The Upper Mississippi

Nelson Dewey State Park, Cassville, WI

The household was buzzing this morning with babes underfoot before 6. Brian was off to camp by 6:30 and Owen needed to leave for his camp by 8:30. I didn't get much time to spend with Brian (although I did get him to give me one more "cutey eyes"), but Owen and I had time for another bike ride, a couple of video games and he helped me pack up the van. Those boys absolutely stole my heart and it was with a bit of sadness that we said goodbye and were on our way. (Cute Owen story: He had worn his socks out to the van and they got wet and dirty. He took them off in the van and said to me, "You can have these to remember me by.")
We headed from the heartland of Illinois back out to the Mighty Mississippi towards the Northern Illinois town of Galena. This quaint town is one of the more bustling hamlets on the Mississippi. We spent a couple of hours walking around town and doing a lot of window shopping.
We are definitely in the Northern section of the Mississippi River now and as we entered Wisconsin the GRR takes us up and over dramatic rolling hills and alongside neat and tidy farms. Often times the road is now high up on a bluff rather than alongside the river. We came upon one rather worn out little town, Dickeyville, that had a pretty strange roadside attraction. It was called The Grotto and can best be described as a shrine made up of everything under the sun (sea shells, pottery, quartz, glass, coal, and any brightly colored object) and was an homage to all things religious and patriotic. It was a created by a Catholic Priest in the early 20th century and today is watched over by the local church. Yeah, try to imagine saints and the Virgin Mary alongside Lincoln, Washington, Christopher Columbus and an eagle all hobbled together by cast off objects. I'll include a picture, but trust me it doesn't do justice to the absolute tackiness of it all.
As we drove along, signs now entice the traveler with cheese, sausage and beer rather than BBQ or catfish. At one point we rounded a corner and saw a group of old brick and rock buildings with a two story size can of beer in its midst. It was a brewery founded in the mid 1880's by German immigrants that had closed down in the 1960's but was now revitalized. Ahh...how could one resist? It was in the middle of a lazy afternoon on a summer day and Ned looked at me and said, "I think it's time for a beer." We spent a good hour walking through the museum, learning about the area, people and beer making history of the Potosi Brewing Company. We finally settled in for a nice cold one (Dopplebock-a dark beer). It was pretty good, but Cello Chocolate Stout at Ol' Republic is still better - call me prejudiced.
We pulled into our campsite late afternoon and were immediately struck with how peaceful, wooded and beautiful this little spot is. I was exhausted from my playdates with the boys and settled down to a nice nap. When we woke up we rode our bikes around exploring the campground. The view from the high bluffs overlooking the Mississippi is spectacular. The river looks like a large placid mountain lake. Everyone assumes the mosquitos or bugs were a problem in the South. Not at all! We hardly noticed them and it certainly didn't effect any of our activities. Well, not so much the case here in Wisconsin! The temperature is quite pleasant (mid 70's to low 80's) but the bugs are overwhelming. We're not able to sit outside and even riding our bikes the insects swarmed us. I always heard that this part of the country had two seasons - winter and bug season - and now I know what they are talking about!

Hanging with the Family

Marc's house - St. Charles, IL

I couldn't wait to get up and out of the campground this morning knowing we were headed to see my big brother Gary, sister-in-law Dru, nephew Marc, his wife Sheila and my two adorable great nephews Owen (7) and Brian (6). I haven't seen the boys for a couple of years and I was expecting them to be shy or a bit hesitant. Well the big grins and huge hugs I got from the boys were fantastic. Totally made my day!
I can't believe the memories these kids have. Owen remembered almost everything we did the last time we were together, especially the campout with me in the Winniemobile. We had so much fun visiting with everyone and catching up, but the best part was playing with the boys. We went on a couple of bike rides, had a good old fashioned water fight with squirt guns and even played some ping pong. For the record, Aunt Debi definitely lost the water fight. At one point a good old fashioned ice cream truck drove thru the neighborhood playing the traditional "Turkey in the Straw" music. Even though it was before dinner Ned and I thought "what the heck", and bought the boys ice cream. After all it is summer and one of the privileges of being an Aunt and Uncle.
Marc and Sheila just moved into a beautiful new home and wowza, it sure is something. I was particularly impressed with Marc's beer cellar. Nice brewskis Marc and thanks for sharing:)
The boys leave for camp early tomorrow morning, 6:30, and I promised them they could wake us up. Oy...better go hit the hay.

