Summer 2009

We made it back to the Mississippi River. The trailer is parked with its rear about 50 feet from the West Bank of the river, just downstream amd across from Memphis, TN. As I write this I am looking out the window at parts of whole trees that have been deposited on the banks by high water. I can see the river traffic going up and downstream. The current at this point is pretty strong and tugs pushing barges upstream are struggling against it while the downstream traffic gets a push. It is kind of fascinating or at least it leads to fanatasy. Susie says she can sit here and imagine Tom Sawyer (which happens to be the name of the RV Park), Huck Finn and Jim putting their raft in just behind the trailer and drifting downstream with the current. I don't see it... I just see muddy water and trees floating downstream. I guess I don't fantasize the way Susie does. Watching the tugs and barges working their way upstream does bring thoughts of the pre-steam engine days when to get upstream you had to use poles to push your boat.

Getting here was relatively easy. We were on the road by 7am this morning, heading east on I-40. As soon as you pass the eastern edges of Oklahoma City it is as if someone pushed a button and changed the scenery. To the west was the prairie and to the east hills and rivers. I think the most dramatic change was in the colors. In the west, the dominant color was brown and in the east it is green. Once we passed Fort Smith, AR, the hills turned to mountains... the Ozarks. Eventually, the mountains gave way to flat terrain with marshes, waterways and farms. Traffic was light for most of the route and we were in the Tom Sawyer RV Park by 3pm.

Two barges passing on the Mississippi with the buildings of Memphis, TN in the background. The downstream bound barge (foreground) is racing while the upsteam bound barge (background and right) is barely moving.