Basin of commerce

We assumed that we would be watching all the commerce on the Mississippi River as we wound our way down the Great River Road. We expected to see all kinds of huge tows being pushed down and up the river by massive tug boats. We have seen the occasional barge tows, but apparently the river barge trade is not what it used to be. The tows are much smaller, and are relatively infrequent. Many days go by without spotting one.

We have learned that commercial rail freight is still vibrant in the Mississippi River valley. Active rails line both the eastern and western flats along the river, and both are very active. As we have been staying near the Mississippi on this journey, it seems like a large freight train runs by about every half hour, sometimes even more often.

I was surprised by the buried emotions brought out by the mournful sounds of that train horn wailing oh so often. I know that I do like trains and have pretty vivid memories of always taking my Grandma to the St. Paul Depot. Grandma would always take the train to visit her daughter, Aunt Shirley, who lived in LA – even though there were no direct trains – Grandma had to take a train to Chicago, and then switch to another train taking the southern route to LA. But, Grandma wouldn’t fly – she never believed that you could actually get those huge metal structures off the ground!

Birding has been great. In addition to all the Bald Eagles, we have seen more Golden Eagles as we head more south. And we have been watching with great interest the American Pelicans. With the immense white wingspan and the black tips, it is awesome to watch them gracefully soar, glide and then a mere couple of flaps, and they are way aloft again. At first, I thought they were Whooping Cranes, which also are similar in size and have the enormous white wings with black tips. But, Whooping Cranes don’t venture as far east as the Mississippi River valley, so I scanned the bible – my Sibley birding book, and learned that what we were seeing were American Pelicans, which do migrate through the Mississippi valley. Since Texas, we can’t get enough of bird watching.

 

Talk to you soon!