Great Mississippi River Ride
By Gary Gilbert
Friday, September 03, 2004
The web site for America By Bicyclist is http://www.abbike.com
The tour was led by Mike Munk who has his own web site and rider journals at http://www.bamacyclist.com
I've organized this description from Minneapolis down river to New Orleans despite the fact that I rode the St Charles Missouri to New Orleans portion before the northern and central sections.
While these road signs are common, we followed many country roads away from the river. The river is most visible along the northern portions of the route, where great bluffs overlook the river. Southern portions of the route are separate from the river by a man made dike that protects citys and farms from a storm flooded river.
Northern Mississippi River
9 days of riding --- Eagan (Minneapolis) MN to Red Wing MN to La Cross WI to Prarie du Chein WI to Dubuque Iowa to Clinton IA to Galesburg IL to Keokuk Iowa to Hannibal MO to St Charles (St. Louis) MO --- 714 miles.
The ride started in Minneapolis. At this point you are about 220 miles south of the source of the river at Lake Itasca, Minnesota. A good source of information about the river road can be found here http://www.mississippiriverinfo.com/
.Of course the tour starts by riding along the Mississippi River
Head from Minneapolis east to Red Wing famous for Pottery and Shoes
No matter where I ride, I can't pass up a fruit stand. Today's delicacy are fresh raspberries.
The route crossed over into Wisconsin. The hills and views are magnificent.
This was supposed to be a spectacular view. Unfortunately it was a foggy morning.
At the foot of this bluff Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet entered the Mississippi River in 1673.
After traveling south though Wisconsin and entering Illinois, we passed across the river and spent a night in Dubuque Iowa. After crossing back to Illinois in the morning, we travel to Galena Illinois. Galena, now the home to antique and nick knack shops, once was the home of President Ulysses S Grant.
We crossed the river many times on our way southward. Sometimes we only crossed to sleep and other times we crossed to ride.
Between Minneapolis Minnesota and St Charles Missouri, we rode in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.
The route south of Galena is challenging.
The green van just behind the upcoming cyclists one of America By Bicycles support vehicles. One van typically goes ahead and sets up a rest stop about 35 miles from the start of the days ride. The other van keeps track of the riders and provides mechanical support. Depending upon the length and difficulty of the daily ride and available public services, there may be a second rest stop around mile 75. America By Bicycle does a fantastic job supporting riders.
The route took us south through Savannah Illinois. Here we picked up the Grand Illinois Trail, also know as the GIT. The GIT is a 500 mile loop around the nothern portion of Illinois. Portions are paved trail, crushed limestone trail, or a small portion is currently roads. Eventually the roads will be phased out and replaced by trails. The League of Illinois Bicyclists maintains a set of cue sheets for the GIT here. http://www.bikelib.org/trails/git/
The photo below is one portion of the GIT we joined south of Savannah.
Eventually our route took us inland to Galesburg Illinois. In Galesburg I had arranged to me a former college friend who gave me a tour of the city. Galesburg was home to the 5th Lincoln Douglas Debate in 1858. "The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of formal political debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats. Although Lincoln lost the election, these debates launched him into national prominence which eventually led to his election as President of the United States." http://www.nps.gov/liho/debates.htm
After Galesburg we headed to Nauvuoo Illinois. Nauvoo was the home of the Morman Church before being expelled and moving to Utah in 1844. Read more about the history of Nauvoo http://www.visitnauvoo.org/nauvoo/default.asp?url=/nauvoo/pg/hist_mormon.asp We managed to arrive in Nauvoo just in time for the annual kid and pet parade. We had lunch in Nauvoo before heading over to Keokuk Iowa for the night.
The next portion took us to Hannibal Missouri. Home to Samuel Clemmens. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/index2.html
Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live.
- "Taming the Bicycle"
It is not like studying German, where you mull along, in a groping, uncertain way, for thirty years; and at last, just as you think you've got it, they spring the subjunctive on you, and there you are. No--and I see now plainly enough, that the great pity about the German language is, that you can't fall off it and hurt yourself. There is nothing like that feature to make you attend strictly to business.
- "Taming the Bicycle"
It was on the 10th day of May--1884--that I confessed to age by mounting spectacles for the first time, and in the same hour I renewed my youth, to outward appearance, by mounting a bicycle for the first time.
The spectacles stayed on.
- Mark Twain's Speeches
And no visit to Hannibal would be complete without a visit to Tom Sawyers fence. http://www.online-literature.com/twain/tomsawyer/
"Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep mel- ancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the in- significant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged"
The day into St Charles was very hot and very humid. I rode slowly out of the motel, thinking that my riding partners were behind me. After about 45 minutes the SAG vehicle came back and asked if I was ok. I replied that I was riding slow waiting for others to catch up. It turned out that they had left out the other side of the motel and were ahead of me. I spent the rest of the day catching up with them when they stopped to rest and just in time for them to get back on the road again.
