October 10 through October 16, 2003

Friday October 10:

The day broke foggy with temperature 55.  We decided to stay here, and a little later a ranger came by saying we would not find a prettier spot anywhere on the Mississippi.

I could not disagree, especially with all the fall colors popping out.  He responded to my question about why it was so little used with the answer that most folks want more facilities with electricity....WHY do all these RVs come with $1500 and up generators then?  We do not lack CONVENIENCES because we do not have electricity; we generate what we need.  We lazed this day, enjoying the warming sun of Indian summer. Barges passed on the river.

 I decided to use some of the lazy time to create the trip web page.

Saturday October 11:

I awoke at 2AM, and decided to try clearing the 2 meg attachment out of my mailbox.  This time it worked, and I was able to download our mail.  Apparently the box had not filled, so we received it all. I was pleased with how well the cell connection worked with the weaker signal here.  I returned to bed for another hour of snooze! The day dawned sunny, but it was not forecast to end that way.  The Indian Summer weather is coming to an end as a cool front pushes through tonight with wind and light rain expected.  In the morning I did all the regular Internet tasks, then uploaded the web page.  It was after 12 when we considered leaving for the day's travels, planned to take us to Walmart in Clinton, then through Le Claire, and on to a campground in IL for the night.  By the time we dumped and put on water it was nearing 2 PM.  We got a bit disoriented going to Walmart, as the driving directions were wrong again.  We asked, and received good directions.  We found gas at Walmart was $1.409/g with the gift card discount, the cheapest we had seen since Indiana.  We shopped, then filled gas and started out for Le Claire near 4PM; the sky was darkening, and we both said "Are you sure you want to do this today?"  Claire turned the RV around and returned to the Walmart lot for the night.  After a short nap, dinner was macaroni and cheese.  Claire went to shop for gloves, and almost as soon as she returned the "light" rain came down in sheets, with high wind.  So much for forecasts...  :-)  There is not a better place we could be tonight than this brightly lighted Walmart parking lot with no trees to blow over on us!  After I catch up on the e-mail, I will join Claire in bed!  

Sunday October 12:

We left Walmart after lunch and stopped in Le Claire IA.  

This is a quick see, a short block of riverfront and a parallel block on the main street of antique shops and flea markets. The town had been an important port on the river before the locks and dams were built, where pilots who knew the local river rapids could be hired to safely guide boats around the rocks.  The key item here now, other than the town's name, is the Buffalo Bill Cody museum commemorating his birthplace, which we did not enter.  They did have the old paddlewheel steamer "Lone Star" sitting up on blocks inside a chain link fence along the riverfront.  This vessel was built in 1869, and when it retired in 1968 it was the last working stern wheeler on the river.  

The photo was taken through a chain link fence, and I apologize for the fence wire showing in the upper right corner.  The flywheel of a steam engine is visible through the open door behind the boiler.  I am not sure whether this is the main engine or an auxiliary pumping engine.

It was interesting to see that the wheelhouse and passenger and crew cabin were right on top of the boiler....if the Captain got TOO enthusiastic in his riverboat racing against other steamboats, and blew the boiler up, the crew would fly high!  We enjoyed LeClaire's pleasant riverfront park on this fine Indian Summer day.

 I'm not sure whether they were expecting an attack from Illinois across the river, but they appeared to be prepared.  :-)  We bypassed Sneaky Pete's well known bratwurst, but could not resist his sign....  :-)

On the way to the I-80 bridge to the Illinois side, we passed the Iowa state info station, crowded with people trying to get to an open house.  We did not think we could get the RV in until it was too late to make the turn.  We continued across the bridge and soon found the Illinois info station on the other side, with a gorgeous view over the river to LeClaire on the other side.

  We picked up all the river info we could find, then returned to the Iowa side to go to their info station.  It turned out that open house was AT the info station in LeClaire, with free food samples, and lots of junk for sale.  There was a fun petting pen on the yard, with many unusual animals folks could pay to play with.  

There were sheep, goats, ducks, rabbits, a calf, a burro, a llama, and some pretty unusual chickens.

