June 15, 2013 Cape Giardeau North on the Great River Road to Baldwin, Illinois

After leaving the campground, we drove north to the Trail of Tears State Park on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River.  The park has a wonderful visitor center documenting the "Great American Shame" of forcibly relocating 16,000 Cherokee Indians from the lush farming valleys and good hunting grounds of North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia to the arid lands of Oklahoma.  Andrew Jackson was responsible for the policy that relocated all Native Americans to the western Indian Territories from east of the Mississippi to increase the land available to white men.  The removal took place over the winter and between 4,000 and 5,000 people died of cold and disease. This was one one of several routes that relocated Seminole from Florida, Creek and Chickasaw from Alabama, and Choctaw from Mississippi.

I walked a shady trail in the State Park through the woods one mile to a lookout on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.  A warm, humid day made for hazy views, but it was still a spectacular look at the still flooded muddy river with a massive barge plowing upstream.

Looking south

Northbound barge



Unhealthy-looking turtle I encountered on the trail..

We backtracked south to Cape Giardeau to cross The River back to Illinois to follow The Great River Road north through Illinois.  Although marked as scenic on my map, there was not much to see other than cornfields, which are common everywhere in rural Illinois.  The last town designated in the scenic route was the village of Chester.  In the center of town was a little park celebrating Chester as the home of Popeye, born to author Elzie Segar in his daily comic strip, Thimble Theatre.  OK, Friday night trivia aficionados, we now have this critical information for any future Popeye-related questions.

 

 

 

 

Trivia Question-whose last name was Opdyke?

 

 

After a short photo session, we walked across the street for an ice cream cone and met a 60 plus year old man bicycling from Virginia to Oregon!  His wife was accompanying him in an RV and they meet up every couple of days.  Chester was his planned stop for the night and he was calling the police to ask if he could sleep in the park.  Wow!

 

We continued north to a little farm hamlet for a campground with full hookups behind a small, but well-kept motel.  The campground had room for about 40 RVs, but we were the only ones there.  We theorized that the place is for seasonal farm workers - why else so much space in an area where there are no tourist or scenic attractions?  Another hot and humid night and we are thankful to have air conditioning, but it is noisy and are looking forward to some cooler nights.