| On leaving Memphis we headed south briefly into Mississippi to do
some shopping. Memphis is right on the border and taxes change between
states. Since taxes in Mississippi are lower, the shopping mall just over
the border was huge, and the petrol 10c/gallon cheaper (It matters when
you need 55 gals to fill up!)
We then went on to Tunica where gambling is permitted which has led to
a huge development. | 
|
| We actually went to see a museum of the area, the, native
Americans, and the river. This was an excellent museum with many high
quality and high tech displays. It was another site which was tourist
free. We particularly liked the aquariums where we found this
alligator and gar coexisting quite peacefully. Outside there were river
cruises on a replica paddlesteamer. |
| The river itself is quite majestic and I don't think we had fully
appreciated its size, nor the water flow. It is quite controlled by levees
(for taking chevvies to) but if these are overcome then the results can be
(and have been) devastating, leading to flooding of an area 50 miles by
100 miles to a depth of up to 20 feet. The river valley virtually amounts
to the middle third of the USA. About 350 million tons of freight moves
annually on this waterway. |  |
 | One of the most striking things
about moving into the river valley is how flat the land is. It is also
highly fertile. But it is difficult to conceive growing crops on this
scale. We first found views like this as we moved into Mississippi. But
then as we left Tunica and headed north back past Memphis we found the
same views in Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois. |
| This journey was over 400 miles and we paused along the way at
Fort Defiance National Park where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers join.
This is a huge confluence which is really impossible to capture in a
photo. The Ohio comes in from the left and the Mississippi from the right
and they exit stage rear round the bend. We travelled north on the Old
River Road following the path of Lewis and Clark. |
 |
This was the day of the UK election and we did get a brief mention on the US
news on NPR. However the tone left one in little doubt that the end result had
little impact on the US one way on the other. It sort of puts this in
perspective for us. Two other items had twice the air time since they were
obviously more significant. One was covering a group of parents in Maryland
seeking to stop schools teaching their 13 year old children about condoms. The
other (more bizarre) was the education board in Kansas proposing to teach that
evolution was only a theory. This is a strange and worrying society. |