Trip to the Midwest Truck Campers & Family Christmas Party

We emerged from the museum to find that the sun was starting to set, brushing the sky with reds and golds. The scenery at Top of the Rock ranges from a recently discovered and excavated sinkhole, a surreal golf driving range, a beautiful stone chapel, and an eye-catching view of distant Table Rock Lake. The lodge and restaurant is a rambling stone and wood building with plenty of outdoor spaces where one can enjoy the views. We’ll have to come back sometime to dine on their patio although we might have to mortgage the house first to pay for it!





















The next day was the rig open house and the potluck supper. So we did a little shopping in the morning then stopped in at the College of the Ozarks whose nickname, proudly proclaimed on a nearby water tower, is Hard Work U. I’d read that the school sold ice cream made by the college’s milk cows and agricultural students. The shop was housed in the Keeter Center conference facility just outside the college gates. We had to wait a moment while the student manning the counter made up a waffle cone. Then she dipped me a scoop of the raspberry which was excellent! Afterward we took a few moments to visit a display commemorating World War II set up nearby before returning to the campground for the MWTCF festivities.


















We had a great time meeting and visiting with the Midwest Truck Campers and Family. But being that I had a job to get back to, we departed Sunday for home traveling this time via U.S. 60 through Cairo IL. After crossing back over the Mississippi River we stopped at Fort Defiance Park for lunch. While we ate we could see the Mississippi River out one side of the camper and the Ohio River out the other side.









Looking upriver from the tip of the land between the two rivers one can just see the east end of the bridge over the Mississippi River on the left and the west end of the bridge over the Ohio River on the right. The DH noted that it’s rare to see a navigation sign that is both red and green. Here one would keep red to the right to travel up the Mississippi or green to the left to travel up the Ohio. The fisherman standing at this southernmost tip of Illinois doesn’t care which way the vessels go as long as they don’t scare off his fish.









Barges were tied off along the Ohio side of the peninsula. A small local tow boat was busy picking up a couple barges at a time and delivering them to packets of barges a short distance upstream. It was obvious that the area floods looking at the large beached log and the concrete restroom/viewing platform perched on stilts.












We stopped at some informational signs on higher ground as we exited the park. The area has a lot of history. It was interesting to read that the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition spent nearly a week here in 1803 on their way west. Lewis taught Clark how to use their navigation equipment here and the point which marks the beginning point of their transect west is located just north in Cairo.









There was also a display on the Great River Road that follows the Mississippi River. Sadly, the sign was faded and difficult to read. But we didn’t have time to follow the road today anyway. We had to take a different road across the Ohio River. A word of warning to those who might want to try this route … you’ll cross the two rivers on narrow truss bridges, sharing the limited space with tractor trailer trucks. But I was able to get one last look at the confluence of these mighty rivers from the bridge. Roll on!











The end.