Today’s drive was 350 miles from one end of the state of Missouri to the other. It brought us through increasingly familiar-looking landscapes: Lush green grasses, stands of deciduous trees, with only episodic rock walls facing the highways to remind us of the mountains we have seen further west. Even more surprising after over 10 weeks of almost cloudless skies: thick clouds and some rain! Along the way we also saw signs for some towns with unusual names, e.g. “Knob Noster”, which means “Our Knob”, and indicates a hill, or knob, in the town. It is a landmark of which the citizens in town are justly very proud. The town’s name has absolutely no other silly meaning at all. Hmm.

Cape Girardeau, today’s destination, is named for a large rock formation (a cape, this time, not a knob) in the town that overlooked the Mississippi River and an early prominent citizen who founded a trading post here in 1773. The rock was deconstructed to help build the railroad. More recently it was the birthplace of radio host and conservative icon Rush Limbaugh. Entering the town, we saw wide highways and boulevard with nicely kept homes, many with styles dating from the 1950s. Everything was relatively quiet since many businesses were closed due to Labor Day, but we managed to locate and photograph Rush Limbaugh’s childhood home and the first radio station at which he worked. We also saw his high school.

By then the sun had come back out and we toured Main St. and the central area of Cape Girardeau. There were many interesting shops and eateries, but sadly, there was evidence of economic difficulties in the number of empty and/or damaged storefronts.

The railroad was prominent and ran just in front of the beautifully muraled flood walls guarding the town from the Mississippi River. There were large gates that allowed folks access to the river yet could be closed to protect the town and the railway in case of flooding.

We did find a very nice Vietnamese tea shop, and Tommy had a peach tea, and Paula a lychee tea. Very refreshing and delicious. You can choose the amount of sweetness the baristas add, and 25% of normal sweetness turned out to be perfect for us. We can’t imagine what the 100% of normal would taste like but are certain it would have produced a near-lethal sugar buzz! We are now resting in our hotel room watching the Georgia Tech vs. Clemson game and looking forward to seeing Nancy, Tom’s youngest sister, and her husband, Mike, tomorrow in Chattanooga Tennessee!