Barges on the Mississippi

Location: Mississippi-Palisades State Park, Savannah, IL

The drive up this part of the GRR was the prettiest so far. We are officially north of the flooded crest of the Mississippi River so roads are open albeit everything is saturated.
As the river recedes it has left a lot of wood debris, but this part of Northern Illinois has seen minimal damage. We took a couple of wrong turns first thing this morning, (this stretch of the GRR is hobbled together by country roads that are either poorly marked or have no names at all), but it was one of the best mistakes we've made. We drove for quite awhile right next to the river, within a couple of feet, and were in awe of the quiet serenity. The river was still moving fast, but quite flat and everything surrounding her was a deep lush green. At one point we drove by a small group of Belgian draft horses frolicking in the field and had to just stop for awhile and watch them. What a beautiful moment in time to just be quiet with my honey, watching the horses play, while the Mississippi rolled by.
Our first stop of the day was at Rock Island, Illinois at the U.S. Corp of Engineers Dam and Lock No. 15. There are 29 locks on the Mississippi, we've certainly seen our fair share, but this one was fantastic!! Our timing couldn't have been better. Just as we arrived a barge was leaving the lock, a pleasure boat was entering and then we spent the next 2 hours watching a double lockage. This is when a tow boat is pushing too many barges to fit into a lock at one time so it pushes in half of them, disconnects, and then pushes thru the second group. It was so much fun to watch the entire process and the Rangers were awesome explaining everything as it was happening. We had the added bonus of seeing a swinging train and auto bridge working with the lock system at the same time. Ned thought he had died and gone to heaven. I think it was his favorite day yet. For a week now we've been following the Mighty Miss. and stopping by the Information Centers, but today it all came together on how everything worked. We saw a really informative movie on the history of the Mississippi and why the locks were created to enable the navigation of this important travel byway. I honestly believe I could pass a test right now on the depths, dredging, navigation and lock system - ha!
It is just amazing how different this part of the Mississippi is from downstream. Once you are past the 3 huge confluences so much changes! We would never have imagined anyone boating, swimming or waterskiing in the Mississippi. Now upstream from these 3 main tributaries the river flattens out and is much calmer. We saw people enjoying the river as we would a lake. Amazing.
Our next stop after driving through the Quad Cities was Le Claire, Iowa home of Antique Archeology. Ned and I love watching Mike and Frank of American Picker fame. My impression of their shop was that it was off the beaten track, perhaps down a dirt road. Wrong! It's in downtown Le Claire, behind the BP gas station, and quite the hub of activity. It was fun to spot some of the items we had watched them pick - such as the Laurel and Hardy heads. We decided to take a stroll downtown Le Claire, which is basically a sleepy little town alongside the river that specializes predominantly in antique shops. Ned spotted a smoker and we decided it was probably our last opportunity to enjoy southern BBQ. We grabbed some pulled pork and had a picnic near the river, just being lazy and watching the Big Muddy roll by.
As we work our way upstream you can feel that change is a'coming. Little by little we've left the hot and steamy days of the Delta behind us, where people talked with a drawn out drawl, sipped on sweet tea and called you ma'am. People now speak with a bit of a twang or flat a's, the weather is cooler and bratwurst and cheese curds are beginning to show up on the grocery shelves. Knowing that Wisconsin and Minnesota are in our future, I began salivating for my much loved smoked whitefish.
Tomorrow we connect up with my family and I'm so darn excited to see my big brother, nephew and great-nephews. I just hope they don't mind that I'm bringing along a week of dirty laundry.

