On The Move

We left Columbus, In, on Sunday, the 10th of September, heading south and west. Our original route would have taken us into Kentucky, but a few days ago, the area was predicted to receive a huge amount of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Irma, so we rerouted a bit north.

One hundred fifty three miles later, via Interstates 65 south and 64 west, we stopped for the night at the Town of Lynnville Park and Campground. This is a small campground, with sites that are severely out of level and difficult to get into, but nonetheless a quiet spot to get some rest. Our assigned site was fortunately long enough that we didn't have to disconnect Gus.

In talking with one of the neighbors who spend the entire summer here, we happened upon the concept of "fresh water jelly fish". The park was created when a large coal deposit was mined and the area needed to be mitigated. A large lake is part of the park (large in terms of miles) where the mining was done. Now a great place to fish, the lake is also home to these tiny jelly fish!

They are really hard to see, but if you look closely, you can see faint white circles floating in this water bottle. In person, the jelly fish have tiny tentacles like their salt water cousins and move about in exactly the same way!

After a great nights sleep (except for the tornado warning siren test at 1:00 am) we hit the road again. A few more miles west on I 64 brought us to I 57, where we turned south until we reached Illinois 127. Oh, I forgot to mention.....we left Indiana somewhere along the way, along with Eastern Time, and slid into Illinois. Through the thriving communities of Anna and Jonesboro got us to Illinois 146, "The Great River Road", because it parallels the Mississippi.

Eventually we came to a bridge across the mighty Mississippi.

This architectural  masterpiece incorporates the latest technological advances in structural engineering, using cable-staying techniques to balance the enormous loads. The Bridge is named the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, after a Missouri politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 until 1996. Due to financial constraints (Illinois didn't want to pay for its half of the bridge) and issues with the bedrock, the bridge, started in 1987 wasn't completed until 2003! It was featured in the 2014 film "Gone Girl".

We crossed over the Mississippi and caught this sign on the Missouri side of Ole Miss.

We have landed in site B-15 of the Cape Camping and RV Park. Good utilities almost make up for the closeness of the sites, and the sites are nice and level! The Cape is located on North Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on the west bank of the Mississippi River. The name means "Listen" in colloquial french, and is so named for the necessity of listening for dangerous river areas. Another story claims that the settlement was named for it's most illustrious founder, Baptiste de Giradot, who established a trading post in the area about 1733. Who knows?  The town of 38,000 souls is located 115 miles southeast of St. Louis and 175 miles north of Memphis. There is much to see here we've heard, so let's see what happens tomorrow!