memphis. It may have been in Millington but it was Sparky’s BBQ. Theyhad lots of cars and the best in the area sign on the wall so we tried it. Itwas good and I believe the French fries were made from freshly cutpotatoes….very good.

Mr. Brit did such a good job – he really is worth his weightin gold in cities…we picked out the places we wanted to go and he took usdirectly to both the Ornamental Metal Museum, the Cotton Exchange and then toTom Sawyer RV Park on the banks of the Mississippi in West Memphis. Mr. Brit has a bit of a problem when there isconstruction but he just recalculates for a few minutes and finds an alternateroute.

The Ornamental Metal Museum was very interesting – begun bya group that Ben belonged to years ago when he was in metal fabrication workand now their artistic side was of interest to us for his silver work. Aspecial exhibit by a silver and pewter artist was fascinating. Their permanent displays were mostly castiron but some were quite unique. They were located on the bank high above theMississippi. Their gardens were lovely and they were preparing for a weddingthis weekend. It will be a very nice setting for an outdoor wedding.

Pewter Box

Ornamental Balcony - this was to be site of wedding

We then went to the Cotton Museum located in the CottonExchange on Union St. The history of the cotton industry was well presented invideo and interviews from a variety of folks very involved with cottonproduction, selling, and speculation. Until the advent of computers changed the way cotton was sold thisexchange was still the primary location of cotton sales. Memphis was THE centerof the cotton trade for many years – cotton made the city of Memphis in yearspast. There is still a very active cotton trade in Memphis but it is done viacomputers and not the physical trading done in the past. The museum did a goodjob of helping us see what the industry had been in the past and how it haschanged to keep up with the world today. It is obvious China is a huge impact on this industry today.

How the Cotton Exchange worked in days gone by

Ben wanted to see Beale Street to determine if he wanted tocome back. Jane spent a little time in Memphis at various Nursing or Red Cross meetingsin the past so had seen it. We drove by and will come back tomorrow. We headed for our campground in West Memphis.Jane had researched this site and it was everything it claimed to be. We crossed the levee and drove down onto anarea just above the rip-rap (stones) to form a wall at the edge of theMississippi. We have a site on the first row looking over the river. We areprobably 50 feet from the river and can sit right outside our Sprinter andwatch the river traffic. Of course mostof those camping here are in the huge RV’s but we are used to being a tinyvehicle among the biggies- just glad we are not having to drive them on theroad!

Us among the Huge RV's

This campground is planned for closing up and moving most oftheir infrastructure when it floods. Their office, restrooms, and laundry areall on wheels –so when the water comes they just hook them up and pull themout. The wooden steps into the bathroomwere new so I imagine they were out for the flooding last spring. They have gravel roads with concrete pads atmost sites and the electric hookups are high and easily disconnected. They seemto be prepared to get out as much as they can leaving things that can withstandthe water. They are probably 75% full soguess it is a good business. What is itthey say location, location, location! It is a perfect location. Oh and the otherthing is their laundry is free – I have never seen that before at acampground…so tomorrow or Saturday before we leave we will do our laundry!

A quick run to the closest Wal-Mart to fill our shoppinglist and we thought since in Arkansas – we also stopped and bought take-outfried catfish and okra for dinner. Yum – Yum. Not the healthiest diet today but sure was good.

Tonight Ben has 30 HDchannels on his home-made antenna. Sincewe are the last site the internet signal is weak but I will walk down closer tothe office and upload the blog tomorrow am. For now I am going outside to watchthe traffic on the river. There are interesting lights on the boats at nightand the skyline of Memphis is just to the north.

St. Louis to Cape Girardeau MO

2011-10-12T10:04:00.001-04:00

St. Louis to Cape Girardeau MO

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Up and ready to go after breakfast with good coffee! Mr.Brit helped us make the 10 mile trip to Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site.

Symbol of Cahokia Mounds

Wevisited the Interpretive Center first and it was exceptionally well done. Theyhad a film that we again viewed with about 100 children. The displays helped usunderstand the Mississippian Indian culture that lived here from 900 – 1300 AD.This site is contemporary with the sites at Chaco Canyon and the PhoenixBasin. There are many earthen mounds inthree different shapes. The most impressive is Monk’s Mound - the largest earthenstructure in North America. It has a perfect north south alignment. The numberof Indians at the height of existance here was around 20,000. No one knows whythey left the area in 1300 AD. Ben climbed to the top of Monk’s Mound; Jane hiked over to the bottom of the mound – about half a mile.Some steps Jane can do again but not these! The photos donot do it justice. Ben was able to see the St. Louis skyline clearly which wasat least 10 miles away.

Ben after his climb up Monk's Mound

We enjoyed looking around in their very nice gift shop withBen buying a book and Jane some earrings. We also looked at a structure calledWoodhenge – wooden poles placed in a circle like Stonehenge to allow theculture to determine the date of the summer solstice. The morning was wellspent and we both enjoyed learning – Jane learned a lot but Ben loved it allsince this is one of his areas of study.

Yet another Mississippi River crossing.

After crossing the Mississippi yet again we found our way back to the Great River Road and drovesouth towards Sainte Genevieve where we anticipated another Great River RoadInterpretive Center. (remember, thefirst one in St. Paul was closed the day we were there) While it did not appearto be far the traffic was heavy and we finally arrived very hungry and ate ourlunch in their parking lot. Much to our disappointment while they still had allthe signage that they were a GRR Interpretive Center – they had stopped sincethey did not have much traffic after I55 came into being. They did have a niceexhibit from Smithsonian regarding life on Main Street across the country inthe 50’s. Needless to say we weredisappointed. So on down the road – today alternating between US61 and I55 –both with GRR markings. Missouri does not seem to have as much signage andother than Hannibal and Ste. Genevieve there was not much emphasis on theMississippi itself. The roads were not close to the river – this may be due tothe threat of flooding – more an issue after the Missouri joined the Mississippi.We were unable to see the confluence due to industrial sprawl in St. Louis.

In Ste. Genevieve we explored the town a bit finding theferry to Illinois and their levee with huge doors to close when needed for boththe auto road and the rail road. A localgentleman explained the flood of 93 to us. The flood water reached over 49feet. This would have been well over the top of the Sprinter on the road wewere driving on.

The top of the marker to rt was 93 high water of 49+ ft

We decided to stop in Cape Girardeau MO as it was in theright place. There was a campground and lots of restaurants as we were hungryfor some beef. Jane found a city walking trail near the campground and walked 1½ mile in addition to doing all her exercises. May seem strange but a picnictable is an excellent exercise table – even better than floor!

