DAY 2

Barges tied to the Illinois shore of the Ohio River.   Mississippi River in distance.
 

Crossed the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers today.   Did it at the only place where the bridges are less than a mile apart....on US 60 at the very southern tip of Illinois.     Nice old narrow steel bridges.   We were in Illinois for about 5 minutes!

 

Old steel bridge over the Ohio.

 

Approaching the narrow bridge over the Mississippi.   Fun with a travel trailer!

†

 

Lewis and Clark brought their big keelboat down the Ohio and then turned north, upstream, in the Mississippi.    They had many of their soldiers with them and would recruit more up in St. Louis.   Clark spent the winter with the soldiers at a rural camp outside the town, while Lewis purchased more supplies, visited people, and attended balls.    St. Louis was already a trading town.

Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers as viewed from the Mississippi bridge.
 

Like William Clark, we're camped outside of St. Louis.    Stella is very happy to be stationary.   We did slightly over 200 miles today.     Interesting changes in terrain.   Western Kentucky near Wycliffe is fairly hilly.   Missouri, on the other side of the Mississippi is very flat for a number of miles as you head west and north.    Halfway to St. Louis, you again encounter hilly, rolling terrain.   Lots of Germans in eastern Missouri.   Must be good farmland.

Weather has been gray and rainy.  Temperature is about 60 degrees at 5pm Central Time.

Linda adds:  As we truly begin our trip west, we, like Lewis and Clark, add to our supplies.  Despite servicing our truck before leaving, we found windshield wipers were improperly installed and of poor quality.  Can't help but think how much our frontier explorers would have liked Walmart!  Like Seaman, Lewis' dog, Stella is enjoying all the new scents.