Summer Vacation

The Mississippi River

 

Months ago, when we were planning this trip, someone piped up
and said, "Why don't we visit the Mississippi River?"
I thought, "Why not?"

Relatives gave us advice on where to go and what to see
based on what our family enjoyed doing;
 the historical and educational.

 



 

As we drove through Iowa and Missouri we admired the beautiful
green fields, the many trees, and the lush countryside.
When we exited our vehicle and the humidity slapped us in the face,
we remembered why everything was so lovely.
Oh yes, this greenness comes with a price.

 

 

We crossed into Illinois at Quincy and made our way down

a few obscure twisting gravel roads to view a lock in operation.

Lock and Dam #21

This lock had a nice upper level viewing area with bathrooms on the lower level.
We arrived just in time because there were two huge barges in the lock ready to
be raised to travel north on the river.

We watched the barge workers run around lashing the two barges
together and the lock supervisor driving around and around in his little cart.

 

 

 

 

Now the lock is empty.
It took longer to get the barges ready than it did to raise them in the lock.

 

 

 

 

 

We could tell from all the activity that the Mississippi River is still

a very important avenue for economic systems from the north to the south.

 

We made our way further south, crossed back over the river into Missouri,
and headed to the home town of Mark Twain.

 

By this time we needed to replenish some supplies so we
stopped at a nationwide chain where this was our
most surprising find of the day...

 

The contents looked quite attractive with cherries floating around in the red liquid
but at 50% alcohol they were probably rather potent cherries.

We laughed and wondered if it was common to sell moonshine in MO.
Maybe they have such things in other states too but I must admit that I don't
go down the alcohol aisle on a regular basis.