One more day in the greater Memphis area comes tomorrow. Our campground is south of the city across the state line into Mississippi, and is part of a casino complex that has seen better days. Apparently the goal was to turn the Tunica, MS area into the next Las Vegas, except someone forgot to tell the gambling public. We are at the Hollywood Casino, and it is a really sad place. Sam’s Town is across the road; they are busy tearing down large portions of its hotel in order to avoid paying room taxes on vacant rooms. Both casinos close down their table games and most of their restaurants during the week, then open for the weekend.

Day 48 was spent very musically. We started at Sun Studios, and enjoyed a tour of where artists in the mid-50’s got their start, including Elvis and Johnny Cash. The tour showed off a bunch of vintage instruments and vintage recording gear. It was great to hear how artists in the South, both Black and white, got going, and to hear some of their music.

We went on to Beale Street, and toured the “birthplace of the Blues.” So many musicians, so little time. The group had a fine buffet lunch at BB Kings; no live music there since it was so early. We strolled up and down, enjoying the atmosphere, and then got to tour the Rock and Blues Museum. It’s affiliated with the Smithsonian, and is really well done.

Today was a mix of experiences. We started the day visiting the Civil Rights museum, housed in the motel of Martin Luther King’s assassination. We did not have nearly enough time; the museum was very moving and humbling. The experience of Blacks over so many years…leaves me without words, other than to pray that race relations continue to improve.

We had a change of pace for the rest of the day. The bus took us to the Memphis Bass Pro Shop; this is not your normal big box store. It is housed in a pyramid that is about 15 stories or so high, along with a full blown hotel and three restaurants. A “quick” elevator ride to the top gave us a view of the Mississippi and a splendid lunch with a view. There was even time for a little shopping. For once it wasn’t a gift shop at the end of the ride, but a full blown store.

Anyway, tomorrow is our free day in Memphis. We have a special event that wasn’t on our schedule a week ago, details next time.

Travel day number one is in the books, and we are here in Cape Girardeau for one night. It’s about 88 degrees this afternoon, and we figure to have warm weather as we move further south this week. Tomorrow we move to the outskirts of Memphis for four nights.

No activities today, so we’ll catch up on some things that caught my eye:

It’s been a great three days here in St Charles, Missouri. The weather has been warm and a little humid, but otherwise nice. Our campground, like many RV parks, is nearby lots of transportation; not too far to our right is both a railroad and a freeway (so a fairly constant background noise from them), it’s about one block away from the Missouri River, and we are underneath the final approach for the airport. We’ve enjoyed getting to know Southwest 737 sounds, plus the various American and Delta flights. This is most certainly a busy place.

St Charles is a great reminder of just how young our hometowns are. Old buildings in both Longview and Nampa are often younger than we are; old buildings here might be nearly 200 years old. This city is old enough that it saw Lewis and Clark off on their exploration of the West.

Saturday and Sunday saw our group went into St Louis by bus. First stop was the Gateway Arch; fun ride to the top was followed by a great view of the city. We enjoyed a BBQ lunch downtown, then went out to tour a dam and locks on the Mississippi. The arch was certainly a highlight of the trip.

Sunday was busy. We visited the site of the 1904 World’s Fair, the St Louis Basilica (a remarkable building, no paint inside…color is provided by some of the most incredible mosaics), and then to the Botanical Gardens. The gardens were hosting an extensive Dale Chihuly glass exhibit; we saw 20 or so beautiful pieces set inside gardens. Finally we took a tour at the Budweiser plant; fun tour of the factory, saw two Clydesdale horses, and had some free beer.

Oh, and before it is forgotten, Sunday was Leila’s birthday. We celebrated by going out for some more St Louis ribs for dinner. Absolutely splendid, there are leftovers in the motorhome’s refrigerator.

Today was a free day; we got some chores done this morning, then took a 2 mile hike to the Lewis and Clark museum and boathouse. It was a nicely done museum near the start of the expedition. Next we walked back through historic St Charles along the waterfront. We saw some great old buildings and felt the history along the brick streets.

Travel days the next two days, leading us to Memphis, Tennessee. More then…

We’ve continued to move south; the motorhome is now in St Charles, Missouri. We spend three days exploring St Louis, and a busy three days it’s going to be.