We found an Outback nearby as none of our searching turnedup any good local restaurants other than a pizza place and an orientalrestaurant….both sounded good BUT beef was on our mind! A filet for Jane and prime rib for Ben filledthe bill. Colors for sunset were fantastic even tho the scenery was a parking lot!

Cape Girardeau Outback Parking Lot!

Full moon was pretty tonight and it was in the 60’s – niceafter the hot afternoon in the 80’s Forecastis for some rain tomorrow. Tomorrow will be completing MO, a bit of Kentuckyand making it to Northwest TN. We have never been to that part of our homestate.

La Grange MO to St. Louis MO

2011-10-10T22:06:00.002-04:00

La GrangeMO to St. Louis MO

October 10, 2011

Ran out of coffee! Should have bought some last night when we were in Quincy but we did notthink of it…NO where to buy any out here in the country! So we were on the roadfor breakfast in Hannibal about 30 miles down the road. We were not going tovisit any chain restaurants on the trip but – there was a Hardees’s rightbeside the Wal-Mart, our next stop. So Hardees’sbreakfast it was and then on to Wal-Mart for the things that have beencollecting on my list. A Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart what more can I say!

We did see one interesting site on our way this morning – abarge being loaded with grain from a large grain silo or elevator. The river iscertainly an integral part of the business life in this part of the country.

Barge being loaded

Hannibal was an interesting town. We walked around thehistoric district for a while. There was a Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, Clemmonsthis that and the other….after a while it was not so interesting. We did enjoylooking around in the arts stores, antique shops etc. We bought some really greatpie in a restaurant recommended by our GRR travel book…the pie was really great(we just now ate it) German Chocolate Pie and Coconut Almond Pie. No shortage oncalories for us today.

Hannibal

Back in the Sprinter we headed down the GRR to Louisiana MO –there was another about 30 mile detour on the GRR – this one through prettyfarmland BUT it was what I call a roller coaster road – up and down and around.At one point I could see 4 dips in the road at one time! Savannah was a beautiful river town. It had greatwell maintained old homes, a nice downtown area and a small riverfront parkwhere we ate lunch. A tow went by andthe railroad bridge opened for it to pass down river. About the same time atrain came through blowing its whistles. Over the next couple hours we saw 5freight trains going either north or south along this route. Lots of coal goingsouth?

The GRR is sometimes right beside the river - only room for the rail road, the road and at other times it is high up on the bluffs with wonderful views.

Suddenly about 3:30we were in the northern environs of St. Louis. Lots of traffic on 70 and 270north of St. Louis but we managed to pass by north of the main maze ofinterstate highways around the arch. We could see the arch in the distance andBen was thrilled not to be in the midst of that madness. We bought some dieselat a station along 270 at what Ben tells me was the cheapest we have paid onthis trip - $3.47. We had selected acampground on the northeast fringe of St. Louis as we plan to visit CahokiaMounds tomorrow morning. We crossed the Missouri River and the Mississippi Rivers within 5 minutes of each other and they join here. Since we have been in St. Louis many times – togetheron trips west and alone on business – neither of us really have any desire tospend time here. We have two more big cities to go – Memphis and New Orleans sothat should be enough city life for us!

We were surprised to see the GRR crossing historic Route 66about a block from our KOA Kampground. It is an older KOA with the traditionalA Frame building. They did however have a really up to date playground whichgrandson Daniel would love!

Jumping Pillow

Our Campsite and Gourmet Camping Meal!

Jane was inspired when she saw Gnocchi at the Wal-Mart thismorning and we had gourmet cooking for camping tonight…Chicken Tenders andGnocchi in Garlic Alfredo Sauce. Addsome green beans and Italian Bread and it was a really good dinner. Tonight we have to study the maps as our plansare a bit more fluid – there was just too much to read and keep in our mindsbefore we left home.

Moline IL TO La Grange MO

2011-10-10T21:49:00.001-04:00

Moline IL to La Grange MO

Sunday October 9, 2011

Biscuits and Gravy were a great start for the day! Not something we have very often but todayseemed right….canned biscuits (the layered ones) divided in half and laid side byside in electric skillet with lid on are done in no time. The gravy in a canand heated in the micro-wave was quite good. You can cook just about anything with a microwave and an electricskillet! We were on our way to find theGreat River Road. Our past couple days adventures in Iowa had diverted us fromthe GRR; but it was not difficult to locate and we were soon out of the cityand into rural farmland in Illinois. Wehad to be very alert as the GRR ship wheel signs twisted and turned along anumber of small county and state roads – back and forth staying as close to theriver as possible. We passed through more corn and soybeans and an area knownas the “yellow banks” where yellow sand was mined.

IL Farms

We continued about 100 miles until we came to the town ofNauvoo, IL. Nauvoo is famous for its’ part in the history of the migration west ofthe Mormons or Latter Day Saints, as they prefer to be called. Joseph Smithfounded the settlement as his followers were seeking a land to farm andpractice their religion. They turned a swamp into a prosperous and growingcommunity. In fact too successful as more and more people came to live here.The non LDS people in the area were threatened by the growing number of LDS and the friction caused the death of JosephSmith and his brother. Brigham Young became the leader of the church and within2 years of Joseph Smith’s death – the entire LDS community left for furtherwest leaving the area they had developed in Nauvoo. The temple however wascompleted before they left.

LDS Temple in Nauvoo

In the past 50 years the area has been restored to tell thestory of their struggles to the LDS church members and non members as well. Ithas become a “mecca” for LDS families to learn about their roots and tell thestory to their children. The temple is beautiful and sits upon a hill overlookingthe land where the restored village sits. The church has restored a number ofthe buildings and they are open with interpretive guides. They have also builta huge LDS Welcome Center telling the story of Nauvoo in film as well asnumerous displays. The entire place is staffed by LDS members from across thecountry who spend a certain amount of “missionary time” here telling theirstory. We visited several of the buildings spending the most time in theWainwright and Blacksmith Shop and in Brigham Young’s Home.

Brigham Young Style Wagon made in Nauvoo

The largest group of people we were with was in theBlacksmith Shop – there were probably 15-20 of us there and all but us and oneother lady were LDS members. The peoplecould not have been nicer and certainly made us feel welcome although they wereaware we were not LDS.

LDS Brother demonstrates and explains making wagons

After a picnic lunch we continued south on the GRR. Westopped in Keokuk IA to find a location for Ben to search for Keokuk Geodes. No such luck. We did find a place open – avery run down riverboat that you could tour- and got a pamphlet on rocklocations but the one we found was not open. Our searching was hindered by itbeing a Sunday and most things were closed AND we had no cell coverage. You can really become dependent on technology! After spending about 30 minutes trying tolocate something Ben said – not something I want to spend any more time on – sosouth we went into yet another state - Missouri.

Further down the road which now was much more rolling andhilly we began to spy many a levee protecting towns, roads, and farms. Onesmall town was nearly surrounded by the levee. There was space for our roadto pass through the levee and a way to close the opening if needed.

Towns began having levee built around them

About 4 PM we stopped at Wakonda State Park about 8 milesnorth of Quincy IL. The park has lakesand seems to be primarily for fishing and birding. We set up our onda site, relaxedfor a while. Jane got in time for all her exercises and a good walk. Benwatched some birds and took a nap

Campsite at Wakonda State Park

We were going to eat dinner at a Maid Rite Sandwich Shop inQuincy. This is a chain operating across the upper mid-west and we had notmanaged to be at any of them at a meal time. So this was about our lastchance. Jane remembers eating these whentraveling to her Grandparents in years past. All she remembered was they were aloose type ground beef in a bun. Thesandwich was good but nothing to win an award in our book.

Super Maid Rite with Mustard and Pickle

We also drove around Quincy a bit looking at some of the oldhistoric homes. There is a neighborhood that is known for having great varietyin the styles of architecture. They were huge and beautiful but how many stylesof architecture was beyond our ability… we know there were some Victorian, someTudor, and lots of others! We drove back to Wakonda Park and enjoyed a quiet evening.Tomorrow we will be in Hannibal for the morning or all day depending on how itfeels.

Iowa City, Kellogg, West Branch

2011-10-08T22:50:00.000-04:00

Iowa Family Visits and Sightseeing

October 7 and 8, 2011

We left our KOA Kampground in Moline for our visit andexplorations in Iowa. This was a nice campground filled with cottonwood trees which we thought unusual for this far east. We were lazy on Thursdayand did not complete our visits in the Quad Cities so we will return on Saturday.This is a fairly large metro area by the time you combine the cities ofBettendorf, Rock Island, Davenport, and Moline.

Our Campsite at KOA in Moline IL

Traveling west was the Iowa that Jane remembered - rollinghills with corn and other crops and smaller farms dotting the landscape.

Typical Iowa Farm

Our first stop was in Iowa City for lunch with Jane’s cousinNora Lee. After a great lunch we were able to make arrangements with the Museumin Kellogg IA for one of the museum workers to meet us for a tour. Kellogg is about an hour west of Iowa City. The museum worker was so gracious to come inon a day the museum was not open to show us around. Kellogg is a small town of 600 people whereJane’s maternal grandparents lived and her mother grew up. Visiting there everysummer was THE family vacation most years. There were 6 siblings in the Nesmithfamily – most with children so there were lots of cousins and many memories forJane when visiting her grandparents.

The Kellogg Historical Society has been working for years tocollect many artifacts and collectibles to document life in days of the past.Many of the businesses on the main street of a small town like this closed andthe buildings would be lost except this society has been purchasing them – manyby just paying the back taxes and maintaining them or in some cases restoringthem. Jane was particularly pleased to see the “locker” where she remembersvisiting with “Grandad” to get ice cream cones. The long hallway with checkeredfloor was still there with the school desk type seats where you could sit toeat your ice cream. The real function of a “locker” was to store frozen beef orpork brought in to be butchered by the farmers or town folks and then stored intheir own “locker” for use throughout the year. They had samples of all thebutchering implements as well as a set of the stamps for the outside of eachpackage to tell what cut of meat was inside.

Volunteer at the Kellogg Museum - in "Locker"

Jane’s mother taught school in a one room school nearKellogg as her first teaching job. The museum worker had been one of herstudents. The Historical Society had moved and restored an example of a oneroom school and we were able to see it from the outside and peer in through thewindows. One of the volunteers had the doorway boarded up because he waspainting the door!

Example of Iowa One Room School

After viewing the buildings Jane was able to direct Ben toher grandparents’ home…it looked so different. The owner was just getting inhis car to leave so Jane asked permission to photograph the house. He proudlytold her of all the improvements he had made in the last few years. The whiteframe house now had white vinyl siding and the porches on the back and fronthad been enclosed. He was maintaining the home well but it looked so different.There was a double car garage where none had been before. But the stepping stones to the neighborshouse were still there and the view was the same. The large bay window in the living room wasstill present. The owner did not inviteus to view inside and I think I prefer to remember it the way it was when Ilast visited nearly 50 years ago. While the small town is not what it was inthose days – it is in good repair and seems to be a bedroom community forlarger towns in the area. After driving around the small town we headed back to I80and headed back to Iowa City.

Nesmith Home in Kellogg 2011

The wind was fierce today and Ben was strugglingto keep control of the Sprinter. Theterrain was much as mentioned earlier with farm after farm in the midst ofharvesting corn and soybeans.

Back in Iowa City we had a wonderful dinner at an Italian Restaurantwith Nora Lee, Wayne and daughter Mary. Many stories of days gone by andtravels and adventures of family filled the evening. We went home with Mary tospend the night in her home. Saturdaymorning we visited with Nora Lee, Wayne, and son John, his wife Penny,and their son David. It is really niceto reconnect with family in person. Thanks for all the great hospitality. After a tour around Iowa City to see thehuge University, the downtown area, and their family business we headed back tothe Quad City area.

Family Reunion

On the way back to the Quad City we stopped in West Branchto visit the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and the Hoover BirthplaceNational Landmark. The museum was quiteinteresting. I have to admit I remembered very little about hispresidency. Seems he was a conservativebusinessman and engineer who worked on numerous humanitarian projects bothbefore and after his presidency. Frommuch disgraced with the beginning of the depression during his presidency hecame back to prominence during the Truman presidency when he was asked to leadseveral projects.Hoover was born in a 2 room house that is on the grounds. Itwas open for visiting. A family of 5 living in two rooms would be very unusualtoday. There was a living room and a bedroom with a trundle bed. There was asmall back porch used for cooking in the summer and the ranger said in thewinter the cook stove was moved into the living room for heating and cooking.

President Hoover Birthplace

We had a picnic onthe grounds and then headed on east. Ben had remembered seeing the I80 Truck Stopsomewhere along the road and wanted to stop – it was billed as the LargestTruck Stop in the World. It was huge – a food court with 5 or 6 fast foodshops; two other restaurants; a large store selling nearly everything; atheater, barber shop, showers, dentist, restrooms, - really a small city – andof course gas!

Sprinter at World's Largest Truckstop I80

We were going to visit one museum this afternoon and had tochoose between the Rock Island Arsenal Museum or the John Deere Museum. Wefinally selected the Rock Island Arsenal Museum. Ben wanted to see all thearmaments and Jane had a connection as this Military Base was her landlord for20+ years as the Red Cross Building in Kingsport is leased from Holston ArmyAmmunition Plant managed from the Rock Island Arsenal. The military guys came tovisit , inspect, and renew the lease about every 5 years.

