On the road: July 2021

June 27 to July 7 Mississippi River Valley (for the most part)

Leaving Wisconsin and Minnesota behind, we made our way to Iowa City to Coralville Lake for a few days. We visited Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa - the National Park Service portion was open, but the Presidential Library (National Archives) didn't reopen until this week. The exhibits were simple and understated in keeping with the Quaker upbringing of the man.

A two-room cottage meant family "togetherness"

Herbert Hoover's father was a blacksmith.

Where Herbert and his brother would sit while in the blacksmith shop

One-room schoolhouse and Quaker meetinghouse

Very simple gravesite of President and Mrs. Hoover

Our campground was near the Coralville Dam and Devonian Fossil Gorge. Water overtopping the spillway 30 years ago exposed fossils in the bedrock.

I found many of these crinoid fossils but never did find the trilobites.

We aren't too old to have some fun on the Swinging Bridge in Columbus Junction, IA.

www.atlasobscura.com/places/lovers-leap-swinging-bridge

We had a campsite reserved over the July 4th holiday weekend at Mark Twain Lake in northeast Missouri, conveniently located so we could finish geocaching the Missouri counties still unshaded on our map. (We have now found geocaches in every county in 33 states.) We celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary on this road trip. Most of our anniversaries have been celebrated in campgrounds and so was this one. We drove into St. Charles, Missouri to visit the Lewis & Clark Boathouse Museum, one of the sites on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail. We have visited most of the major sites along the trail, including Fort Clatsop at the Pacific Ocean where they reached their goal, but never where it all began. Due to rising water in the Missouri River, the replica keelboat had been moved to a safer location so that was a disappointment. The small museum had great exhibits and we viewed a film and exhibits of the Bicentennial Re-enactment of the Corps of Discovery. I was interested to learn that 5 of those participants were descendents of some of the original expedition members. The museum is on the upper level with the lower level designed to let floodwaters pass through.

Nice view of the Missouri River through the museum windows.

This part of the exhibit included a large stuffed dog to represent Meriwether Lewis's

Newfoundland, Seaman, who was part of the expedition.

Beautiful model of the keelboat; wished we could have seen the full-sized replica.

Sacagawea and her infant son; without her, the Corps of Discovery would likely have

perished. She did it all with an infant on her back!

William Clark's slave, York

I highly recommend reading Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose - such a

remarkable achievement in history!

The Missouri River was up into the yard around the museum.

We saw so many rivers and streams in various stages of flooding over the

past month.

On our way back to our campground, we stopped at the tiny historic town of Florida where Samuel Clemens was born. The Visitor Center was closed, but we were able to walk around the grounds of the state historic site.

Still exploring together after 44 years. Mark Twain Lake behind us.

Clarence Cannon Dam, Mark Twain Lake

We decided to take in the sights of Hannibal, MO early one morning before crossing the Mississippi into Illinois to follow a portion of the Great River Road. The crowds hadn't appeared yet (aside from a group at the mud volleyball game on the levee) as we visited the main points of interest in the town.

He is gazing out at his beloved river.

View of the Mississippi from the statue overlook

Statue of Huck and Tom

Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse, built in 1935 to commemorate his 100th birthday,

no navigational purpose, 244 steps up from the town below

I wonder how many people read the sign without remembering that Tom Sawyer was a

fictional character so this is not an actual historical location.

View of the town of Hannibal from Lover's Leap - you can just make out the lighthouse in the

upper middle of the photo

Our route out of Illinois took us near Metropolis so we made a true tourist stop.

No real phone, just a photo of a phone.

We stopped for two geocaches at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi near Cairo, IL. We

were fortunate enough to see a tug pushing a flotilla of barges down the Mississippi and out into the confluence. Another tug arrived to help push it UPstream in the Ohio. It also happened to be another Lewis and Clark site.

Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Greers Ferry Dam and Lake near Heber Springs, Arkansas taken from the JFK Overlook.

We found the nearby campground in 2018 and decided it was worth a return visit. The

town of Heber Springs (about an hour north of Little Rock) is attractive and is in a scenic

part of the state.

Thoughts about changes in our traveling experiences:

First of all, arriving at a campground without a reservation isn't happening yet. Most places have few if any staff around so this may be how things will be from now on. We were less spontaneous in our roaming and exploring.

Next, visitor centers and museums are "hit or miss" - some are open, some are not. Most have signs posted that masks are not required if fully vaccinated.

Also, more communities are celebrating their history with murals. We are seeing them with increasing frequency.

What has NOT changed:

The scenic beauty of our country and the remarkable history that is honored in ways big and small.

My dad asked me if "we have seen everything yet" and the answer is "no" and in fact, there is so much more to see and so much to see a second (or third...) time around.

This blog posting would not be complete without . . . Seen while geocaching: