Canton, Missouri. On the Mississippi

 312 miles north of Branson, we backed into site 19 at the City of Canton Mississippi River Park.

We traveled on some Missouri state highways, Interstate highways, and US highways, crossed the Lake of the Ozarks formed by the Bagdell Dam on the Osage River and crossed the Missouri River near Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri.

Jeff City is also where we dipped our hat to an old friend, US Highway 50, which passes near our house in California..

We had left the layered old mountains of the Ozarks,

Passed through a teleportation portal,

and found ourselves in corn and cattle country, driving north along the Great River Road.

Yes, we’re on the west bank of the Mississippi River once again! We’re waiting out the next round of severe storms as well as Memorial Day. The rv park we stayed in near Branson was beginning to ramp up the onsite bands, bounce houses, and Bar-B-Que, so we slipped out before the party got too rambunctious. Canton seems like the perfect, quiet place to stay.

The Canton rv park is just a few hundred yards downstream of Lock and Dam 20 just a few feet from the Big Muddy.

The Mississippi looks clear and calm here because the dam filters out a great deal of sediment and trash.

River barge traffic was very light when we arrived in Canton, but increased after dark. The huge barges and “workhorses” must maneuver through the narrow lock with just inches to spare. We have a good view of the lock approach from our campsite.

We heard the sound of powerful diesel engines just before midnight and knew a barge was about to navigate the lock. The lights on the top of the workhorse illuminated the barges all the way to the front of the string, but we saw barge hands at the front in radio contact with the captain. They cruised in just like they knew what they were doing!

Sasha took me for a walk the next morning, stopping to make sure that the river fowl were ok.

A barge was just coming through the lock, heading downstream.

Little towns along the river, like Canton and a few miles south, La Grange, exist because of the river and the commercial shipping on it. Canton has many large fuel tanks scattered along the river to refuel workhorses, and one of the largest grain elevator complexes we have seen, operated by a farmer’s cooperative.

We managed to get a bit closer to the plant that moves grain from the storage tanks out to barges at the edge of the river. Looking at the trucks parked in front, those tanks are tall!

And as you can see, it dominates the town!

Canton has a number of well kept older homes.

After a brief trip around town and a stop at the local market for Oreo cookies, we set chairs up at the front of the trailer and watched the world come by.

A large barge train headed upstream was unusual in that it was carrying another barge alongside.

As the Jason R. Nyberg disappeared into the lock, we looked across the river to the westernmost point of Illinois and the grain elevator near the end of the dam.

Memorial Day.

Donna has a paternal great grandfather buried in the Keokuk National Cemetery. We had to pay respect to him and all service members who died for us.

The cemetery was the site of a Civil War hospital during the war, with casualties of both sides brought here via the Mississippi river. Even with care, many died, including our ancestor.

Mr Marshall was originally from North Carolina according to extensive research done by Donnas brother and apparently died of dysentery in Keokuk. Records are few, but one thing is certain: Mr Marshall was only one of 700,000 people who died during the Civil War.

Working our way out of Keokuk, we passed through an old residential neighborhood that needs some help.

Anf found ourselves heading south through Indiana on the Great River Road, taking notice of some locals.

The Great River Road parallels the Mississippi and opens into vast expanses of farmland, mostly planted in corn this year.

We came across the huge grain elevators that we can see across the river fron the rv park. Donna is standing in front….

From there we could see the rv park across the river. Our trailer is that small white spot!

So we dipped a toe in the Great River and headed home through Quincy, Illinois and the Quincy Bayview Bridge.

The sunset was beautiful, with thunderstorms on all sides of us.

Our last day in Canton was spent dodging rain showers.

To paraphrase Garrison Keillor, “It was a quiet week in Canton. The ladies auxiliary…..”