The museum was very interesting with information. Thefirst train bridge across the Mississippi was built here. In the law suitbetween the steamship industry and the railroads over building the bridge – thelawyer for the railroads was none other than Abraham Lincoln! He won and the race of the railroads acrossthe US was on!

All types of armaments and other supplies needed by themilitary is produced and designed at the Rock Island Arsenal. It is a large facilitycovering the entire island. The museum included everything from a replica of George Washington’ssword to the special armored protection made for a Humvee and other vehiclescurrently used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We found our way back to the KOA Kampground. Many more folkswere camping here this weekend but we had reserved our spot – did laundry,cooked supper and did some reading and blog writing. Tomorrow we head further south – Iowa,Illinois, and perhaps Missouri.

Blandings Landing IL to Rock Island IL

2011-10-06T22:27:00.002-04:00

Blandings Landing IL to Rock Island IL

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Up at 8:00 and we decided to eat breakfast in Galena so wepacked up, walked down to the waterfront to view the locks, wildlife, and riverbefore we left. We also talked to the camp host – a very nice lady whoexplained she had not been there last night because she had taken her husbandto the ER in Clinton IA last night. Long drive to Clinton – at least anhour. He had pneumonia. We saw a GreatBlue Heron which surprised us.

Our Campsite at Blandings Landing

We had no problem getting back to Galena this morning andfound a great place for breakfast - Golden Hen Café. Ben had Special HouseSkillet which included hash browns, tenderloin, veggies, and eggs. Jane hadPotatoes Benedict which was potato pancakes, thick slice of ham, poached eggsand sauce. Both were excellent! No lunch for us today!

Potatoes Benedict

We walked up and down the main street which was wonderfularchitecture and very interesting shops. Jane particularly liked a shop of allkinds of jellies, sauces, etc. A chef loved creating things and left hisrestaurant job. He has a factory there in Galena and makes all his own goods.You could taste everything before you bought it!

Galena IL

After about an hour of looking and shopping we drove acrossthe river to visit the home of the 18^th US President Grant. He had lived here after his military careerbut before he ran for president. After his presidency he lived primarily in NewYork. Galena remained his “Camp David” or “Kennebunkport”. Never knew muchabout Grant – his wife was very interesting. Julia was a friend of Susan B.Anthony and the first President’s wife to be called “First Lady”.

Grant's Home in Galena

Grant's Study or Library

We then headed south on the Illinois GRR. We crossed back to IA and continued throughmany small towns, through Clinton, and into Le Claire where we stopped forlunch – well an apple and some cheese- along the riverfront. We watched aloaded tow going north and an empty one going south. River traffic is pickingup as we continue south. The river is much wider now and seems to have morerapid current.

Le Claire IA

We made arrangements today to visit Jane's cousin andher family in Iowa City as well as a short visit to her Grandparent Nesmith’shome town of Kellogg. No family still lives there but it will be fun to see what is still the same after many many years. We don’t often get to this part of the country!

We drove to a KOA campground in Rock Island and made anearly day of it so Jane could catch up on posting her travel blog and cookdinner. We wanted a short day after the long one yesterday. We had Romano’s Macaroni Grill Chicken Piccata – everything was in abox but it required TWO cooking vessels. Most of our travel dishes require onlythe microwave and electric skillet; so this was special! Simplified cooking and paper plates are my requirementswhen traveling. This dish was really good and worth the effort.

Nice evening to catch up on internet, blog posting, and evenwatching some real TV – but no FOX News at this location – guess they do nothave FOX News in Illinois. The temperature was 82 this afternoon!

McGregor IA to Blanding Landing IL

2011-10-06T21:31:00.002-04:00

McGregor IA to Blanding Landing IL

October 5, 2011

We were up early – Jane walked around all the campgroundroads at 7 AM – so peaceful.

Our Campsite at Pikes Peak

We did notrealize how close we were to the bluff overlooking the river so we hiked thatway before leaving the park. There were some Indian mounds near the bluff andthere were also some really great views. We were able to see where theWisconsin River comes into the Mississippi. Fog hanging over some of the riverwas an interesting view.

Mississippi from Pikes Peak

We left the park thinking we could retrace the detour back toMcGregor – no such luck. The road we had come on last night was nowCLOSED! We went the opposite way becausethere was no choice. A few miles down the road we stopped where we saw twofarmers harvesting soybeans. One of the guys came over quickly as he must havebeen having lots of lost souls come by his farm! He wanted to know if we could drive on agravel road? Ben said yes so he gave usthe shortest way back to McGregor.

According to what the farmer said everyone was angry with theroad contractor. They have had the contract all summer and are just now gettingthe work done. Children can’t get to school and folks can’t get to work. He was angry because he had rented a combinefor his harvesting and now can’t get it returned. The people never know from one day to thenext which roads will be closed! The route must have been 15 miles and it was crooked and ifI had not known where I was I would have believed east TN not eastern Iowa.Iowa is supposed to be flat! Beautifultrip but it was only 3 miles to the park from McGregor according to the sign inthe town.

Ben gets directions

Our detour

We found the post office tomail Dan’s post cards and were on our way a few miles north to Effigy MoundsNational Monument. At the National Monument we watched an interesting film withabout 60 4^th or 5^th graders and looked around theirmuseum. The shortest hike to see the Effigy (resembling animal shapes) Moundswas 2 hours and it was half uphill. Jane’s back is feeling much better but notup to uphill hikes yet. We passed this by and headed on down the GRR. Wetook our own detour so we could avoid the road closure thatprevented us getting to the park last night. The GRR was what was closed forsome unknown reason.

In Guttenberg we stopped Lock at # 10 and were lucky enough toarrive just as a tow (this is the combination of barges and the tug boat orpusher that is guiding them up or down the river) was going through thelock. The 15 barges and tug is too many for the lock. They put as many barges in the lock – raise thewater level and then open the doors and they are pulled out by a cable andwench. Then they wait while the same thing happens all over again for theremaining barges and tug or pusher. Thelock here raises or lowers the water level 9 feet. At each of the locks that are placedstrategically along the river they locks change approximately 8 feet. There was a beautiful park along the river inGuttenburg and we parked and enjoyed lunch on the riverbank. Fantastic weather inthe 70’s.

Barges in lock, Tug outside waiting with 2 more barges

We continued on down the GRR which primarily ran along thecrest of the bluffs – maybe a mile or two back with very neat and prosperouslooking farms along the way. Everyone in a while we would drive down to riverlevel for a small town and then back up to the bluffs. There were somebeautiful views to but photos could not do the landscapes of fields of browncorn interspersed with green cover crops justice.

