June 5th The Mississippi & Memphis, Tennessee

American Queen steamboat on the Mighty Mississippi at the Beale
Street Landing

As usual, at the end of the day before I was tired. So, I grabbed my camping app and selected the Tom Sawyer RV Park without much thought. Patty led me to my site for the night. It had a great view of a muddy body of rapidly moving water. I called out to Patty, “Hey, what body of water is that?” She replied, “That’s the Mississippi and you’ll hear barges moving up and down the river during the night.”  I was thrilled.

Tugboat pushing cargo down the Mississippi

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the Mississippi before and I certainly never camped 20 yards from its bank. And, sure enough within a few minutes I saw a tug pushing a line of 7 barges down the river. I ran out to take photos and as the tug passed I could see from a different angle and then realized it wasn’t pushing 7 barges but 21. There were 7 in length and 3 in width. The load was some sort of large, metal pieces of equipment. There were a few more tugs that evening – I could hear them go by, and more in the morning including one moving mounds of coal. That made me think of the coal shipping controversy going on in Oakland.

Tug loaded with coal

The next morning I headed for the other side of the big river in Memphis, Tennessee. I passed several blocks of new, three-story apartment buildings. Each was nicely designed and landscaped. Made me wonder why Oakland has had so much trouble getting new housing built when Memphis is going gang busters. I drove along Riverside Drive at the waterfront. It featured the Beale Street Landing, a very creative playground, a new visitor center/terminal for boarding The American Queen steam boat, Mud Island River Park, Aster Park, and the Tom Lee waterfront where numerous residents and visitors were out walking, jogging, running up and down steps and using the exercise equipment. It was a warm and humid day so once again I had to change into dry clothes after my +/- 2 mile stroll. Then I was ready to head east on Highway 64 towards Lawrenceburg. I’ve purposely sought to avoid the interstate highways where the pace is slower and the scenery more serene.

Walk along Thomas Lee waterfront, Memphis, TN

View from the top of the sloped plane looking south

There are several sets of steps that connect the streets above to
the waterfront area. Used to provide access and exercise

View from the top of the sloped plane looking north

The play area is in the shape of a ship

Part of the play area. I suspect these spout water on hot days

Catfish play element

Loading onto the American Queen is via this steel spiral

The beautiful double arch bridge can been seen in the
background from the Beale Street landing

The deepest orange Daylillies I've ever seen