 Not only was this puffy feathered chicken unusual, it was not content to stay in the pen either.  Several recovery operations were required in the short time we watched.  :-)  We bought a gallon of un-pasteurized apple cider which we just HAD to have, since it is not sold any more back home, and a small bag of kettle corn (popcorn popped in a big black open kettle like a witch would user, with sugar put on just as the corn starts to pop).  It was tasty-sweet, but the last of the bag was HARD on our teeth, as is usual with popcorn.  We headed out around 3PM for the Fisherman's Corners campground we had planned on using on the IL side.  It is not free, but we get half price in all Corps of Engineers campgrounds with our Golden Age Passport, so we only pay $8 for this nice flat concrete site with electricity.  The battery will appreciate a full charge again, and we will microwave-broil steak for dinner.  When we pay, we USE.  :-)  As Claire prepared to cook dinner, another unusual critter expressed interest....  :-)

It's good to see Purry in such good health. :-)  Since we are travelling without Pookie, Purry seems to need much more attention from us, but is doing quite well.

Monday October 13:

The day dawned cool in the RV, and the heat had run some.  The temperature was 58 outside, and I wondered about that, but after while I pushed the heat up to daytime temperatures as it was too cold to type on the computer.  When Claire awoke she found the passenger side front window was open all night.  :-((  Since checkout time was 4PM, we spent most of the day in Fisherman's corners.  The weather was beautiful and the electricity was useful for a thorough vacuuming.  The same ranger we had seen in Bulger's Hollow patrolled through here too;  he indicated this was the southern end of his range.  There were pretty fall colors here too.

 We do notice there are fewer red in the leaves here than in New England, so these stood out!  Another camper volunteered he had worked on Rock Island Arsenal, and recommended we park at nearby John Deere pavilion and bike in (with ID) to avoid search of the RV.  After showers and dump and water fill, it was near 3:30 PM when we left, but the trip was under 15 miles.  We avoided I-74, as the ranger warned us the ramp at Rock Island arsenal was closed for construction.  Moline traffic was not bad on city streets, but some road conditions were bad due to construction.  We found the Walmart where it should be, and parked, noticing the "Unauthorized Vehicles Will be towed" sign.  I went in to ask if we could stay, and was told "yes; I think all Walmarts let you stay".  I did NOT enlighten the manager that this was not true, just thanked her.  :-)  We had passed a Country Buffet on the way in, and Claire indicated interest. Though it is a chain,  we decided to try it, and found it quite good.  There were plenty of vegetables cooked well, fish, pork, beef, chicken, and of course too many desserts to mention.  We overate of course, but were well satisfied for our $9 each charge.  There were many families with teenagers here; no wonder why.  They can't feed 'em at home for that!  :-)  We checked out Staples in this Mall too, looking for new 2004 appointment books.  We do not have many appointments these days, but that makes a book even more important to make sure we do not forget those we have.  I set the computer up for Claire, and turned in.  Before she came to bed it started to rain, and quite heavily.

Tuesday October 14:

It was still raining at 6:30 AM when I arose.  It had cooled off by nearly 10 degrees from yesterday, to 49 degrees, so it may be ready to clear.  The forecast is for 10 degree cooler weather behind the front.  If the weather cooperates we will visit the John Deere administration building first today, then drive downtown to John Deere Pavilion and visit it, then bike from there onto the arsenal and to the Corps of Engineers visitors center.  The forecast says rain ending by 10AM; if reality follows forecast, our day's plans will hold.  The John Deere World Headquarters appeared on our left hand overlooking spreading corn fields on both sides of the road before we knew it.  It was designed by the same architect that designed the St Louis Arch, and is quite striking looking down from the bluff.  We had failed again to take the best exit from the highway, but it was only a short distance to the next one.  We find parking in the visitors area and walk into the building along with a few workers with umbrellas. So far this is NOT a nice biking day; raw and feeling much cooler than the thermometer says.  The exhibit of John Deere equipment is below us as we cross an indoor bridge to reach the receptionist's desk.  She informs us they no longer do tours, and the only area open to the public is the exhibit below.  That looks interesting, as there is a long wall covered with a collection of historic items relating to John Deere and the company he founded, which is now the worlds largest producer of agricultural equipment.  It is impossible to miss the huge, over quarter million dollar combine in the middle of the floor, with air conditioned driver's cab and cutting bar wide enough to harvest a swath half the width of this huge room.  

This is today's equipment, and contrasts starkly in size with the lawn tractor next to it, but I am nostalgically drawn more to the old John Deere B tractor on display.