The GRR ran us right into down town Dubuque IA – the firstlarge city since Minneapolis-St Paul. There were old buildings and then beautiful new hotels and casinos. Manyof the homes are up on a much higher level than the city center. Mr. Brit tookus to the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium where we planned to learn lotsabout the river and we hoped the GRR…nothing about the GRR. We did enjoyinformation and displays on the fish and wildlife of the river, about the bargetraffic, about the steamboats and paddle wheelers of the past.

Jane visits with Mark Twain at Museum

Ben tries his hand at Driving a tow

About 4PM we decided to head to the Corp of Engineer Park –Blandings Landing near Hanover IL. Supposedly 23 miles from the Aquarium. Itwas supposedly right on the river near lock 12 and had everything we had tohave – showers, flush toilets, and electricity. We did fine getting to Galena – stopped at a grocery and picked up chicken andsome salads for a picnic supper as Jane did not want to cook and we were goingto be 8-10 miles from a town. We droveand drove – finally got down to a one lane paved road….Ben said – think I wantto go back to Galena and get gas if we are going out into this remote anarea! So back we went to Galena – boughtgas and retraced our way to the one lane road…we went about 2 miles furtherthan we had gone the first time and what did a sign say – ROAD CLOSED – nonot again! We continued on a ways untilthe road was no longer paved, had trees down on both sides and was barely wideenough for one car with NO shoulder and water not too far away. We turnedaround and went back a few miles. We later discovered the damage was from the spring flooding.

Now the unique thing we saw here along a one lane road nearthe Mississippi was the bottom of a ski slope with 3 lifts. The slopes wereapproximately 250-300 feet to the top as we could see the top where a lodge waslocated. Certainly not something we had expected to see! Later Jane read it was Chestnut Mountain SkiResort.

Chestnut Mountain

When we got back to the lastintersection Mr. Brit tried another road – this one had signs to BlandingsLandings! Progress! We drove on about 7 more miles to find thecampground. There are two camping units here. It is on the banks of theMississippi. Jane caught a photo of the sunset just as we drove in at6:30.

We had been on an adventure tofind this place for 2 ½ hours! It iscertainly peacefu with one exception.. It is now 9:30 and we have had 8 trains pass by on tracksnot very far to our east. They alwaysblow their whistles so it may be a LONG night. There are bright lights on the locks and dam that are quite pretty atnight. Things do not always go asplanned and I guess that is part of the fun of this trip. (note next day - Ben says there were at least 24 trains while we were there but neither of us were kept awake by the trains all night so there were probably many more).

Trempealeau WI to McGregor IA

2011-10-06T17:57:00.003-04:00

Trempealeau WI to McGregor IA

October 4, 2011

We got up a little early and left camp about 8:30. Our planwas to be in La Cross to make arrangements for a sightseeing cruise on theMississippi. We were unable to call for quite some distance due to poor phoneservice. Really strange how it could be 3G last night - then E – and then offand on no service. We finally got through and had plenty of time to get therefor the 11 o’clock cruise. We walkedaround the riverfront park for about 30 minutes. It was a very nice park – evenhad a small Japanese Friendship Garden that was very well done.

entrance to Friendship Garden in La Cross IA

The boat was not large but was a real paddle wheeler. Theyhad diesel engines that ran the paddle wheels but they were the only mode ofpropulsion for the boat.. We left at 11:00 and traveled north for about an hourand then returned. We experienced a train crossing the railroad bridge – we hadto wait for it to cross – then a section of the bridge rotated horizontally tolet us pass underneath.. We continued north until we came to a lock and dam and turnedaround to return. Some of the tours go through the lock but this one did not.We would have been waiting a long time as a tug with a long line of barges waspassing through. Along the river on theMN side were many homes. The WI side was a national wildlife refuge. We weresurprised that we saw very little river traffic – mostly fishing and touringboats and the one tug and barges in the lock. In fact so far on our travels down the Mississippi we have seen lessthan 5 tugs with barges. It seems the town where we stayed near Minneapolis(Savage) is the largest grain port along the Mississippi. We had noticed manygrain elevators along the Minnesota River but did not realize the significance.

Bridge opens to allow us to pass

The paddle wheel boat held about 150 people and was builtspecifically for the touring. The upper deck was for viewing and the lower deckwas set up for dining. A tour later in the day had lunch but we wanted to bedown the road so took the earlier tour. The weather was perfect for this outing.

Ben on top deck

Paddle Wheel as seen from inside Dining Area

We stopped at a Festival Food Market and did a littleshopping before we left La Cross. One claim to fame for La Cross is a breweryand they have the largest beer cans around!

We continued on down the GRR towards Prairie du Chien WI. Wedrove around and went in the Visitor Center at Villa Louis, a Victorianhome built by a family who made their fortune in the fur trade. With only 30minutes before it closed we were satisfied to just view from afar.

Crossing the river into IA we were planning to spend thenight at Pikes Peak State Park which was high on the bluffs above theMississippi. The tiny town on Marquettewas at the end of the bridge set against some of the most vivid colors on thetrees we have seen.

A few miles down the road was McGregor where the park waslocated. We came to a ROAD CLOSED sign and took about 30 minutes to finallyfind the park. It took the GPS, 2 maps, and 3 phone calls before a truck driverstopped and told us the park was about halfa mile from where we were. It is beautiful – indeed high above the riversidetown of McGregor. All of Iowa the I had experienced was mostly flat with corn and more corn. This was a different Iowa with hills, crooked roads and fall colors!

Tonight was filled with walking, cooking a simple dinner,and sorting another couple days of photos. Ben is very pleased hisentertainment plan has worked well. He has a fairly large number of TV programson a hard drive so he can run them through his computer onto the TV and watch oldshows to fill his evening. Jane is keeping busy with blog writing (even withoutposting), sorting and naming photos, and reading on the Nook. The Nook is growing on me. I still think Iprefer a real book but we shall see.

Minneapolis MN to Trempealeau WI

2011-10-06T17:31:00.000-04:00

Minneapolis MN to Trempealeau WI

Monday October 3, 2011

We took our time breaking camp this morning and left about9:30 headed for the Great River Road Visitor Center in Prescott WI….it was greatto leave the Twin Cities traffic behind. We crossed the Mississippi and foundthe Visitor Center – CLOSED ON MONDAY!! Not a good thing. We got somegreat views of the river but no information or passport stamps.

