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 October 17 through October 23, 2003

Friday October 17:

It is 43 degrees under the RV this morning, but the heat has been on and it is not too uncomfortable inside.  I write the log, then start assembling the webpage.  Before 10AM a park attendant came by to collect the park fee;  I almost missed him as he would not knock for fear of disturbing us, but I was happy not to have to trek to the office and interpret the cryptic signs on how to leave our fee....AND he accepted checks too!  :-)  It was quite chilly outside while transacting our business, and I was glad to return inside to HEAT!  Well before noon we walked down into Nauvoo after another business phone call from the pay phone. Yes, Bloomingdales finally agreed they had received our check...  :-).  We were amazed at the historic mid 1800's buildings open for tour; descendents of the Mormons who left here in the mid 1800's are back and have created a free historic site with fun for everyone. This log cabin greeted us as we walked into the site.

 We toured the apothecary shop, then the family center with live displays of candle making, weaving, barrel making (cooperage).  

Although the emphasis here was on kids, even I got to dip a little candle (with total supervision to make sure I did not burn myself), and took it back to the RV to wax a sticky door jam...  :-)).   The Browning gun shop was especially interesting.  Browning invented the repeating rifle (the first of these had revolver like cylinders and used percussion caps).

 There were displays including the modern Browning automatic shotguns still in production, as well as the old gunsmith shop with forge and tools.

 We had an individual guide in the gun shop, who told us quite a bit about how the historic district was run.  The church had bought up the properties that had historic value to them from the period their headquarters was here, between 1839 to 1846.  Their leader Joseph Smith was killed nearby by an angry mob, and most of the group then migrated west to eventually settle in Utah.  The church has  restored or reconstructed the historic buildings here.  The buildings are staffed by missionaries who come to serve here for extended periods from months to a over a year, and live on site in modern apartments constructed in period architecture located right in the historic district.  They serve as guides to the exhibits.  I was surprised to hear that many locals resisted the church's desire to further develop the area as a tourist destination.  Today about 25% of the local permanent population of 1200 is Morman, descendants of folks who had remained here when the main group moved west. Other groups had moved into farms and businesses vacated by departing Mormons in 1846.  There are up to 600 missionaries here to staff the historic site as well.  We had NOT expected a completely ADMISSION FREE developed historic area such as we found here from the guide books we'd seen.  I think this place could use more publicity, and is a neet take in, especially for tourists on a budget with families who are looking for a bargain.  We did not exhaust all the possibilities here, but check out time in the campground was 3PM.  We saw about as much as we could absorb in one day by then, and walked back up the hill to the RV.  We stopped to pick a few pears from a LOADED tree.  Yellow jackets buzzed among the over ripe fruit, and we had to select carefully to get those in peak condition, but we came back with our pockets filled.  It was easy to pick those up too high to reach...just shake a branch, and catch what comes down.  :-)  We ate a quick late lunch, and moved off the site just at 3PM, to dump, fill water, and head out to our overnight at the Quincy IL Super Walmart 60 miles away.  The drive was easy along the Great River Road through rural Illinois.  We arrived before sundown, and enjoyed warming left over soup.  We did necessary shopping, then to BED.  The Walmart lot was noisy; Quincy appears to be another town where loud mufflers are attractive to too many of the population, and it IS Friday night. :-)  I was still awake a bit after midnight, so decided to try the Internet.  This is not a native Verizon area, but I am able to connect by dialing my ISP back in MA.  We got all the email and usenet messages, then turned in;  it had quieted noticeably after midnight, so I slept well.

Saturday October 18:

We left Quincy early for Hannibal, not sure what we would find there.  The trip was under 30 miles, so it did not take long.  Just after crossing the river, we saw signs for a MO tourist info center.  We went there first, and collected our bag of info, then found there was an Arts & Crafts festival on the riverfront this weekend.  Parking was expected to be tight for our RV, so we asked if we could leave the RV at the Info center and bike in.  They said "sure".  I changed a tire on my bike, then we started out.  The new tire appeared defective, out of round.  Oh well, what is a little rough ride?  :-)  The festival was about 3 miles away, and was FULL of people.