  As a teen I operated one of these while working on a farm, and it is hard to forget the unique John Deere 2 cylinder irregular pop-pop pop-pop pop-pop sound as it worked the fields.  I recall the one I operated was hand started by turning the flywheel, after opening the two cylinder compression release valves on each side of the tractor.  The one here does not have that feature, but it is a development model.  It does appears to have the two fuel tanks, a small one for gasoline and large one for cheaper kerosene which the tractor would burn also..  The idea was to switch tanks shortly before stopping the engine, so there was gasoline in the carburetor for the next start.  It would not start easily on kerosene, especially when it was cold.  The farm I worked on seldom used the kerosene, as other farm machinery they owned would not burn it, and it was almost as economical to buy gasoline in bulk.  I did threaten to start the old 1929 GP model with the compression releases, but the engine was wisely prevented from turning over.  :-)  

The historic display revealed that John Deere was born in 1804 and lived to 82 years of age;  I was amazed it was that long ago, but his portrait in the stern severe style of that age should have given me the clue.  

If he was as unhappy as he looked in all his portraits, I doubt he could have made it to 82.  :-)   He was a blacksmith, and started the company with his invention of a polished steel plow that would not clog in the rich midwestern soils, as did the then used cast iron plows from the east.  In 1892 John Freulich developed the first reversible gas propelled "Traction Engine", a replica of which is in the John Deere exhibit.  

It claimed to be superior to steam with its MUCH lighter weight and front driving position so operators would not run into obstacles.  Freulich's company later became the John Deere Tractor Company.   We finished with the exhibit area before noon, and returned outside.  After lunch in the parking lot, we proceeded to drive to the John Deere pavilion along the river in downtown Moline.  Now our plans rapidly fell apart;  There was NO parking area at the John Deere pavilion that could hold the RV; it was a multilevel car parking garage, with area below for buses only.  We quickly decided to take the RV to Rock Island Arsenal, and let them search it if they must, or park it on the edge of the Arsenal and bike in.  After milling around in the area of the ramp to the bridge looking for a way on (neither the maps  nor GPS were any help;  they all showed all streets connecting to the bridge ramp 20 feet above them...  :-(( )  We finally happened upon some signs to Rock Island Arsenal, and following them to an obscure side street leading to the ramp entrance, drove up the ramp with no other traffic, apprehensively passing signs we were now entering a military reservation and subject to search.  The ramp merged with another, having a yield sign, filled with entering traffic.  The vehicles were unusually aggressive in their driving, refusing to yield.  Claire managed to merge in without accident, but soon realized we had interrupted a funeral procession, so we pulled over onto the shoulder allowing them to pass.  The cars were all flying neutral pastel colored flags that were not prominently visible from our height, and really did not stick out when compared to all the cars we see flying US flags since 9/11.  The instructions sent us to a side inspection area, and we asked security there if there was a place we could park and bike to the museum and Corps of Engineers visitor center.  He said NO WAY; visitors must stay in their vehicles until they reach their destination.  Biking and walking on base is no longer allowed.  Oh wow!  I guess the guy who worked here who suggested biking on base retired before 9/11!!  Well, so did I....  :-)   We were told to go around and get a police officer to look over our vehicle.  We were behind a semi-truck, and were motioned up to the entrance gate, among confusing signals from the police officer that put me in a position too close to Jersey barriers erected to make barging through the gate difficult.  Finally Claire got out to help me avoid hitting them, and further annoyed the young police officer, who asked her to get back in the vehicle.  After I told him we wanted to go to the museum and CofE visitor center, he asked why we had interrupted the funeral procession.  I told him we did not understand what was going on, and the procession had a yield sign they failed to heed.  He said we needed to be more "heads up" about that....yeah, right, we will be!!   Anyway, he let us on the arsenal, and we found parking in the "Bus Only" slot at the visitors center; no other parking there would accommodate us.  The center folks said that was the best place for us.  The visitors center was interesting.  The observation platform overlooked the lock, with the Arsenal island railroad over, highway under bridge in the background.

