Traveling from Pomme de Terre State Park in Missouri to Argyle Lake State Park in Illinois
…
1.
En route to Illinois, we chose a “scenic route” along the western shore of the Mississippi River. There were green dots along the road in our (yes) paper atlas. The narrow road twisted and turned. It passed thru green bottomlands of soybean and corn. It climbed up and down rolling hills — unexpectedly steep for our poor knowledge of eastern Missouri.
And then there was a blue sign by the side of the road.
It announced a scenic overlook. We slowed and turned into the forest to the right onto a two-rut road that climbed up the hillside. We muttered hopes that there would be a place at the top to turn around with the trailer, which of course there was. But there was in fact no scene to look out over. The forest had long since overgrown, and there was no hint of a valley, much less the mighty Mississippi. So without stopping, we drove around the loop, descended back thru the forest, turned back onto the road and continued on to Hannibal.
2.
Then we can to another blue sign with a right-pointing arrow, this one advertising a scenic overlook and a picnic table. So we slowed and again turned onto a two-rut road into the forest to the right.
We drove up the hill, this time confident of a turn-around. And indeed, at the top, there was a loop encircling a grassy knoll with a lone picnic table in the shade of two large Oaks. But again, there was no scene to see thru the overgrowth.
Strike two. We continued on to Hannibal.
3.
Yes. There was a third blue sign. I consulted with the Fair and Industrious Trudy, who said no, because by this time she had located Becky’s Ice Cream Shop and Emporium along the main drag in old town Hannibal. We continued on the road past the sign and descended into the Mississippi valley into Hannibal, Missouri, where there was a parking lot big enough for us and the trailer just off the main street.
Izzy and I found a bench in the shade across the street from the shop. Trudy walked over and got a cup of Huckleberry Chocolate ice cream. (This was Mark Twain’s Hannial, after all.)
Twenty minutes later, we were travelling northward again. But here’s the thing of it. Our scenic overlook and ice cream detours had put us sufficiently behind schedule that we really wanted to get going (never wanting to arrive after sunset to back in the trailer). And so although life on mainstream Hannibal a block away from the Mississippi River was thriving, we never did walk that one block over. And we never did go down to the river. And so while in Hannibal, we completely missed life on the Mississippi.