Down the Mississippi #5
The Great River Road is not a road. It is a National Scenic Byway. From what we can tell, it includes no Interstates, and minimal US Highways. This far north, it is mostly two-lane county roads and an occasional dirt road, and for these first few hundred miles, we have encountered precious few other cars. Understanding why becomes easy as you drive and observe: the Mississippi River is either on the right or the left. Wherever we go, we are at the dead end of every east-west road. Except for the very occasional bridge, there are no crossroads. There are no stores, no malls, no gas stations, no nothing. Just the river on one side and farms or woods on the other.
For the most part, the road is reasonably well marked with signs. But notice the hedging: “for the most part” and “reasonably.”
We have four ways of determining the route. 1) Great River Road maps. 2) State maps that show the Great River Road icons. 3) The road signs themselves. 4) A totally groovy Great River Road App for our iPhones that shows the road and that glorious blinking blue dot that shows us. Unfortunately, there is not 100% alignment among the four sources.
On the open road, the signage is pretty fair, and with the app, we at least know when we are hugging the river. In the cities … even the very small ones … all of the signage goes straight to hell.
The process of trying to follow the byway started months ago, when we requested state maps from each of the states we are driving through. The state maps tend to have a lot more detail than AAA maps, and most of them have Great River Road icons along the route. Little did we realize early on how tiny some of the roads are, and how far off some of the map icons are.
To help things out a little, we bought a bunch of different-colored highlighters and then pored over the maps, highlighting what we thought might be the Great River Road. The exercise helped.
Staying on the byway, however, is at the very least a two-person job. A third would be helpful! While one of us pores over the map and app … when we have enough cell service … the other drives and tries to keep tabs on the few-and-far-between signs. Fortunately, we are able to reserve some capacity for taking in the sights too, which include everything from dams and bucolic parks with walking trails to fearsome toothed fish that double as entrances to rural restaurants.
Now that we are in Minneapolis, things might change. We are out of the north woods. The river is wide. The Great River Road will be marked on both sides of the Mississippi instead of just one. Maybe following the Byway will get easier; maybe not. For these first 450 miles, it has been a real adventure.
© 2017 Kenneth Mirvis
myinnersociologist 
Sounds like it’s going to be great fun to do this! Kinda wish I were taking it with you…not that you would need or want me!! But I can dream! xoxo
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Come join us for a while! We really are having a great time.
Love you!
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I went to the UofM for my masters. Minneapolis is a great city. Glad you liked it.
Here is a question. When the River Road is on both sides of the river how do you decide which side to drive on. I would always think I’m missing the good stuff on the other side. 🙂
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Steve, Is that when you learned to tolerate winter? As for the question, like everything else, it is easy, but it entails a lot of steps: 1) we look on the map to see which side looks more scenic. 2) We ask everyone we can. 3) We follow our instincts. 4) If we think we might miss something significant, we are fully prepared to double back and take the same route twice. We don’t wanna miss nuthin!!!!
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You’re a 21st century Lewis and Clark! I looked on-line, trying to get an idea of WHERE in St. Louis (always my home, no matter where I reside) the GRR will take you. I’m stumped – a navigator, I am soooo not. But…it looks like it will put you in the parking lot of Ted Drewes, which is an excellent place to be put!
It’s fun to watch GreatRiverRoadTrek2017 unfold!
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Ken, another great story from the shores of the Mississippi. Who knew Greater McGregor could be so interesting. The smoked fish is making my mouth water.
You asked about getting used to winter. I had a taste of winter in Philly during dental school. After graduating I spent my first year in Vermont. I lived up a hill from the Barre-Monpellier road. Vermont does get cold. I had lived for two years in Saskatchewan when I went to Minneapolis for my MPH. The Sask Government sent me on 80% of my salary plus tuition and books. It was a lovely way to go to school!
Back to Iowa. You mentioned the button strike in Muscatine. I lived in Omaha until I was 11. Almost every summer we drove from Omaha to Chicago to visit my mom’s sister. Our route took us through Muscatine and I remember going by the button factory. My mom was always excited to see it. I had no idea it was there because of mother of pearl from the Mississippi.
The drive during the summer of 1958 again took us to Muscatine only to discover the bridge was closed. We had no idea that the bridge had collapsed several days earlier. Such was life before the internet. Looking at the collapsed span made me feel queasy. I had never contemplated before then that a bridge could collapse with vehicles on it. We had to drive up to Davenport, likely on the river road, to get across the river. Here is a link to a photo I found of the collapsed bridge.
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi66N7eovPWAhUq3IMKHSg8AewQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pediment.com%2Fproducts%2Fmuscatine-175-history-book&psig=AOvVaw2NHklA4Kgg0Ec_D7KmXzl0&ust=1508179001775050
Wishing you many safe crossings!
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Steve,
I love that your comments and life parallel our adventure! Keep enjoying and keep commenting! Maybe one of these days we’ll be able to hook up in New Orleans!!!!
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