There is little doubt that this town identifies strongly with Mark Twain.  :-)  There were street musicians, plenty of folks in traditional mid 1800's garb,and blocks of attractive booths lining both sides of the street with "stuff" for sale.  

A couple young boys asked if I wanted to peel an apple with their antique apple peeler.  I asked what happened to the apple afterwards.  They said you take it and eat it!  Such a deal I could not turn down!  :-)  It was a DELICIOUS apple, just the thing after biking 3 miles.  A bit later we came upon the kettle corn.  This was a LARGE scale popcorn operation, with two of these kettles going full time!

They were putting the sugar right into the oil with the popcorn here, unlike the Iowa folks who put it in just as the corn started popping.  I liked this, but think the Iowa recipe is a bit better.  :-)  I was NOT impressed by the frying pork rinds...such a SMELL from something you are going to eat...NOT!  Claire just said you gotta get over the smell, they are DELICIOUS...not my thing I guess.  :-(  We watched the cruise boat dock from the river's edge, and walked along the levee.  The parking lot is on the WET side of the levee in flood time, but folks said the flood gates were not closed often.  Good!    Mark Twain thought the "extensive view up and down the river ... is one of the most beautiful on the Mississippi".  

I would not argue with Mark Twain on this point!  We may drive down here again tomorrow and park on the river.  There was room and road access.  We returned to the Info center, a mostly uphill 3 miles, but not without being a LOT more careful about the storm drains than we had been coming down.  :-)

Claire discovered the hazard while PUSHING her bike.  Usually these drains are squares, or at least positioned ACROSS traffic flow, not with it.  Imagine the result of riding onto one of these at high speed.....  :-(((((    After returning to the RV and trying to fix my tire, I found it is truly defective.  We hung the bikes and drove to Walmarts lot; it was not easy to find a level spot, but after a few circles we declared it level ENOUGH.  It was hot in the RV; we are back to summer!  :-)  The fan was needed.  Claire suggested the Subway for dinner, and that seemed good to me; the day had tired us out.  We had subs of our choice with plenty of veggies and no oil or mayonnaise.  We took them back to the RV to enjoy with a cold beer.  Not too shabby for no work, no dishes!  :-)   This lot was MUCH quieter than Quincy's, and there were a couple other RVs joining us later.  I was up late completing and uploading the web page, but it all went well even though I had to dial in through MA.

Sunday October 19:

It was warm overnight; the furnace was not turned on nor needed. The day turned out sunny and the forecast is high 70's. We shopped in Walmart in the AM, adding $55 to the shopping card for gas.  When we returned to the RV, Claire was storing out purchases when she announced "We have mice!"  The signs in the drawer were unmistakable; a ketchup envelope had been chewed open, and mousey's leavings were quite evident.  We are quite disappointed that Purry is letting us down this way, but he is getting old.  While I planned the day's run, Claire returned to Walmart and returned with a pack of four trusty Eagle mouse traps for under a dollar.  A bit of peanut butter on two of them, and we were ready for the hunt.  I set them quite hard to prevent travel vibration from tripping them.  The days drive was nearly 100 miles, and we found interesting places to stop.  The drive down route 79 reminded me somewhat of the Shenandoah parkway with the short but steep hills, and occasional turnoffs for scenic overlooks.  One overlook was OVERRUN with ladybugs.  They swarmed on the RV, on us, and came into the RV in large numbers on us and through the door as we hastily entered.

 These are beneficial insects? These bite, and make a yellow stain and unpleasant odor if crushed; I am believing you can have too many of ANYTHING. These have a pest value of their own. Some folks say they are not true lady bugs, but a Japanese import that has interbred with our ladybugs.  I do notice three distinct markings; red with dots (the ladybug I am familiar with), yellow with dots, and yellow without dots. These all seem larger than the ladybugs back home too. I am curious to find more information about these guys fer sure!  We stopped in Clarksville near Lock & Dam 24.  The dam did not appear open to visitors, but the main street had parking, so we poked through the pottery stores.  