A Slice of Americana

Location: Nauvoo State Park, Nauvoo, IL

Well you'd be hard pressed to find a more American day than today. We were in downtown Springfield, IL bright and early this morning and caught the first tour of Abraham Lincoln's home with Mary Todd. This is where he lived when practicing law, running unsuccessfully for the Senate and engaging in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. This was the last home he lived in until leaving for the White House. The last time I visited here was on my 8th grade overnight field trip. For those of you counting that was a mere 42 years ago. Then it was just a State Park and much humbler than it is now. Ned and I thoroughly enjoyed touring his home, walking thru the historic district and taking in the movie about his life in Springfield. We then branched out and took a walking tour into the other parts of town seeing the State Capitol, the Old State Capitol and making a brief visit to the Presidential Museum and Library. When we reached the Old State Capitol there were Union Soldiers holding several vignettes of the Civil War, i.e. playing music, showing what they ate, shooting off cannons, make-shift hospital, giving talks, etc. Can I just say that after spending a week in the South and having the Civil War repeatedly referred to as the "War of Northern Aggression" or the "War of Southern Succession" that it sure felt like I was finally no longer the enemy. It felt so great to be able to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's greatness. Honest Abe is a persona non grata in certain parts of the South. We learned so much more about Abe as a father, husband and politician. My only regret was that we didn't schedule more time to check out all that Springfield had to offer. We both vowed to come back and spend more time at the Presidential Library, see his grave and visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana House.
We also had lunch with one of my oldest friends, Teri Kramer, from St. Mary's Elementary School. It was so fun to catch up and reminisce about the old days. The two of us were the schools biggest tomboys. Funny how not much has changed! So, good to see you Teri. Hope to catch up with you again on our next tour across the U.S.
Knowing we still had a lot to do, we skedaddled across the prairies of Illinois, crossed over the Mighty Mississippi once again and dropped down into Hannibal, Mo. the home of Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens. Compared to the professionalism and gravitas of Springfield, this town was much more hokey. Everything was named either Huck this or Beck Thatcher that. Yep, right down to "Get your Mark Twain Fried Chicken here." Of course, we took the Mark Twain boyhood home tour, which included entry into several buildings; Huckleberry Finn's home, Becky's house, Judge Clemen's office and a museum and gallery. The museum was actually pretty fun and definitely aimed toward the kids. There were separate vignettes accompanied by audio excerpts of Mark Twain's books. So, we entered caves, went on a raft expedition, rode in a stage coach, and drove a steamboat. My favorite part was seeing all the original Norman Rockwell paintings done for a special 1930's illustrated edition of Tom Sawyer.
We walked up on the levy to check out the Mississippi and saw the flooding across the railroad tracks and along the frontage road. Amazing. It was kinda sad to see the local park submerged in water with the pink plastic slide looking like it should be in a kiddie pool.
The Mark Twain River boat was coming into dock so that definitely topped off our Americana experience. As an added bonus, the Nina and Pinta were temporarily docked nearby. They are a replica of the ships that Columbus sailed in 1492. They were doing a expedition sailing up the Mississippi River, but were waylaid due to the flooding. Who knows, maybe we'll see them farther up the river later on.
After a really long day and a couple more detours on the GRR, we finally pulled into Nauvoo, IL. This is a town known for its religious and historic significance. First settled by Native Americans, then Joseph Smith established it as a settlement for Mormons, and then finally the Icarians established an Utopian Community here. Joseph Smith is buried here and there's a gigantic temple majestically overlooking the Mississippi. Ironically, the majority of the population here today is Catholic. We arrived in time for "Sunset on the Mississippi" which looked like Mormons dressed as pioneers doing square dancing and some other programs. (Neise sound familiar?)
Basically, I'm a noodle tonight. My brain is full of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, River boats and Mormons. It was definitely a crash course on Americana.

