Mississippi River Tour - Day 4

It's Day 4, the last day, and I'm rushing madly to the finish line! Okay, not madly, I was traveling about 1 MPH upriver on a ferry boat to the conclusion of the Mississippi River Tour.

It was a gentle end to a delightfully casual trip.

Mississippi River Tour - Day 3

Day 3 started with a 100+ mile drive from Greenville MS to Helena. I stayed on the east (Mississippi) side of the river for this leg. Click through for my pictures and stories from Day 3.

Mississippi River Tour - Day 2

This day, I left the city behind. Click through for my pictures from Day 2!

Mississippi River Tour - Day 1

After my unfortunate false start in the morning, I turned my attention to the larger task of following the river north. By the end of the day, I had crossed the river six times, that's five bridges and one ferry. Here are my pics from Day 1.

Mississippi River Tour - Off To A Rough Start

My 2012 Mississippi River Tour got off to an inauspicious, if not completely unexpected, start this morning. The plan said I should drive about 40 miles south of New Orleans along the east bank of the Mississippi River to a ferry landing. This ferry is the very southernmost point to get a car across the river and I thought that would be an appropriate start for this tour. Most times, this would be right but this year, it wasn't.

As I drove south along the river, I was confronted first with a police checkpoint and then with this. It's a flood control device, a concrete wall about 20 feet tall. There is another panel that slides in place to block the road when necessary.  As it happens, it was necessary just last month when Hurricane Isaac blew through. 

I knew there was severe flooding in places outside of New Orleans, but I didn't know where. Now I do. Everything south of that big concrete wall was badly flooded. I drove about 15 miles and observed dozens and more homes that had been flooded to the rafters. Everywhere that had been lawn was now a scoured sheet of mud. The levy had debris scattered all the way along, there were FEMA tents and various other efforts to organize the clean-up all over. 

When I got to the house that was washed half-way across the road, and with 20 miles to go, I decided to turn around and skip this crossing. The ferry might be running, but they really didn't need another tourist this day.

Click through for a few more pics of flood damage from Hurricane Isaac. Stay tuned for more positive results from the rest of today. I did cross 5 bridges and 1 ferry and of course I do have pics and stories to tell.

Mississippi River Crossings Tour 2012! - Prelude

Early in the morning of Friday, September 21, I will put my car on a ferry traveling west across the Mississippi river. I will be south of New Orleans, LA, as far south as the road goes, literally the southernmost location to cross the river with an automobile.

From there, I will turn north and for the next four days, cross back and forth across the Mississippi River until I get to Hickman, Kentucky, hugging the river where practical the whole way. That should be 15 bridges, 2 ferries and 900+ miles.

I'm making the trip in my trusty NSX and I'm taking my camera, so expect lots of pictures and stories of driving an exotic sports car in inappropriate places!

Celebration FL 2012 Make A Wish Car Show!

This is a great car show, one of the best. It happens in Celebration FL in April every year. Here's my "better late than never" pictures from this year's show.