A couple blocks away was an ice cream store, so we bought a double dip in a cup, and carried it to pleasant cupola with seats on the river.  It's roof  provided shade, and this day was WARM!  Two couples from St Louis soon joined us, and suggested we see some things in St Louis.  The Busch brewery and botanical gardens seem interesting.  They suggested parking at the riverboat casino in East St Louis and taking metro transport across the river.  We shall see what the tourist info center has to offer before we decide!  We continued to our chosen stop for the night, a Sam's club in the St Louis suburb of St Charles.  The street names are changed enough to be confusing, but the GPS tells us the road is the same, and after a wrong turn, we find it easily in heavy traffic.  The no overnight parking sign on the street is worrisome, but the Sam's is at the other end of the street, with no signs.  We are back in the big city fer sure!  We had a number of things to buy in Sam's, and as we checked out the manager said we were quite welcome to stay overnight, and 3 or 4 RVs usually do.  We were the first today but there was PLENTY of unused parking space.  As Claire prepared to cook dinner, she started the generator to thaw frozen food, and I decided to try and vacuum up the lady bugs. Years ago I had learned this trick with bees; swarms can be vacuumed up without harming many bees if done on low speed. The hose wand on our vacuum worked very well for this and soon I had every visible ladybug inside the dust container.  I emptied the bugs outside, most unharmed, but found more had crawled out of hiding inside by the time I returned.  Another sweep of the RV again caught all visible bugs.  After I had emptied the dust container this time, I found a few more had come out of hiding, but declared victory.  We can live with a few; we have been for weeks.  :-)  Dinner was stir fried tofu, bok choy, broccoli, mushrooms...DELICIOUS!!  Claire tripped one mouse trap cooking dinner, so we had a chore before bed; we also wanted to set the other two traps in other food storage locations.  I finished with the Internet, and since we were back in Verizon country, also downloaded a new antivirus data file while I did dishes.  This downloaded well, taking a bit over an hour on the cellphone.  Then to the mouse traps; I looked at the tripped one...the peanut butter was GONE!  I then looked carefully at the other one; it was not tripped, but it's peanut butter was gone too.  I guess this mouse has a light touch!  Tonight we will set the traps with a hair trigger!  This was accomplished with only a few accidental trips and no smashed fingers, as I grabbed the trap so my hand prevented the arm from springing down if I set it off..  :-)  After the traps were set it was bedtime, and a late one too.  We were not yet asleep when I heard a sharp click...a caught mouse I thought!    A peep behind the trash can revealed one less mouse was loose in the RV!  :-)  Time enough to dispose of the remains in the morning...now SLEEP!  :-))

Monday October 20:

The night was warm, not below 60 under the RV.  It is supposed to go to 80 today…we are back in summer! :-)  The plan today is to visit the tourist info center, and plan our tour of St Louis.  We received a great deal of individual help from the folks it the info center, and I gave the windshield a MUCH needed cleaning in their lot (it was quite "bugged" after our drive along the river).  Then we decided to see the internationally recognized Indian  mounds in IL, only 12 miles away, as it was too late to tackle the downtown.  As we drove into the visitors center, we noticed a sign that it was closed Monday & Tuesday.  :-(  Oh well, the mounds are in open fields, and we can walk around. Very few people are in the parking lot.   A friendly volunteer watchman drove up, gave us a few brochures, and said there was no problem parking here to walk around.  The main mound, known as monks mound after some early French monks who settled there, is HIGH.  

Lots of steps lead to the top now; it is said to be over 100 feet high.  The view of St Louis and the arch is impressive from the top.

 We decide to walk to mound 72, where excavations had dated the tombs inside at 900 AD, and revealed not so pretty details of the culture of the mound builders; human sacrifice of young people, mostly women for one thing.....  On the way, Claire spotted a persimmon tree.  The remaining fruit was way beyond our reach, but the high wind was causing ripe fruit to drop.  We searched in the six inch high grass, and recovered enough totally ripe super sweet fruit to satisfy ourselves.

