FROM PUNY TO MIGHTY

LAKE ITASCA TO ST LOUIS

 

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Mississippi Headwaters

It has taken us 9 days and 1,428 miles to get us from Lake Itaska to Columbus, Kentucky, starting out where the Mississippi is a teensy creek inches deep and 20’ wide to where it is a river 50’ deep and a mile wide. We followed the Great River Road sign posts, which have kept us off the Interstates (hooray!) and mostly on rural two-lane highways.

 After the obligatory photos of standing atop the boulders at the Mississippi Headwaters, we

Omnipresent GRR Signage

made many well-known and touristy stops and many that were more serendipity. The touristy ones included posing with Paul Bunyan and Babe in Bemidji; seeing the Shot Tower in Dubuque; and doing everything Mark Twain in Hannibal. The serendipity ones were usually those that just happened along the way and included driving through Minnesota’s biggest street fair in Little Falls MN; passing through the pearl museum in Muscatine IA; touring the last working LST at Dubuque IA; and seeing the Popeye statues in
Dubuque's Shot Tower

Chester IL. Other interesting stops happened when we used the Harvest Host app to find a spot we could park for a night while supporting a local vendor, including Stone Cliff Winery in Dubuque and a farm stop near St Louis.

 Along this route we have so far seen but two truly big cities: The Twin Cities and St Louis. Minneapolis was certainly our most difficult driving day. We began by trying to slip though Minneapolis on the Great River Road’s narrow, old streets right on the river. However, we ran into a road construction

St Louis Arch

closure which diverted us right smack into a massive crowd of Viking fans exiting the stadium after watching their team lose to the Buccaneers, all the while pulling our 20’ travel trailer. Yikes!

The other major city, St Louis, went (mostly) smoother. But first we had to learn how to pronounce it, finding out that it is Saint Loo-is, not Saint Loo-ee; and the state is Missuree, not Missurah. We did mange to arrive too late to take the tram ride up the arch, but otherwise hit all the highlights recommended by our neighbor, Julie Richmond, a St Louis native. This took us to

Yumm!

the base of the Arch for photos; out to the the Hill Top neighborhood for Italian dining at Favazzo’s; a visit to the Botanical Garden, featuring of things Dale Chihuly glassworks; Forest Park; and (best of all) a frozen custard at Ted Drewes.

 Naturally, the best is to chat it up with those fabulous big-hearted Midwestern natives whom we are meeting along the way. Big city or way ort rural, older or younger, they all respond enthusiastically about their hometowns. You have to walk away saying “What a great country! “

 We have done about two-thirds of the Mississippi River Road thus far and have just crossed

Sunset over the Mississippi

into the South. The Kentucky patois is delightful to listen to, but it certainly is far different from the all-American dialects further north. I suspect that the Southern culture will thicken as we drive south toward Memphis and New Orleans, which come up next. Stay tuned!

 Roger, Lynne, and Salty

Comments

  1. Peggy JurcisinSeptember 17, 2023 at 5:58 AM

    Wonderful update. There are 2 seasons in the Midwest, winter and road construction. Enjoy your journey. Feliz viaje

    ReplyDelete

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