108. THE GREAT RIVER ROAD

Missouri

7/17/2012

Perhaps fitting in with the theme of the ultimate road trip, Patricia includes not the Mississippi River, but the scenic byway that runs alongside it. The Mississippi is not America’s longest river (the Missouri is) but it is certainly the biggest in the American imagination, not least of because of the works of Mark Twain. (More on him later.)

The Great River Road follows the Mississippi from its beginning as a trickle in Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico. Patricia includes it in Missouri, probably for the Twain connection. So, on our way to Mark Twain’s childhood home in Hannibal, Missouri we followed the river as best as we could all the way from Nauvoo.

At a random spot we pulled off and had a picnic on the shore. Daniel ran up a hill and yelled down, "I'm the king of the hill!" Where the heck did he learn that? The kids then tossed stones where explorers Louis Joliet and Father Marquette probably walked centuries ago. That’s kind of cool.