 We continued, and found more trees, filling our hands with fruit to bring home.  I MUST learn to carry a plastic bag on my wanderings!  Ripe persimmons do NOT go into pockets.  :-)  We now have a 16 oz. container filled with frozen persimmons (THANKS Elizabeth for the idea of freezing them!).  Mound 72 was just another, relatively small, heap of grass covered earth, the excavations being long complete.  We returned and drove the 0.9 miles to the reconstructed solar calendar termed "Woodhenge".  

It is a series of poles in the ground, making a circle, surrounding a central pole.  It was used to keep track of annual variations in the position of celestial bodies and the sun.  We got on the wrong interstate highway when we started toward St Louis, so had to backtrack 6 miles.  The walk in the hot sun and wind had been fatiguing, and we were not sufficiently alert.  The Walmart on the southern outskirts of St Louis did appear, although not exactly where expected.  In the midwest, Walmart often locates on the land enclosed by interstate highway ramps; you can sometimes see it, but not easily get to it.  We found more "no overnight parking" signs on the STREET, and parking was somewhat tight.  We feared the worst and decided to eat here even if we had to move later. When I asked inside, the folks said "everybody else parks their RV out there, and they don't ask.  You won't have any trouble".  OK by me!   Dinner was pork chops, left over red cabbage and mashed potatoes.  It was HOT in the RV, even with the fan running, but I slept easily.  This day was tiring!

Tuesday October 21:

This morning it was 65 under the RV at 5:20AM…summer weather indeed!  The overhead vents were open all night, and I am NOT inclined to close them!  We intend an early departure for downtown St Louis, but first I went to call Bloomingdales to be certain our account payment has been credited.  It still shows we owe a balance; GRRRRR!  I get Claire and we both talk to them again; they assure us the transfer is in review and our account is zero balance.  We decide we will waste no more time on them, and also pay them no more...EVER!   We depart 15 minutes later than planned, but find our first stop, the Anheuser-Busch Budweiser brewery, easily.  Our hope for easy all day parking fades however; the lots are not laid out well for us, having no pull through slots.  We finally park along a temporary construction fence and go inside to ask if that is OK.  They sign us up for the 10:30 tour, and after speaking with security, and having them verify all their street side bus parking slots are indeed full, they let us stay where we are.  The brewery is indeed visitor oriented; full court marketing press is the play of the day, but we expected that!  :-)  The lobby where we waited had numerous displays, among them this beer delivery truck from the 1920's.

 I was really surprised to see the battery behinds the drivers step had 6 cells, indicating 12 volts.  The 1950's cars I grew up with all had 6 volt batteries with 3 cells, and I had believed that was because the 12v batteries were too hard to make back then.....oh well!  :-)   The brewery buildings are historically old but immaculately kept.  Some of the Clydesdales are "on duty" here, but most are kept on a breeding farm near the city.  This guy exercised with the free running Dalmatian who mingled with the crowd.  

The Company sure trusted THAT dog!  :-)  The horse quarters here would suit me just FINE if the straw were replaced by polyester quilts.  :-)   The horses and wagon travel to events in three special trailers designed to minimize fatigue on the horses.  The horses used to pull the Budweiser wagon are carefully selected for color and size from the available stock, and are gelded.   Anheuser-Busch has clearly spent BIG bucks to make an impression on visitors to this, their flagship plant, and they certainly succeed.  Here is the clock tower.

I asked our Budweiser red uniformed guide if other breweries were built this way; she said no, they were more like modern factories.  Here they keep the old buildings, just replace the machinery when appropriate.  Several buildings on the plant grounds are on the national register of historic buildings.  I was impressed by the clock tower, and also these statues on the four corners of the packaging plant.