We enjoyed the 15 minute Mississippi River film with a group of pre-school children. We were surprised to find out that the dams do almost NOTHING for flood prevention on the upper Mississippi, as they hold too little water to be effective at that, but are instead only designed to deepen the water to 9 feet for navigation.  Backing up reservoirs large enough to control flooding would inundate excessively large land areas in this flat region, covering cities and farm land. When we asked if we could park at the museum, we were told there would be no way unless we took all available parking there.  We decided we'd seen enough of the Arsenal;  the parking was crowded, the roads a bit tight for us, and the restrictions since 9/11 made our usual bicycle work around in these situations unusable. We wound our way around the island roads and bridges, and finally found our planned campground at Andalusia Slough.  This one has water but no dump, and wants $2 for overnight, but we finally squeeze into a long site that is level enough and decide  to stay.  We had some reservations about staying, as there was an apparent vagrant lying on one of the tables at the end of the campground, and no other campers.  We had seen the man leave a brown truck on the other side of the road, and cross to the campground as we pulled in; now there was no truck.  We wondered, and I almost approached him to be sure he was OK....but if he was armed and hostile????  Best let sleeping dogs lie!!  An hour or so later the brown truck returned, and the woman driving it moved into a campsite two away from us with the man, and they set up camp with a tent and fire.  We were relieved to find he was not a vagrant after all!!  Claire cooked red cabbage for dinner, and while it cooked we tried mixing some left over saki from our last trip with new sweet cider; it was delicious, and went down pretty quickly.   It was my night for dishes and after watching news on TV I started that chore. I had closed the curtains as soon as we needed interior lights, as is our custom.  There had been some shouting from the campsite 100 ft away as the news ended, but I put it off to either a family fight, or just campground hi-jinks.  It was well after dark at 7 PM, when a sharp knock came on our door.  I asked who was there, the woman hollered at me through the unopened door to call an ambulance, she thought her husband was dying.  She added he was breathing shallowly with weak heartbeat.  Well, I responded through still closed doors that I would call....and promptly picked up the cellphone and punched 911.  The signal here was weak WITH the outside antenna, so it did not appear the phone would work well hand carried.  I was asked my location and transferred from Iowa to Illinois emergency operators.  They recognized the location of the Andalusia Slough Corps of Engineers Campground with no further detail,  and after asking me some questions on the man's condition that I could not answer, said they were dispatching an ambulance but would I please call back with more specific information as soon as possible.  Claire handed me our tire thumper as I left;  she stayed to monitor the phone and be available to call for help if this proved to be something other than a genuine emergency.....too bad we must always think this way, but we must always have a way out if we're surprised in places as isolated as this.  My first glance at the man lying face up with eyes closed yet twitching convinced me the emergency was genuine, and the woman confirmed weak heartbeat, and shallow breathing (I could see no lung motion on his exposed chest).  She said he had heart trouble, and had been complaining of chest pains much of the day...YIKES!.  I returned to relay this info to the 911 operator, who indicated we should cover him, raise his feet, and be ready to start CPR if his breathing or heart stopped....hmmmmm.  I was trained a LONG time ago when the kids were small;  I fear those trained brain cells have all died off.....  :-(  The operator estimated the ambulance was 10 minutes away.  I returned to the site of the emergency, and asked the woman to cover him with a blanket.  Almost immediately I saw a truck turn into the campground, and hesitate, looking....  I waved my flashlight in that direction, and the truck quickly drove up with it's headlights on the man, and a lone EMT went around back and got equipment out.  After taking some notes, and trying unsuccessfully to get a response from Anthony (she asked his name, and I have not used their real ones here) she gave him oxygen. Another volunteer EMT also soon arrived in his private truck. Purry walked into the headlights close to the man, and the lady asked if that was my cat; I'm not sure how he got out, but in the excitement he'd pulled a great escape.   I grabbed him and Claire put him back in the RV. The lady then said she needed to call his mother in Arkansas collect....I said use our cellphone for a brief call, and no collect.  As she talked, the ambulance arrived.  She told Anthony's mother that she did not expect Anthony to last the night, and they should get someone up here immediately;  I did not ask how anyone could get from Arkansas to western Illinois by morning, as I'm sure whatever logic she was capable of was gone from her by now....   The ambulance was taking the man to Trinity West Hospital in Rock Island, and the lady followed in her truck. The EMT was non-committal to my question as to his condition, and whether he'd pull through.  Claire had seen them give him two baby aspirin; all we can do is hope. I put the fire out as the last of the EMTs left, drenching it in the remains of their coffee, then returned to finish the dishes.  WHAT a night....  I reflected on the fact that 911 actually worked here from the cellphone.  It is not universally that way everywhere.  I also reflected on whether I could have gotten myself to do mouth to mouth CPR on that bearded man.  I think we will buy a CPR tube and keep it on board....  Sleep did not come too quickly tonight; too many reflections I guess....