View from Great River Road Visitor Center

We headed south down the Wisconsin GRR which was US35. Wepassed through small towns along the river and when we got to US63 we crossedback into MN to visit Red Wing. This was a very prosperous small town. Red Wingshoes are still made here and we toured the museum showing their shoes madefrom 1800’s until today. Examples showed the boots worn by soldiers in WW2 andmany others. They still have shoes made 100% in the USA. The company has boughtout some additional brands and makes some of them in China but you can stillbuy 100% USA shoes in Red Wing Stores across the country. I did not realizethey made many styles besides work boots. Interesting to me they market tonumerous professions – not just miners, hunters, and firemen etc. They have anentire line made for professional chefs (so they won’t slip in kitchens whenthe floors get wet)! They also have acomplete line of running and walking shoes!

In the lobby is a huge boot – 2 stories high – leather withlaces and sole. They had a very niceretail outlet with work and hunting clothes – all of which would have been toowarm in our part of the country. They of course had any type shoes you couldwant. They also had an outlet in the basement – so I had to go look around. Ifound a really nice pair of walking shoes-normally $109 for $55…just could notpass up the bargain!

Giant Shoe at Red Wing

Red Wing was getting ready for their Arts and CraftsFestival this next weekend and was decorated already. We walked around the mainstreet a little and visited the Hotel St. James – built in the late 1800’s andstill doing business today. It was a verynice hotel with a beautiful pipe organ in the lobby.

Red Wing Prepares for their Festival

We went back across the river to Wisconsin and headed southagain. We passed through numerous small river towns – Stockholm (pop 66); Pepin(pop 837) and Nelson (pop 374) to name a few. In Nelson we stopped for lunch atthe Nelson Creamery. On the banks of theMississippi with small tables outside they had cheese, sandwiches, wine, andother foods to purchase. We had great sandwiches outside in the sunshineenjoying the temperatures in the 70’s. Then we looked around in the store andbought some more Wisconsin cheese. This time we got white cheddar and 4 yearold cheddar. Tomorrow we will buy some apples and bread and have lunch forseveral days!

The landscape has changed – the river is much wider – itvaries with the placement of the locks and dams. We have passed locks 3-4-5 and6 today. The small towns are wedged between the riverbank and the bluffs that rise to the east of the road. The railroad follows theroad between the road and the river. Often there are farms or orchards alongthe road as well. We are beginning to see barges of goods going up and down theriver.

Our choices for camping were Perrot State Park and a privatepark in La Crosse. When we reachedTrempealeau we drove into town and looked for the park. It was a very smalltown – again right on the river bank – with a couple old hotels with bar andgrill, a bank, and a couple 7-11 type store/gas stations. The park however was very nice with lots ofhiking trails. The ranger gave us a map and said go pick out your site and comeback – so we did. Set up camp, took a 1 ½ mile hike, and sorted through all theinformation on the river for the next couple days.

Small town of Trempealeau and Relaxing at Perrot State Park

There is no internet here – the 3G on theI-phone is interesting as it comes and goes. Here one minute and gone thenext. My main job tonight has beennumbering and naming photos. I did notstart this trip with my usual system and if I don’t get a handle on itnow I am lost! I got about half finished…another evening should get me caught up.

Minneapolis and St. Paul

2011-10-02T22:20:00.001-04:00

Minneapolis – Saint Paul MN

October 2, 2011

Lazy Sunday morning – well sort of – laundry and cleaning upthe Sprinter. After a week on the road things are settling into their placesand we needed to reorganize a little. Mostly we really needed to wash clothes.With two large washers and dryers it was not a bad job at all. We visited withseveral of the other campers and ate a late breakfast. We have a nice site nearthe laundry room. This campground has a couple fire pits with fires in theevening; nice bathhouse; great playground; and something I have NEVER seen in acampground – a storm shelter! It is thebasement of the older farmhouse that is the home of the family owning thecampground but it is a labeled storm shelter…you know me and disasters – I wasimpressed.

Ben relaxing at our campsite at Town & Country Campground

About 11:30 we packed up and started out on our day ofexploration in the Twin Cities. We started at the National Park ServiceHeadquarters visitor center for the Mississippi River National Recreation Area.Unique idea for National Parks – they are partnering with 10 parks, museums,etc in the area to present the history and natural resources of the area in aconsolidated way. The ranger told us they offer tours, materials, and of coursepassport stamps…we managed to collect 3 today.

View of Mississippi from St. Paul Science Museum

Yesterday we had investigated taking the light rail intoMinneapolis to avoid driving. Today, since it was Sunday (hoping for lightertraffic) and we wanted to go to both Minneapolis and St. Paul; Ben decided to drive. It was not bad until wegot into St. Paul. There was a huge marathon today and it was just finishing!There were runners and people everywhere. We found the National Park Service Visitor Center and got lots of greatinformation and ideas for the rest of our day. Getting out of St. Paul was not much fun but we managed to get backacross the Mississippi on the infamous bridge that collapsed in 2007 I believe. The new bridge is beautiful and was completedin only a little over a year. We have a photo to share later. All I can say isgood thing we did not try to drive earlier while most of the runners were stillrunning!

Our next stop was the Mill City area. We found parkingeasily and after eating a snack lunch we walked around the Mill Area. Theentire riverfront in Minneapolis has been cleaned up with the 2 lane GRR, and a2 lane biking and hiking trail. The old flour mills are being restored aslofts, businesses, and restaurants. TheGold Medal building has become a museum telling the history of the mills andthe city. Next door was the new GuthrieTheater –relocated here about two years ago. The old stone bridge crosses the Mississippi here and is now apedestrian bridge. The people of Minneapolis were out in force today – walking,biking, skateboarding, etc. Thetemperature was 80 degrees and beautiful. We walked out on the bridge to get some photos and observed a tour boatgoing through a lock at the St. Anthony Falls. This is the only falls on theentire Mississippi.

Gold Medal Flour Building

After hiking out the bridge we went into the Guthrie and upto the 5^th floor to the endless bridge. We rode up a 5 story escalator – Jane managedby holding on tightly with both hands. Ben ventured all the way to the end ofthe cantilevered observation deck. Thephotos that show the entire river – north to the falls and south to the newlybuilt interstate bridge were taken by him…Jane only went as far as the sectionwith walls!

Guthrie Theater with Cantilevered Deck - Photos below taken from there

Looking North - Old Stone Bridge and St.Anthony Falls

Looking South - the bridge in distance is the newly rebuilt bridge that collapsed

Next we followed the GRR through Minneapolis along the river– nice park with stops along the way for parking. The bikers and walkers wereout in force along this road as well. The banks of the river are high here withbluffs on both sides – the trees were in their fall colors – beautiful. As we left the downtown area, there were manynice homes along the river road. Westopped at Historic Fort Snelling for a few photos and called it a day.