 The building had been built during prohibition, when the brewery switched to non-alcoholic drinks, bakers yeast, and snack and cereal products to survive.  The statue represented a popular comic figure of the day drinking the beverage and munching on snacks.....Anheuser-Busch was then, as now, ALWAYS mindful of their marketing image.  :-)  The sheer volume of this brewery boggles my mind; many tanks aging beer in 200,000 six pack quantity EACH.  The packaging machinery filled cans and bottles faster than the eye could follow; I kept imagining the chaos if the line had an "accident"....YIKES!   Cans and beer everywhere...but it did not happen on this tour, and I imagine the line shuts down gracefully before the "accident" stage is reached almost every time.  The odor of roasting grains and brewing was evident in places, but not a TRACE of stale beer odor;  a few bars I have been in could take lessons from this place!  :-)  A tram returned us to the top of the hill and the hospitality suite for a sample of the brewery's current output.  I chose a new test marketing dark stout product, named Bare Knuckles, designed to compete with Guinness.  I liked it; it was smoother than Guinness stout, but had a less frothy a head.  It still needed to sit as the head formed however.  I hope I get the chance to buy it, but the rumor is that despite mixed reviews (folks either love it or hate it), it will be released in March in draft only.  Oh, well;  the few times I get to visit a bar when I'm not driving will limit severely my enjoyment of it!   Claire volunteered to drive after this tour, and kindly brought me her second sample (two is the house limit).  She indicated she could drink much more of the Bare Knuckles than Guinness, of which she enjoys only the first sip.  After filling out comment forms supporting Bare Knuckles, we visited the gift shop; I KNEW their was no such thing as FREE BEER!!!   After stowing our purchases and eating lunch in the RV we continued to the area of the St Louis Arch.  Claire wisely asked the security person how to get back on the interstate; backtracking was not possible due to one way streets.  We found the park easily; it is impossible to miss with the arch sticking up over 600 feet!

 Finding a parking lot that would take us is another matter, and while turning around on the north end of the park for another pass, we found excellent on street parking that was occupied only by a few busses.  A few blocks extra walking would be our only price, and this street is almost level compared to the very severe lean of the riverfront parking lots we had passed.  The arch dominates the landscape as we approach; it is AWSOME!  It does not fit easily in my camera either...  I check, and it appears to be made of welded plates; later I find out they are stainless steel.  This park is extremely well done, and superbly maintained.  Under the arch is the museum of westward expansion, run by the national park service. There is an airport like security checkpoint at the entrance, but we got through with no problems; Claire had to pull her jeans up above her socks when the alarm tripped on her.  I asked about my keychain knife,  emptied my pockets for Xray, and did not trip the alarm. The museum is free, and again one of the best displays of it's kind that we've seen anywhere.  It covers American history in a chronological manner, and in such detail we had to hit only the high points with the time we had available.  The high points WERE easy to find however, being in large print on top of much greater detail below, and illustrated beautifully by murals, photographs, moving speaking statues, stuffed animals, exhibits of teepees and other relevant items.

 This stuffed buffalo seemed to give me a threatening glare as I captured his image for national display....  :-)  The museum was so interesting Claire decided to pass on the $8 ride to the top of the arch; I was already convinced I did not want to go by an article I'd read telling of the lurching of the confining elevator and swaying of the arch in the wind...no thanks!!  We left to walk through the park, again awed by the totally dominate ARCH!

  We passed the cathedral and the courthouse famous for the Dred Scott decision intended by the judge to heal North-South rifts, but which actually fanned distrust.  We walked back toward the RV and found other weird vehicles needing a place to park too.....  

The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile was parked right on the street like the RV...  :-)  We took some time after our return to seek our best way back onto I-55 south.  After discussions, we decided to stay with the computer picked route...BIIIG mistake!  It took us through narrow cobblestone streets in the tourist area; we got a round of applause from the clientele of a sidewalk cafe after we negotiated a path between two parked cars with inches to spare; Claire was driving, I was ground guide.  Then we found the 8 foot clearance bridge....no way to negotiate this! :-((((  There appeared to be a tight left turn open and we negotiated that with a ground guide.  We decided to abandon this route and returned to the riverfront drive; there was a sign for I-55! :-)  We followed the signs, eventually passing very near where we started, got onto the highway.  We were both tired from our day's efforts, and Sam's gave permission for us to park overnight.  We found a bag of stuffed shells to buy for dinner, and returned to microwave them 10 minutes, pour on canned sauce, and eat.  Not bad for minimum effort!  I watched news, did dishes, prepared our house taxes for mailing and turned in.  It is quite comfortable with light blankets tonight; our 88 degree heat wave of yesterday has passed!  :-)

Wednesday October 22:

At 6:30 AM it was 58 under the RV.  It got cool enough to close the vents and pull up the spread last night, and it is back to warm morning drinks….BEAUTIFUL sleeping weather on this quiet parking lot.  Sam's is not used as much at night as Walmarts, and most seem to be quieter at night.  The ones we have used this trip keep lights on all night, so we feel quite safe.  This will be a short travel day, with laundromat and post office visits.  We will drive south, and cross back into Illinois where we will overnight in a Walmart, then continue down the scenic Great River Road tomorrow.  The first part of the drive was interstate, the only hangup being a long funeral procession moving even slower than we were in fairly heavy traffic; once we understood what was going on it was easy to move to the left lane and pass, but there were LOTS of locals stuck behind it for quite a distance.  When we got off the highway onto "lettered " roads (yes, our route took us on highway Z, then H before returning to highway 51) the road was narrow with steep dropoffs at the shoulder.  It was no problem except when semi trucks came the opposite direction.  We crossed the narrow bridge into Illinois, driving high above this barge traveling down river.

and soon entered Chester.  The computer routed us on town streets, and we managed to get lost seeking the Walmart.  We stopped at the town line to reorient, and have lunch at a deserted recreation field; the view of farm fields, barns and fall foliage was quite pleasant, but the picture did not live up to expectations... reason number 101 why I would not do this sort of thing for money.  :-).  The GPS finally revealed where we SHOULD have gone....and the only explanation I could think of was a rotated street sign in the town....Oh well!  As we started back, we saw the sign indicating Chester is the home of Popeye (well, actually his creator, ?????)  It was easy to recover our bearings, and Walmart soon appeared.  This is one of the SMALLEST Walmarts we have seen.  The lady on customer service had no idea where we could find a laundromat, but soon found the local knowledge we needed among the staff, and directed us properly.  The laundromat was satisfactory, close to the Mary Lee baked goods factory, and soon we had all clean clothes again. I mailed our letters in the Post Office, after finding my first directions to "Follow the sidewalk around" a bit inadequate at the first intersection, and asking again.  :-) We returned to the Walmart mid afternoon to relax and prepare squash soup for dinner (I performed the relaxing part).  :-)  The soup was delicious, even better than last time with an added touch of cayenne pepper.  We are starting to plan how we can reduce the contents of the freezer and other stores for RV storage in 3 weeks.  Time flies when we have fun!  I did a bit of webpage work before turning in, but it always goes better in the morning when I'm fresh.  Claire watched TV before retiring.

Thursday October 23:

58 under the RV again; the forecast was for mid 40's. We closed all vents in the early evening and no heat was needed.  I slept 'til after 7 AM!  :-)  Today we drive over 100 miles, to a Flying J and much needed dump and water.  Most of the drive will be on the scenic Great River Road on the Illinois side of the river. We plan to visit the Popeye statue near the edge of town if we can find it with directions received from locals :-).  We finally did find it, right at the end of the Mississippi River bridge we had crossed coming into town....  Oh well, so much for local descriptions we can understand. :-)  The creator of Popeye, Elzie Seger; died in 1938, but the cartoon has been drawn by others since, and the animated Popeye cartoons still appear regularly on TV.  The small park overlooking the river and bridge with Popeye's statue is a pleasant place, even for  Purry with all the grass to eat and trees to scratch.  

We could not resist taking our pictures with Popeye.  

We found a scenic "truck bypass" along the river avoiding a return through Chester's congested narrow downtown streets, and enjoyed a leisurely drive south on Rt 3.  There was little traffic, and plenty of room for passing, so we felt no need to drive the speed limit.   This is rural farm country;  this combine was harvesting soybeans amid a cloud of dust.

