Flooded Out On The 4th of July

67avion wrote:
One of our favorite campgrounds is Devil's Backbone Park in Grand Tower, Illinois. clickIt is right on the Mississippi River with beautiful views of the Father of Waters and the passing tow boats. Tower Rock which on the Missouri side was visited and climbed by the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is a place of great beauty and powerful history. Its also one of our favorite places to camp. Its almost unknown to people outside the area.





Tower Rock is in the distance at sunrise from our TC's backdoor

Unfortunately, we have been receiving torrents of rain. Last month was a record and this month is looking like another one. We were standing at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio last week, again a place visited by Lewis and Clark and the sky looked ominous.




We soon learned that Devil's Backbone was under water - so was our 4th of July. It is inundated.




You can see some of the hook-ups in the middle of the water. The place we usually stay is way to the right...and that is deeply underwater.

Thats the way of the Mississippi. It doesn't flow at our convenience though we've tried to tame it for hundreds of years.

We'll get back there soon we hope. In the meantime I invite anyone traveling mid USA near St. Louis (It's south a couple of hours) or on US 57 through Cairo, Illinois (It's north an hour or so), to make a stop at this beautiful location..when its dry. You'll be glad you did.

that looks like a terrific camping area.
When we are heading towards NC or Ga We make our 1st stop at Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park even though it isn't a full days
drive.It's only 270 miles.
We get a kick out of watching the tug boats with their barges. WOW what power.
And has a bonus we get to avoid crossing the river at Cairo and sharing the bridges with the semis.
As far as tne flooding. Yeah it is a pain, Yesterday the short road we live on nad both bridges washed away. one at each end of road.We had no way out.