Wednesday October 15:

The heat came on around 2:30 AM , and ran every hour.  It is cooling off!  The morning light revealed a still smoldering fire in the site next door, and no truck, so they lady had not returned for her things.  I'll do better on the fire, and place rain susceptible items in the tent; then we'll leave a note for the ranger, and be on our way.  I do hope all works out for those people;  they had moved here from Arkansas so the man could find a job, and he was under a lot of stress.  He had asked his wife NOT to call for help;  strange by my thinking, but he had been through a lot in his 49 years, having only one lung and one kidney.  We wish them well, but do not expect to hear the outcome as we move on.  We became concerned when we saw the amount of camping equipment exposed in their campsite, and decided to dawdle a bit in our departure to see if the lady returned, and if not we'd pack the stuff into the tent and under the tarp before we left.  There were young men bicycling through the campground, and it did not look like unprotected stuff would remain for long....but we must move on.  We walked down to the river.  It was peaceful and pretty in the morning calm.  

The riverside mud holds a number of shells, including clam shells, and I am surprised that there are fresh water clams this large.  The 3 inch shells do not look like they were dumped here from a clambake, so it appears they are local.

  We returned to the RV and had  started planning the next few days of our trip, when we noticed the lady walk up; she had driven in unseen by us, and was in her campsite.  Fine watch people we are; a truck could pull in and clean them out, and we would not notice!  :-(   We asked her how Anthony was;  she said he had been treated and discharged; since they had no insurance coverage he could not be admitted. They had returned to the campsite at midnight, and he was now at work.  It was two torn muscles under his lung and a heart attack; he was being treated with ibuprofen.  I do not fully understand how a person who was picked up unconscious by an ambulance, and has just had a heart attack can be released to work the next day....but these folks live by different standards than I can comprehend.  We invite her in for coffee, and a snack.  She introduces herself as Cleo.  She is concerned for Anthony, and now indicates she is his fiancee, not wife.  She says she needs to call Anthony's mother again, and I tell her we have a 150 minute a month plan, but she can use it if she is brief.  The pay phone that the police officer thought was in this campground last night is NOT here.... I had looked.   She was brief, and I heard his mamma chew her out for not calling sooner, but at least they knew he was OK.  We discussed means they could get aid, but apparently they were better versed in this arena than we are, having exhaustively pursued all our suggestions already.  Apparently they were given two weeks in this campground by a county agency, and a temporary job agency was finding work for them.  I asked if the truck had antifreeze in it; she said not yet.  It has already frosted here, and will do so again in the next few days....   She then asked to call the temp agency, and after a couple wrong numbers, went to her truck for the agency's card.  Purry followed her and she led him back on his leash.  She talked longer with the agency.  She acted like she would like us to stay, but we both decided we MUST dump, a function this campground does not have, so MUST move on. We helped her unload her truck and pack their things under a tarp so the truck would be useful to haul firewood this evening.  They had folks committed to help so Anthony would not be expected to do that.   We feel very bad for these people, living as they are in a tent in this rapidly cooling weather.

We have NO IDEA how we could POSSIBLY solve the problems they have.  We try to help as we can, with suggestions and other help that seems useful, but they have already been here before.  These folks know poverty, and how to survive  meagerly with what they have.   They say they might not be able to stay longer than two weeks in the campground as it gets colder, then plan to get a cheap apartment with Anthony's earnings.  The folks here keep telling them they must go back to Arkansas for medical treatment.  I guess I understand local reluctance to pay for new arrivals welfare, but it seems inhumane to throw a heart attack victim out to work...UNLESS we are not getting a straight story...????  Anyway, Cleo had to go pick up Anthony from work, and although she expresses regrets that we cannot meet Anthony when he can speak to us, it is time for us to move on.  We said our good byes and conveyed our best wishes for good luck and Anthony's recovery.  We then drove the 20 odd miles to Blanchard's Island Campground.  The last two miles were gravel road, but we had no difficulty holding 30 mph on it, and the new shocks absorbed all vibration.  :-)  The DUST was another matter; we stopped when a fast moving school bus passed us, as we could not see until the dust settled.  The campground entrance was over a steep levee, and we were concerned the RV not bottom in the middle.  Claire watched, I angled as much as possible across the road, and we cleared the sewer lines by 4 inches.  :-)  The campground had a couple hunters and the host's RV in it, but otherwise was unoccupied.  Again the underused riverfront campsites were attractive and inviting.  