The Past and Future at the Confluence of the Mississippi & Missouri Rivers

Sangchris Lake, Rochester, IL

It rained on and off all last night, but it was actually much appreciated because it's a heck of a lot cooler than the Southern States and the humidity is tolerable. We had several destinations today and were determined to hit them all. On a previous trip we had seen St. Louis so that was not a priority today. However, we are huge Lewis and Clark fans and have visited many historical monuments, read several books and watched a couple of movies pertaining to them. (My favorite book was "From Sea to Shining Sea" by James Alexander Thom. It's a fictional account but so riveting.) We no sooner were driving on the GRR when the first of many detours began. The Big Muddy continues rising and we keep getting detoured farther and farther away. It took us a bit longer to get to the Lewis and Clark Point of Departure than we had intended, but gosh was it worth it! If anyone has kids I highly recommend taking them here. We were impressed that the museum and interpretive center were so well documented, thought out and engaging. This center focused on the preparations that Lewis & Clark made for their journey more than the actual journey itself. The movie was great, but my favorite feature was the simulation of the keel boat they used. It was life size, but cut in half. You were able to see not only what they brought with them, but how methodically everything was packed. There were lots of fun, hands-on activities too. For example, trying to balance out the cargo, seeing what was in each of the barrels, and reading about all the scientific supplies. We also learned quite a lot about how each man was picked for the Corp of Discovery and their background. What amazed me the most is that after 2 years, 4 months and 10 days in unchartered territory only one man didn't make it, probably from a burst appendix. There was also a replica of the fort that they built and camped out in preparation for the trip. I could go on and on about Lewis and Clark, but alas we must leave the past behind and continue to make our way up the River Road.
Our next stop, (after getting lost in East St. Louis in some really, really poor and sketchy neighborhoods), was to the Corp of Engineers National Great Rivers Museum. Mr. Ned was salivating to read all about the lock and dam system and try his hand at piloting the tow boat and barge simulator into a lock. The museum was well done, but seemed to be a bit "fluffy" on the engineering details of how everything really worked. To me it appeared more of a PR effort on the benefits of the Mississippi Watershed. However, Ned did find the simulator and spent a good while trying his hand at piloting. We both gave it a try and ran it aground on several attempts. I left to go inquire about taking a tour of the locks and when I came back Ned had a huge grin on his face as his barge was slipping safely into the lock. He even got a round of applause from several bystanders. (3 cheers for Captain Ned!). We decided not to do a tour of the locks since the river is so high that you can no longer stand on the observation deck. The difference between the upper and lower lock is usually 10 ft, today is was maybe 1.
We had intended to continue up the GRR, but again greeted by a road closed sign. Here's a TV News clip of what was going on. Click Here for News Clip
Once again we were relegated to Plan B. So, instead of following the Mississippi we decided to cut across the flatlands of Illinois to Springfield. We are camped at a wonderful lake, about 30 minutes east of Springfield. The temperature has definitely dropped to a cool 75 with very little humidity. I've been reading about the heat wave in Nevada City, so to my friends back home, it looks like we traded weather. The last picture tonight is me toasting everyone back home. Tomorrow we head for the Land of Lincoln and once again towards the Big Muddy in search of Mark Twain.

The Confluence of the Ohio & Mississippi Rivers

Little Giant City State Park, Carbondale, Il

Today was all about the journey not the destination. We crossed into Kentucky, all 60 miles of her. The GRR is actually quite beautiful on this section. We enjoyed stopping at the one block towns, getting various views of the Mississippi River and popping into GRR "visit centers" often staffed by one person who was always so delighted that somebody came by. There was lots of fertile farmland and barely a two lane road in many sections. Which brings up the highlight of the morning. As we were traveling on this country road a police car, from the opposite direction, flagged us down and said there was a large piece of oversize farm equipment coming. In fact, it was so large that we couldn't both be on the road at the same time. Problem was, we were driving on a levy so there really wasn't any place for us to turn off. The officer said we had a good 3 minutes before "it" came. Turns out a farmer pulling his corn planter with a tractor was trying to be nice and let a car pass. When pulling over the corn planter flipped and broke an axle. A tow truck had to pull the corn planter backwards with the tractor driving in reverse at a maximum speed of 3 mph. This rated a police escort (or technically sheriff escort) in front and back. The first dirt road we pulled into had another tractor coming our way. Ned and I struck up a conversation with the farmer from Kentucky, who turned out to be a really nice guy. He was telling us all about the accident, the rains that have caused havoc with their planting schedule and the flood of 2011 compared to the flood of 1936. You can sure learn a lot when you have the time and are just hanging out on a dirt road in Kentucky. I snapped a picture of farmer Ned (Iowa boy) having a conversation with farmer Hank (Kentucky boy). Cute.
We were in search of Fort Defiance, near Cairo, IL. This place is not only where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet, but was also the place where General Grant planned his strategy in attacking Vicksburg. We were expecting a visitor's center, large fort, monument, heck even a road marker. Nada. We crossed into Missouri (2nd time over the Mighty Miss), scratched our heads and finally located a gravel road leading to the point of the peninsula. Fort Defiance consists of a concrete platform and a couple a flights of stairs for a lookout. We inquired about this later at the nearby former Toll Station now a pubescent visit center (had great intentions, but no info yet), and was told that with the way the Mississippi ebbs and flows there's no way a structure would hold at Fort Defiance. We did see an abandoned RV park there with the electrical boxes about 6 ft in the air! It was really amazing to see these two powerful and significant rivers joining forces. A barge was located just a few feet from us and it's impressive how big these are, how fast the rivers flow and the amount of debris floating down - such as entire logs and trees, roots and all. Watching the tug boats push barges upstream loaded down with Kentucky coal was also pretty cool.
We meandered into Cape Girardeau, a sleepy college town on the Missouri side of the river, did a little exploring, and were planning on staying at the Trail of Tears State Park to learn more about the Cherokee forced migration. We called the campground to see how they were doing with the high river levels. Oh, they were open but the road getting there was flooded. Mmmm - plan B. We looked at campgrounds on both sides of Ol' Miss and finally headed for high ground in Illinois. And to my amazement, we found a campground pretty high up for Illinois! We are situated at a huge, sleepy, dated, campground complex. It has a lodge built in the 1930's by the WPA, horse trails, lakes, campgrounds, all spread out over several miles. The campground holds close to 80 sites, but there are only a handful of us here. We're enjoying hanging out, planning our day tomorrow and as luck would have it making use of our new awning. A 15 minute shower from no where surprised us! Hoping for a good night's sleep since we have quite an eventful day planned tomorrow regarding the Corp of Engineers efforts to tame the Mighty Miss. Ned heard there's a simulator for navigating a barge into a lock and he can't wait.