We spent our free day in the Quad Cities getting caught up on chores, then took a tour of a German-American museum in Davenport. It helped me mentally fill in some family blanks to learn more about why Germans moved to America in the 1850’s (an 1848 war ended badly for Germans living near Denmark), among whom were the Luhns. We enjoyed that visit, and I’m looking forward to learning more.

The next day the caravan moved on to Hannibal, Missouri and to a place where nearly every shop has a name tied into Mark Twain or one of his characters. As we crossed the Mississippi the woods even made you picture Tom Sawyer tramping around.

The stay was just two nights, but we did a fair bit of tramping around ourselves. We took a walk through the Mark Twain Caves; these were different than caves we’ve seen in the past, the walls and floors were smooth and narrow. Tom and Becky could easily have gotten lost in there…

We also got to see Mark Twain’s childhood home and a museum dedicated to his life. As we have in earlier stops on this trip we decided that we needed to add books to our reading list.

Tomorrow will be a busy day…more then.

We have enjoyed two days here getting brushed up on American history. Our first stop Sunday was at the Herbert Hoover presidential library. Hoover is an interesting part of the twentieth century. While the causes of the Depression came into being during Coolidge’s term, Hoover clearly could not find a solution to the fiscal disaster. You could make a case that FDR had no solution either (that the Depression was solved by WW2), but Hoover’s taken the blame. This overshadows all the good he did for the US as well as for starving Europeans between 1916 and 1950. This president clearly knew how to put service ahead of self. We visited his birth house and his burial place; it was a very moving morning.

Today we drove to Amana, Iowa and visited a community of Christians searching for a place to live in community and religious freedom. There were so many old buildings, and so many old businesses. A docent came onto our bus and gave us a tour of about four of the communities, giving a history that reached back into the mid-1800’s. It was a great visit…we learned a lot, Leila found a nice quilt shop, and Greg found a smoked meat shop.

In between those two trips our group made two stops. First we stopped at the the Largest Truck Stop in the US (so they say), and while there toured the adjacent Truck Museum. There were a bunch of really interesting trucks there, both big and small. That evening we went to a dinner theater in Rock Island. The dinner was really good and the play was a hoot; “The Outsider” was a comedy about a man who accidentally became the governor of Vermont. It did have something to say about how we elect people to office, and how frequently they aren’t really qualified. Very funny show!

We have a free day tomorrow, then a travel day on Wednesday. More then…

Two days of travel have brought us to the Quad Cities; our campground is in Rock Island, Illinois, most of our excursions the next three days will be in the Davenport, Iowa area. Our driving since we left Minneapolis has been increasingly along the Mississippi; it’s fun to see how the river grows and changes.

Both days had stops along the way. Between Minneapolis and Prairie du Chien (Prairie of the Dogs? That’s got to be tough to make into a tourist t-shirt) we toured the National Eagle Center on the banks of the river in Wabasha, MN. They help with the rehabilitation of injured eagles; we saw several up close and personal, and enjoyed a presentation on the life of an eagle. We spent the rest of the drive and that night making a cameo appearance in Wisconsin…never going more than about 5 miles across the border.

Next day we headed out on a very foggy morning. For the first couple of hours it was hard to see the road, let alone the river in the valley below us. We persevered, and arrived in Dubuque at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. The museum reminded us of OMSI in Portland; lots of displays meant to engage kids, including a salt water tide pool. Dubuque seems like it’s a long ways from salt water, but there you go.

The rest of the drive was very pretty. We arrived at our campground, got setup, and a thunderstorm started to move in just in time for the group to drive over to a dinner cruise on the river. The storm put on a pretty good show, the dinner was very nice, and a keyboard player kept the audience entertained; eventually some line dancing broke out. Fun was had by all.

Today we start exploring…more later.

We’re now halfway through our 70 day RV trip. It’s all downhill from here, literally as we start moving further south on our way to New Orleans. Tonight is our last night in Minnesota; tomorrow we drive to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin for one night. We give the state of Wisconsin a very brief visit, not straying very far from its border on the Mississippi River.