We used the campground pay phone, it worked well.  Rain started after dark. Claire cooked bean soup.   I found the strong urge to bed down after dinner as rain drops started their patter on the roof.

Thursday October 16:

This morning dawned sunny, temperature 47 degrees, but there was not a lot of electricity in the batteries.  As soon as Claire awoke, I started the generator, we brewed coffee and raised the inside temperature to daytime level.  This is a late departure day, after trip planning and showers! It was raw and cold feeling outside;  we took a long time trip planning, had a business phone call to make on the campground pay phone, but finally got out at 2:10 PM with 80 miles to go.  The drive south along the east side of the river was through RURAL country; corn, brown and most still standing in the fields, soybeans half harvested, and the frequent dust cloud following the harvesting combines in the field working to get the crops in before snow flies.  They have lots left to do it seems to me.  The fields are HUGE.  Widely dispersed among the fields are the farms themselves. 

This one appears to be raising only a horse, but is surrounded by many acres of corn and soybeans that either belong to someone else or will be sold.  I had not noticed before that Illinois was so agricultural, but outside the cities the big level fields go from horizon to horizon.  Here at the western edge of the state agriculture seems to dominate even the cities, like John Deere in Moline.  We had not gone 20 miles before we had a HUGE crash from the kitchen as we turned a corner, and I looked back to shattered Corning Correlle plates covering the floor.  YIKES!  This we gotta stop for.  In a mile or two we found a wide shoulder to pull over on and swept the mess up.  These ceramic plates have never broken before for us in two years of traveling, and now the whole stack unloads from the overhead cabinet.  I wonder why, but first we clean up.  The ceramic almost EXPLODES when it breaks, leaving tiny sharp shards to endanger bare feet for a long time.  A brush sweep up and rug shake outside is all we can take time for along the road, but at least we can allow Purry to wander the RV again.  We continue towards Navoo, and find signs that RVs are considered trucks for the purpose of being restricted to certain designated roads in the town.  Fortunately our desired road is designated for RVs, and we pass a winery with a parking lot large enough for us which had been marked as a boondocking location on one of our RV maps.  We decide it will cost us more in wine purchases than the $8 the state park charges, so we go on.  The state park office is closed, with signs to just pick a site, pay later.  The $8 non-electric sites are not suitable for anything but tents, so we are forced to pay for electricity we really do not need.  Still, $11 is less than we would spend for wine we do not need either....  :-)  We spent quite some time with the vacuum cleaner, so the electric was convenient.  The shards were EVERYWHERE; in the sinks, under the stove burners, under rugs, behind the inverter, on and under cushions. I am sure they will be like Christmas tree needles or Easter basket grass, and show up for at least a year in unexpected places.  :-(  I finished vacuuming and emptying the bag while Claire prepared Pasta Frajoule soup (pasta, beans & tomato sauce) for dinner.  It was delicious and warming on this cool cloudy night under a pine tree forest canopy.  Claire suggested biking around town in the morning, but I had noticed my rear bike tire was totally flat. It must have given way while hanging on the rack, and now needs a new tire and probably new tube also.  I hope I have a new tire aboard. We used some tires at the Cape two years ago, and I doubt I replaced them.  :-(   THAT is something we need at Walmart, along with another portable air pump and tube patch kit that we somehow forgot at home!  The sun sure takes it's toll on the tires when they hang on the back of the RV, so we must be prepared.

Plans:  We will continue south along the Mississippi at a leisurely pace until weather pushes us faster (nights below 30 degrees will certainly do that, but since western NY we have not seen those temperatures).  I noticed the long range forecast showed it getting close to that here  mid next week, but by then we will be further south.  :-)  We will try to see Hannibal, St Louis, and a bit more of Memphis, and other places along the way that prove interesting.  We've enjoyed the less used, less developed Corps of Engineers campgrounds along this stretch of river, but these will be far fewer south of St Louis.  Walmart, here we come.....