Feelin' the Delta Blues

Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville, TN

BBQ smokers on every lawn, fields of newly planted cotton and folks sitting on stoops with all the time in the world sure made me feel like I was in a Faulkner novel. Life on the Mississippi Delta really is the most "Southern place on earth." What an incredible juxtaposition to our visit yesterday with all the showy antebellum homes and genteel folks. This is the land of bbq, catfish, and singing the blues. This area rates as one of the poorest, highest unemployment and worse healthcare in the county so you really appreciate how the blues resonates from their soul. We were only going to do a quick stop in Clarksdale, but the friendly southern hospitality, blues, bbq, and lazy summer day won out. The junction of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale is where, according to legend, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for mastery of the blues guitar. Sounds like a great place to me to soak up the local color and get lost in time.
Our first stop was the Delta Blues Museum now located in an old train depot. It was incredible! So many of the famous blues singers came from this town, not just the Delta area. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos inside, but the stories, costumes, guitars and especially photos of all the legends were awesome. All the greats were featured - Muddy Waters, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, and tons more. Even Ike Turner was born here. By the time we left we were hooked and didn't want to leave the town. Big decision of the day was to either hit Abe's BBQ (world famous for ribs) or Morgan Freeman's blues joint called Ground Zero. We popped into Ground Zero to take a look and were greeted my Miss T who was so warm and welcoming that we decided to stay. Ned got a local draft beer called Southern Pecan, I got some tea and we were settled in for awhile. Today's menu was a full plate lunch for me (by now it was around 2ish so it was lunch & dinner- really!) pulled pork, the best turnip greens I've ever eaten, black eyed peas and cornbread. Ned opted for the hamburger with pulled pork and grilled onion ON it and sweet potato fries. We got chatting with the waitress and the musician who would be playing that night. The big news in town was this was Election Day for mayor and the co-owner of the joint was running. They were pretty sure he was going to win so everyone was getting ready to share in the celebration. They almost convinced us to stay. It sure sounded like it was going to be a good time and a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear some great blues with the locals. Alas, we opted to poke around town for bit more and then continue our drive up the river.
There's a record and folk art store in town called "Cat Head". It's listed in the book of "1000 places to See Before You Die." Nothing at all fancy about this place, but it sure was fun to linger and check out their wares. We were the only ones in the store and the person behind the counter spent the whole time playing his blues guitar. It fit the mood perfectly. There's one photo of a man sitting on his guitar that I just loved! I'll put it in the photos below.
We continued on through the laid back backroads of Mississippi and then all too abruptly we were in Memphis and back to the modern world. Once out of Memphis, the GRR in Tennessee really doesn't hug the river nor does it seem to embrace the river life. The next 75 miles or so was suburban sprawl and strip malls. We really didn't feel like we were in vacation mode until we hit the lake road to Reelfoot Lake State Park. This 25,000 acre lake was created by an earthquake in 1811. We got a campsite right on the lake and arrived in time to see the sunset. Nice end to an unforgettable day.
P.S. - Just checked the election results before posting this and it looks like Bill Luckett is winning it by a landslide. Should be a good time at the Blues Club tonight!