Southbound

The Great River Road on the Mississippi River just might be the world's longest tourist trap. Maybe. It's 2,068 mile stretch faces some pretty stiff competition from the many coasts and shorelines of our world. I donae much care to run the stats to decide the winner just now. Maybe later. . . It is possible that I have spent more of my life driving The Great River Road than any other road I donae own property on. Well. . . The Lower Valley stretch, anyway. Yesterday morning, out of Saint Paul, Minnesota was my first lay of rubber on the Upper Valley stretch. Cape Giraudeau, Missouri is where I have been making my U-turns to head back south or east so far. So much world and so little time. . . I often feel my aversion to tourist traps on The Great River Road, but the draw of the Big Mama Mississippi and the complex network of watersheds that feed her make a powerful draw for this beaten crazy bitch wolf. When I park the wheels and set my feet on the ground, I spend far more time in the watersheds than on the shore of the Big Mama. The tributaries are what make the Big Mama possible.

The many aborted times I have planned field excursions to the Upper Mississippi River Valley, I always planned it from a Southern perspective. The Urban Homestead is MUCH closer to the Southern end on the Gulf Coast than the Northern end at Lake Itasca, MN. Insert John Lennon quote here. "Life is what happens while we're busy making other plans." With a mournful sigh for all the absentee research material, etc., I reach to organize my thoughts through the river valley fog outside the sliding glass door of the resort room where I spent last night. It is still one of the closed hallway designs, but at least it has a private patio which opens to the scenic strip center parking lot. My thoughts are leaning toward hanging around the area for a few days, but those thoughts are as formed and clear as the fog swirling outside.

The uncertainty doesnae feel, "Wrong." It isnae pleasant but it feels like part of an evolutionary process which hasnae found its name. Again, the funky accountant who helped me set up the books for my 80's computer graphics biz pops into my bio-RAM. "Do first. Define later."

Onward through the fog.