Day 2 - 10/19/07

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed for Hickman, KY. I think we blinked and missed the town, but we did find the Hickman-Dorena Ferry. It was a very cool, windy 20 minute ride; that we spent mostly in the car. We were the only ones on the ferry. Apparently their schedule
is "when someone shows up, we go."
Up the river coast of MO/IL, we crossed on the old bridge at Cairo (shiver) to Ft. Defience. This is at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Wicked currents so I wouldn't want to be in a small boat there. This was also a beginning point for Lewis and Clark.
On to Cape Girardeau, Mo to see the murals on the river wall, ie. levee. It is beautifully done. We met some very friendly local folks (and their dog) just enjoying the beautiful day and watching the river go by.
Also at the visitors center there was a lovely lady, 85 y.o., who knew a lot, lot about the history and people. She gave me her card so that I could get in touch with her later. She is a good friend of JoAnn Emerson, who is running for congress (replacing her husband, Bill, who died not too long ago). Perhaps I will be able to find a family connection.
Then to St. Genevive, the oldest town on the west shore of the MS river (maybe). It has beautiful old French Colonial/Creole architure. I would love to go back sometime and really see the place. It was near 5pm when we were there, so everything was closed. Plus we were ready to find a place to stop for the night. We stayed the night at Arnold, MO, outside of St. Louis.
Oops, forgot to say we stopped at Lambert's, the Home of Throwed Rolls for lunch. L-o-n-g line, so we went to Frankie's Home Cooking and had a delicious meal.