Great River Road through residential area of Minneapolis

It was a nice day with a quiet supper and finally some timeto get the blog posted for the last several days. Tonight we will study Wisconsin and Minnesotaas we begin to make choices - which side of the river to take south. There is a GRRon both sides of the river! We knew thatand had some idea where we would go but now we are more familiar with the areaand the choices will be hard.

Little Falls MN to Minneapolis MN

2011-10-02T20:42:00.002-04:00

Little Falls to Minneapolis

Saturday October 1, 2011

Another beautiful crisp autumn morning -and crisp it was at35 degrees! Two things we bought that have paid for themselves over and overagain are our electric heater and Mr. Brit our GPS. After another great breakfast of toast withbread cheese and strawberry jam we headed south on the Great River Road (GRR). Our first stop was to look at the CharlesLindbergh home. He grew up here. This was his parents' home. He flew his plane “Jenny” here several timesafter his famous first solo transatlantic flight. The home was locked up for winter so we could only view from thegate. The Mississippi is right below thebluff and very wide here due to dams along the river. We drove along MN 21 to St. Cloud. The GRR follows veryclosely the river through rolling farmland.

Example of Farms

The farms are much as they havebeen before – cattle, corn, and hay. AtSt Cloud we drove west to I 94 for a short period for Ben to buy gas. The great news was we had driven 614 milessince last buying gas and the calculated miles per gallon was 27! The best yet for the Sprinter! Oh, we are notbig like most of the RV’s you see on the road but we sure get better mileage!Many times we get 23 or 34 MPG but this was the best – we had not driven anyinterstates so had driven a little slower. Many people could not manage in a 20 foot van – for us itworks fine. We can go many places a large RV could not go and Ben drives it for his work trips. There isplenty of room for all our activities – cooking and eating, lounging around,and sleeping – we just can’t do them all at once! Living with the basics is really good for you– helps you learn what is essential for living. It also makes you segment youractivities! Anyway it works for us…

From St. Cloud we headed south on MN75 through Elk River. Aswe get closer to the Twin Cities there are many more subdivisions and urbansprawl. At one point we were clipping along watching for the GRR signs, viewingthe rivers and farms and suddenly huge sign – BRIDGE OUT – Wow – we turnedaround and followed the detour signs for a few miles. This was not a bridgeover the Mississippi but one of the smaller rivers flowing into it.

Good thing we say this sign!

In Elk River we stopped at Von Hanson’s Meats. We have beenseeing meat stores along the roads much as we had seen cheese shops inWisconsin. We felt it was part of ourcultural experience to find out what they were selling! They had all kinds of sausages, beef, pork,chicken, so many choices… we bought some maple sausage and special pretzels.Then we got a small container of cheese & pea salad to have with a sandwichfor lunch.

Examples of Sausages

A little further south we stopped at a roadside park forlunch. The salad was made of small cubes of cheddar cheese, peas, and lightcolored cheese curd. It was quite tasty. The park was a great stop as Jane gotin a mile walk and we also got to view the Mississippi.

View of Mississippi from our lunch stop - about 50 miles north of Minneapolis

We did a little research on the i-phone tolocate a campground somewhat close to the Mall of America. We found one and asked Mr. Brit to get usthere. We stayed on the GRR until it went into downtown Minneapolis. At thatpoint we let Mr. Brit take over and ended up at the Town and Country Campgroundin Savage MN. It was 9 miles to Mall of America.

Everything we needed for a two day stay – washing machines,WIFI, cable TV, electricity – we were set.

We got settled in and thought – only 3 PM let’s just go toMall of American this afternoon and eat dinner there. So Mr. Brit took us there – only problemfinding parking with 9ft clearance…a nice policeman directed us to the IKEAparking lot and it was full of RV’s, trucks, and other odd vehicles that couldnot get in the 7ft clearance lots. Luckwas with us – the one place we really wanted to go was near that entrance.

We certainly did not make it to every one of the 500+ stores byany means – there are 4 levels and we only were on 2. Let’s see – the highlights for us were LEGO,Columbia, Barnes & Noble, Brookstone, Coldwater Creek and a wallet kiosk.The amusement park in the center of the mall was unbelievable. There was alsoan IMAX, an aquarium, theaters and over 25 restaurants.

These are for Daniel !

I believe this LEGO robot was 34 ft high

We ate dinner at theRainforest Café. Ben had never been to one and it is an experience. We hadsalads and a huge plate of appetizers. For being a non-shopper Ben did the mostbuying! That mall is quite a place and certainly worth a visit.. The most interesting entertainment to me was the“Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank” it was a ropes course – several storieshigh – tallest in the world with folks in safety harness climbing the shipsmast and walking the plank! It sure would not be for me but it was fun towatch.

These folks were having a great time on the ropes

Tired shopper heading home!

We were both done in after eating and headed back to camp.We arrived back at camp by 7:15 and set up for a little TV, blog writing, and a goodnight’s sleep. The office gave us a password for the WIFI and at 10PM when I was ready to post the blog - we found out each computer needed a separate password so I could not get on! First time for that!

Lake Itasca to Little Falls

2011-10-02T18:47:00.002-04:00

Lake Itasca MN to Little Falls MN

Friday September 30, 2011

The sun was shining as we left Lake Itasca State Park – thefirst morning we have not had rain since we left North Carolina…a realtreat! The temperature got down to 40 inthe night but we were warm and toasty in the Sprinter. I remembered how to makethe cheese and bacon omelets in the microwave so we had a good breakfast; then dugout our trusty checklist – checked it and were on our way. Having left the TNflag up, drawers unlatched, forgotten to switch the electric for therefrigerator and lost more than one door mat – we had to have a list! Now we don’t forget anything when we rememberthe checklist!

The Great River Road signs are posted along the roads tofollow the Mississippi south. Today we were on 4 lane state highways, 2 lane paved county and state roads and 2 lane graded dirt roads. The roads that mostclosely follow the river are selected as part of the Great River Road (GRR).Relying of Mr. Brit for several years – we now have to rely on Jane to catchthe road changes. Only missed one or two turns today and we were able to catchthe GRR again within a few miles.

Here is river as it leaves Lake Itasca Park.

Look Closely there is the Mississippi as just a stream behind the trees

Our first town was Bemidji where we stopped to mail Dan’spost card and take photos with Paul Bunyan and his blue ox. The river is notlarge more like an East TN stream or creek. There are numerous lakes and allseem to have numerous “resorts” down side roads.

Ben comes to the knee of Paul!

We followed mostly two lane paved and verywell graded unpaved roads for about 100 miles to the next fairly large town ofGrand Rapids. Grand Rapids claim to fame is to have been the home town of JudyGarland. We passed that museum by and tracked down Pasties Plus for lunch.Pasties are pot pie filling sealed up in crust and baked. They began inEngland, came to the US and Canada with immigrants. They were a way for workersto take lunch easily into mines or on other jobs. This establishment was notedon Virtual Tourist web-site as having the best pasties in northern Minnesota sosince it was lunch time - why not eat one! They were very good but we certainly would have missed it if we had notbeen looking. We plan to eat as little “chain restaurant” food as possible onthis trip and try out local dishes. Thetrays of freshly baked pasties greeted us at the door!

Pasties greeted us at the door!

Our clean plates - We ate at the only table in the place.

Leaving Grand Rapids we again followed small state andcounty roads south through Brainerd to Little Falls where we had a reservationat Charles Lindbergh State Park for the night.Most of the farms along the river were raising cattle andhad corn and hay as their main crops. Most of the farmers were busy in someaspect of harvesting. The type of hay bales is always interesting. All thefarms in MN seem to be using round bales. We were amazed at the number some of the farms were stacking up for winter.In one location we saw stacks 9 bales wide and 20 or 30 in length. One house we passed had wood stacked upagainst their house as high as to the second story – all homes had wood stackedsomewhere. Obviously they have a longcold winter.

Businesses were much as seen anywhere – Walmarts, Target,Burger King, Applebees – etc. but you had some things we never or seldom see inthe south – meat smokers, lots of wood burning stoves, curling rinks, and ofcourse much more farm machinery than we see in our part of the country. Many of the businesses had Scandinavian namesand in one county Mick Finn was running for Sec/Treas. We are really not surewhat he was running sec/treas of but he had hundreds of hand lettered signsposted throughout the area!

After makingall those signs he deserves to win!! Funny we did not see any opposition signs.

We did not have a destination in the GPS most of the dayonly when looking for something special but it was running and once it showedus traveling along the GRR with the river right beside us…it was a peaceful,restful and beautiful day.

Mississippi somewhere in rural MN

You can see how closely our road follows the river.

We arrived at Charles Lindbergh State Park about 4:00 andfound our campsite waiting. The Lindbergh Home is only open Memorial Day to Labor Day but we will look around outsidetomorrow morning and take one of the park trails along the Mississippi. Theweather is nice – in the 60’s with no wind and lots of sunshine – hope it staysthis way tomorrow.

Jane took a 1 1/2mile walk around the campground. All the electric sites are full and about halfthe non-electric sites filled. The leaves are falling and walking in crunchingleaves is really fun. Not so sure Ben would agree the leaves are fun when he istrying to back into a campsite and can’t tell where the pavement is! Dinner, a shower, reading and blog writingand another good nights sleep is ahead!

One casualty of the day was an awful mess in Jane’s cosmetickit. Never had any problem with it beforebut a small crème rinse came open and made a huge mess of everything! Took everything out – washed and dried allthe other contents – then washed the kit itself and it will hopefully be dry bymorning. If this is the worst problem wehave it will be a great trip!

Lake Itasca

2011-09-29T22:31:00.000-04:00

Lake Itasca - Headwaters of The Mississippi
Thursday, September 29, 2011

Falling and blowing leaves hit the roof of the Sprinter allnight – at least the time or two I woke up- then toward morningthe rain began. Nice to hear on the metal roof but we had hoped to leave therain behind for a few days! But this wasa restful day so we just slept in – ate breakfast – turned on the heater totake the chill off and read. I am trying out a Nook from our library to see ifI am going to like electronic reading…so far it is OK – I am not in love withit but sure does save space!

Breakfast was great – toast with the bread cheese fromCarr’s. Instructions said to heat cubes in the microwave for 30 seconds andspread on bread with honey or jam. Strawberry jam it was – very tasty.

Late morning the rain stopped but not the wind – we bundled up and took offon a walk along the lake. The woods is beautiful with the fall color and thetrail follows along the lake shore for miles. We walked about a mile and then returned to camp. Biking is very popularhere as is canoeing. Both can be rented a ways down the trail.

Trail along lake

Trail continues

After lunch – hot soup – the sun came out and we gottour second wind. While the sun was out we wanted to see the headwaters area andget a few photos! You could drive toabout ½ mile from the headwaters. The short hike led to the outlet from LakeItasca. Much controversyand a variety of explorers finally selected this location as the true beginning ofthe Mississippi. It is Lake Itasca one minuteand the Mississippi River the next. The beginning is about 30 feet wide and 18inches deep. Rocks are placed strategically so you can walk across theriver. The rocks were somewhat slipperybut we managed to make it across with 1 wet shoe (Ben) and one skinned ankle(Jane) as the only casualties. Photostaken we chose to walk back across the 12” wide flat log the park officials hadplaced for those not wishing to try the rocks. The flow of the water was rapid probably due to all the rain in thisarea the past week.

We made it across the headwaters

Headwaters rock crossing in back, other bridge in foreground

This park is the first in the Minnesota Park System –organized in 1891. There was as might have been expected friction between theofficials who were preserving the land around the headwaters and thebusinessmen who were out to make lots of money logging the land. As almost always happened; there were a few “champions”who made the park happen. This park hadthe first woman park commissioner in North America. Only in her 20’s when herfather died as park commissioner, Mary Gibbs became the commissioner. Holdingthe position for less than a year, she and the MN government had a significantconfrontation with loggers who were building an illegal dam at theheadwaters to enable their logging operations.

We visited the Visitor Center for a post card for Daniel anda couple other remembrances. We then took a10 mile one-way scenic drive through the wilderness sanctuary. The red and whitepine trees were huge and the maples, aspen, oak and birch were beautiful. Thecolors are at their peak and the skies clear and brilliant blue.

Beaver Lodge along scenic drive

Beautiful fall foliage

The drive ended near the over 100 year oldDouglas Lodge that continues to house visitors. While not nearly as large asthe lodges built around that same era at the parks in the west.The lobby was small but very welcoming.

Lobby of Douglas Lodge

Back at camp we continued our restful day by discovering wehad internet so I posted the blog and read some emails. Photos of the bathrooms is not something I normally post but the bathhouse here was quite remarkable. First knotty pine bathhouse I have ever seen. Most of the buildings here were built by the CCC and these have been very nicely maintained.

Knotty Pine Bath House

I cooked supper and awaited the sunset – alasno great colors tonight. We have met several interesting folks here at thecampground. None seem to be starting on the adventure to the gulf. One couplehad been as far south on the Great River Road (GRR) as Hannibal MO.

The weather prediction is for 36 tonight so we will turn the heater onthe lowest setting…last night we did not turn it on and were very comfortable.The cooler weather means few if any mosquitoes – so if I have to choose Ichoose the cooler temperature! Tomorrow we start down the GRR and plan to go as far as theCharles Lindburg State Park.