 Now we understand why an air conditioned cab is NOT a luxury! A few seconds after driving through the dust cloud with the RV vent open, I started to sneeze.  Grain harvesting was always my LEAST favorite job on the farm, with all the dust kicking up my allergies.  I recall my grandfather telling me how he got thrashing fever from this dust.  He would be sick three days with fever, then get over it and continue working.  Evidently it was not all that uncommon a problem back in the early 1900's.  We stopped at a wide spot in the road for lunch, next to one of the numerous grain storage sites we were passing.  Shortly later we came upon a scenic overlook along the river with level off road parking that would have been a nicer spot, but we stopped anyway to let Purry roam.  Ports along the river here need be little more than pilings to tie barges, and a place for trucks to pull off to load & unload.  Many are more elaborate, with storage silos for grain, and piles of bulk material such as gravel and coal.  Our route took us through Cairo IL, at the very southern tip, where Illinois joins Kentucky, across the Ohio river on the east and Missouri across the Mississippi river on the west.  Cairo is a town prosperity has deserted, once a bustling river port, now bypassed by Interstate highways with the road lined with abandoned businesses.  Many buildings that are used are in poor condition.  There is nothing that attracts us to stop, and indeed nothing in the guidebooks indicated any attractions here.  We are glad we took this road less traveled though; now we KNOW we have not missed it.  :-)  As we crossed into Missouri on the narrow two lane US 62 bridge, the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers was clearly visible upstream....

Now we are crossing the BIGGER muddy.  The Ohio runs in on the extreme right edge of the picture, which is mostly obscured by an uncooperative bridge piling (reason 102 why I do not do this for money).  :-)  A commercial bus approaching us on the bridge came to a crawl, as we similarly crawled past him; the lane width of this bridge did NOT inspire much confidence, and it is a LONG way down to a wet landing!  Claire got us across without incident, and we soon returned to Interstate highway driving for the last 15 miles of our day's run.  Flying J appeared as expected, we fueled then dumped immediately after emptying our water tank into the waste tanks.  The water we had picked up in Blanchards Island Corps of Engineers campground had been discolored and poor tasting, even WITH the filter we have.  It was safe to drink, we had experienced no upsets, but we emptied the tank as much as possible before refilling.  Since we were in early, and planned to try Flying J's Country Market buffet for dinner, there was time for a long shower.  We can dump and top off water as we leave in the morning.  :-)  Dinner in Flying J is NOT something we will do again except under duress; the Old Country Buffet in Moline was the same price and had HUGELY more choice, and food that was more pleasing to our tastes.  Here EVERYTHING seemed flavored with ham, bacon, or butter...each dish OK by itself, but too much taken together and too salty.  At Flying J, we will eat in given the choice.....  :-)   Flying J DOES keep their buffet open 24 hours for the truckers, so some quality degradation may be unavoidable, but our schedule can be tailored to a more normal dinner hour.   The GOOD part; we had no dishes!!  It left time for trip planning after the news.  We now have a plan taking us 622 miles from here to Baton Rouge LA, hitting the River's high points we now recognize, but taking us through Tennessee and Arkansas info stations as well to possibly discover more.  I found sleep on my mind after printing the plan, so turned in at 9 PM after running the generator a half hour to provide plenty of power for the computer in the morning; Claire watched TV.  

Plans: We have a plan taking us 622 miles down river to Baton Rouge LA, then we'll head east along the gulf coast and into FL.  This will be another 600 or 700 miles by my recollection before we get to a place warm enough to store without danger of freezing, and return home mid November for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  High points of the remainder of the trip down river are earthquake center New Madrid MO, Graceland in Memphis TN, the Delta Center in Helena AR, and Vicksburg MS which we have never visited.  There are not as many bridges crossing the Mississippi down here where it is wider, so we must pick our path more carefully.   Other points of interest are sure to arise and we'll take advantage of them when time and weather allows.  The weather next week is expected to be much cooler with lots of clouds and rain. It has been SOO unseasonably warm and beautiful so far on the river trip that we are overdue for some of this.  We will see how much it influences our activities.  After several hours on the phone Saturday, we now have storage reservations in Ft Myers FL, and car rental arrangements to start our drive home Saturday November 15.  Return car reservations will bring us back to Ft Myers on Friday January 23, ready to sleep all day before resuming our RV Adventures.

Until next time, ENJOY!  We are!!