Central Mississippi River
6 days of riding --- St Charles (St. Louis) MO to Festus MO to ST Genevive MO to Cape Girardeau MO to Union City TN to Ripley TN to Memphis TN - 435 miles.
Sunflowers from Missouri (previously I thought that Kansas was the Sunflower state, Missouri is certainly its equal)
Here I am with a heard of Buffalo in Tennessee. I'm wearing my local bicycle club jersey www.cyclearlington.com
No trip to Memphis is complete until you visit the ducks in the Peabody Memphis Hotel. They put on quite a show!
http://www.peabodymemphis.com/asp/duc_home.asp?sec=vgu&sub=duc
"How did the tradition of the ducks in The Peabody fountain begin?
Back in the 1930s, Frank Schutt, general manager of The Peabody, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkansas. The men had a little too much Tennessee sippin’ whiskey, and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain.
Three small English call ducks were selected as “guinea pigs,” and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. Thus began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous.
The original ducks have long since gone, but after more than sixty years, the marble fountain in the hotel lobby is still graced with ducks. Today, the Mallards are raised by a local farmer and friend of the hotel. The ducks live in the fountain until they are full-grown and, on retirement from their Peabody duties, are returned to the wild. The Peabody ducks march at 11am and 5pm daily."
Southern Mississippi River
8 days of riding --- Memphis TN to Hernando MS to Clarksdale MS to Greenville MS to Vicksburg MS to Natchez MS to St Francisville LA to Gonzales LA to New Orleans LA --- 658 miles.
Memphis has other tourist attractions.
A visit to Graceland is essential.
http://www.elvis.com/graceland/
The Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, JR was assasinated in 1968. Unfortunately the museum was closed the day I tried to visit the site. I admire his principles and was quite disappointed in not being able view the museum. His assasination was a tragedy for the US.
And of finally to Beale Street, home of Memphis Blues. I had lunch at the blues joint at the end of this block the day before I began the Southern Tour in 2001. I again visited the same establishment when I completed the Central Tour in 2003.
A trip south is graced with Kudzu. What ! you have never heard of Kudzu? Read about the Amazing Story of Kudzu http://www.cptr.ua.edu/kudzu/
Hernando MS, in Desoto County is named for the explorer Hernando Desoto, who "discovered" the Mississippi River. Of course, Native Americans had discovered it centuries earlier. This mural in the courthouse has Desoto pointing to the river.
Being a midwesterner, I had never seen cotton grow let alone be harvested. The plants are first defoliated killing the plant and leaving the cotton balls. The plants are harvested and the combine separates the balls from the vines. The balls are dumped into a frame where it is compacted in a semi-trailer sized bale.
Above, I'm near the far end of one of the bales.
Right, Mike stands to show the height of a bale.
The tractor trailer backs up to bale and with grappling hooks, it sucks the bale inside of the trailer.
Here Stacey stands in front of the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale. We heard a wonderful concert put on by junior high school students learning to play and sing the blues.
I travelled this portion of the Mississippi River ride with cousins, Stacey and Mike.
Another quick look at the river.
Near this spot, as the story goes, It was here, in 1902, that Teddy Roosevelt decided not to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree. The incident drew newspaper coverage across the country, inspiring the manufacture of the first Teddy bear
We spent most of one day riding on the Natchez Trace. On the left, I am standing on part of the original route of the trace, next to the existing paved road. The Natchez Trace is one of cyclings favored destinations. http://www.nps.gov/natr/
Louisiana has some terrific country roads, ideal for cycling.
After entering Louisana, the cotton fields were replaced with sugar cane fields.
I spent a couple of days relaxing at the end of my tour in New Orleans. One final breakfast at "The Red Bike" in New Orleans before boarding my train home. A recent check of the internet (2004) indicates that The Red Bike is no longer operating.
The trip home on the City of New Orleans was a perfect way to end my tour. http://www.amtrak.com/trains/cityofneworleans.html
Steve Goodmans' song of the same title is one of my favorites.
Steve Goodman
City New Orleans
Ridin' on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday mornin' rail;
Fourteen cars and fourteen restless riders,
Three conductors, twenty five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey, the train rolls out of Kankakee
Ridin' past the houses, farms and fields,
Passin' trains that have no names, freight yards full of old black men,
The graveyards of the rusted automobiles.
Good mornin' America, how are you?
Say, don't you know me? I'm your native son.
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone five hundred miles 'fore the day is done.
Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car,
Penny a point, ain't no-one keepin' score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle,
Feel the wheels a-rumblin' 'neath the floor.
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpet made of steel;
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat,
And the rythm of the rails is all they feel.
Good day, America, how are you?
Say, don't you know me? I'm your native son.
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone five hundred miles 'fore the day is done.
Nighttime on the City of New Orleans,
Changin' cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Halfway home, we'll be there 'fore mornin',
Through the Mississippi darkness rollin' down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream,
And the steel wheels still ain't heard the news,
The conductor sings his songs again, the passengers will please refrain,
This train's got the disappearin' railroad blues.
Good night, America, how are you?
Say, don't you know me? I'm your native son.
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
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