Tuesday the caravan went by bus first to Minnehaha Falls (more of a cliff, as there was no water cascading over it), then to St Paul for a tour of St Paul Cathedral and for a Gangster tour. The sacred portion of the day was beautiful; the church is quite the piece of architecture, and a very moving space. As for the gangsters, we toured a man-made sandstone cave that had served as a speakeasy during Prohibition, then welcomed John Dillinger and his tommy gun onto our bus for a tour of St Paul’s seedy history (of which there was plenty).

The next day saw us return to St Paul for a lunch cruise on the Mississippi. The meal was fine, the river was finer. We saw a number of eagles and buzzards, and the fish were jumping. It was a beautiful day to be on the river. We also toured St Paul’s old post office, which has been turned into a center for the local arts scene. Leila had fun playing a number of keyboard instruments, including a harpsichord.

Today was a free day; we drove into St Paul to tour the J.J. Hill mansion, 36,000 square feet of family home for the builder of the Great Northern RR. It was magnificent, and amazing that it’s been preserved. After lunch we drove to Minneapolis to see the Old Mill Museum; the building had been the site of a historic General Mills flour mill. The tour was intriguing, and the views of the river and its falls were beautiful.

But now it’s time to move on…more next time.

The first two travel days are in the books, we’re now just south of Minneapolis in an RV park next to a really big tribal casino. The campground is nice, level, paved pull-through sites with full hookups. Makes life setting up easy!

Our first day’s drive was short, taking us to the shores of Crow Wing Lake, near Brainerd. The lake was pretty, and the campground had lots of trees…it was very pleasant. The Mississippi continues to grow bigger as we move south; we’ll see more of it today at St Paul.

Last night was a free evening, and we took advantage of it. We and three other couples went to a baseball game…Minnesota Twins vs Tampa Bay Rays. We were rooting for the Twins to pull the upset, but it didn’t happen. Lots of runs, multiple home runs for both teams, and a nice ballpark made it a good evening.

We have a bus outing to St Paul today…more later.

It’s been a enjoyable time here in Bemidji. We’re reached the northernmost point in our trip, and while not as high an elevation as we saw in Wyoming we are at 1350 feet now…it’s roughly all downhill from here to New Orleans.

Our stay started with an orientation meeting and a dinner. Greg had walleye (very good) and Leila had prime rib (about the size of her plate…a lot went home for last night’s dinner). We also did a little walk around downtown, looking at sculptures done from salvaged metal. Some of them were very nice.

Just a quick note about Bemidji: we’re told it’s the birthplace of Jane Russell, the actress, it’s the First City of the Mississippi. It’s also the home of the Lumberjacks (Bemidji HS) and the home of the Beavers (Bemidji State University). Greg felt right at home.

Yesterday was the first bus excursion of the trip. The bus driver, Greg, did his best to sound like a Minnesotan; he had a great sense of humor too. The group got their picture taken with a statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, then a tour of a woolen mill, then on to the headwaters of the Mississippi.

It is remarkable to see how humble a beginning the river makes. Lake Itasca has a shallow end, and the river just sorta tumbles out of it. We did indeed wade across. The water wasn’t too cold, I’m sure the lake warms it up a bit. After a box lunch we were taken on a two hour boat ride across the lake, and heard a bit of history along the way.

Day 31 is a travel day, but we don’t go very far…just two hours or so. We’ll have our first driver’s meeting, then hit the road.

The first leg of our trip is complete, we have arrived in Bemidji today. The caravan officially starts tomorrow, but most of the group is already here; we had a campfire tonight and got to meet a lot of really fine people.

Days 26 and 27 were spent traveling from Iowa to Bemidji. We had fun touring the Spam Museum (and buying Spam for a taste testing when we get home). That night we were treated to another thunderstorm; thankfully it only lasted 30 minutes.

The next morning showed that the cold front had moved through, the weather turned off 20 degrees cooler and a bit drizzly…felt like beach weather. We checked out another quilt shop (no comparison to an earlier stop), then settled in to a Harvest Host camp site behind a brew pub. They served a great sausage sampler and some tasty beverages.

Today’s drive took us across the Mississippi River three times; since we were headed north each time we crossed it the river was smaller. By the third crossing it wasn’t much bigger than the Coweeman back in Kelso. Saturday it will even smaller yet as we visit the headwaters.

So, 2/5 of the trip is in the books, and now we slowly start moving south. We spend three nights here, and we are excited to see places we’ve never been.