Under the viewing tower at the Confluence were a billion mud hornet nests. I so badly wanted to throw a rock at one and see what would happen, but sanity prevailed.
Schults at one of the Official GRR stations.
Standing at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio
Very Cool narrow bridge at Cairo Point crossing from Kentucky into Missouri across Mississippi.
How could I not stop and photograph this one.
A great nights sleep resulted in a very early morning departure from Chester. The temperature was 90 degrees at 7am, but here was a wonderful gentle overcast sky so it was perfect riding conditions. We followed a half dozen different roads, all empty, windy, straight, fast...along the river, away from the river. Wow, what a day on a motorcycle. We traveled through Chester, Rockwood, Wolf Lake, Ware, Horseshoe Lake (the self-proclaimed Goose Capital of the WORLD), Cape Girardeau, Thebes, Olive Branch, Future City, Wickliffe, Bardwell, Hickman, Clinton, Union City, Dyersburg, Phillippy, Doubles Bridge (which announces on its sign that is still unicorporated) Ripley and into Memphis.
And of course we crossed through Cairo IL, one of the most incredible places in America. Cairo is where the Great Ohio River confluences with the Mighty Mississippi. Though the Ohio is officially considered a tributary of the Mississippi it does do justice. The Mississippi ( I had to know this so I looked it up) is 2300 miles long. The Ohio is 1300 miles long. The Mississippi, from what I could learn, carries 800,000 million cubic yards of water a year. What that number means I don't know. The Ohio carrys 400,000 million cubic yards. Again, I don't know what that means. What I do know is that the point at the confluence is incredible and intimidating. There is a park there, very unkept, with a cool sculpture recognizing Lewis and Clarks visit ( they came down the Ohio and then turned up the Mississippi -these guys were nuts). Another cool thing about Cairo is that between that town and St. Louis it is called the "Graveyard" because of the number of boats that the River eats. We saw one sign that claimed that an 1867 study counted 167 sinkings on the Miss. in the Graveyard Stretch. She eats boats apparently.
The day ended with us arriving in Memphis at about 4pm. Once again Priceline ruled and we landed a $150 room in the Doubletree for $50 bucks. This is very relevant given the meager (nay non-existent) budget on which I am trying to complete this trip.
In Memphis we wandered, of course, onto Beale street and into BB Kings Blues Club where a band named Patrick Todd was just smoking.
Bikes are running well. We have traveled over a thousand miles now. So many great towns, so much water and such a powerful river, so many great people. The road rules, and following the comet is rapidly becoming a way of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment