June 14, 2013 Land Between the Lakes to Metropolis, IL to Cairo, IL to Cape Giardeau, MO

Slept wonderfully to the nighttime insect and tree frog symphony with temps in the 60's.  We woke to a clear, beautiful morning.  Coffee and breakfast watching fishermen heading out.  I inflated the kayak and Jack and I paddled out of our cove to the main part of the lake and around the shoreline, enjoying the turtles and great blue herons.  We retured to sit lakeside, planned the day,and then I took the boat out again for 1/2 hour.

Later in the morning, the appearance of large sailboats told me quickly that the wind had picked up, so no more kayaking today. Jack is anxious to get internet access and I need to do laundry, so I dried the boat and packed it up while Jack had his lunch and nap.
 We left Land Between the Lakes and headed northwest to Metropolis, Illinois -- yes, THE metropolis, hometown of Superman, and I have the photos to prove it!.  Plus, DC Comics made it official in 1972. 

 

After our quick photo op, we backtracked southwest to Cairo, Illinois (pronounced Kay-ro), where the Ohio River joins the Mighty Mississippi at the southern tip of Illinois. 

 My travel book cautioned that Cairo was an old, downtrodden town, but I wanted to see the place where Jim and Huck were heading from Hannibal so they could paddle up the Ohio River to freedom.  Samuel Clemens also talked about Cairo in Life on the Mississippi because of it's sometimes difficult navigation with the twists and turns and merging currents of the two rivers.  Even though he praised the town, my guidebook was right about the place today.  Sad and decrepit, most buildings boarded up, business closed.  After another quick photo stop at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on land that used to be Fort Defiance, we again headed northwest to Cape Giardeau across the Mississippi in Missouri.

Our tv and internet withdrawal symptoms had been escalating, so I made sure we had a campground with both. It did not work out as planned because our own MIFI from Virgin Mobile had no internet coverage and the campground's internet was excruciatingly slow.  Luckily, the tv worked and we were able to get NBC so Jack could watch the Open.