First highlight was the town of Ste. Genevieve, MO. It was founded in 1735 and lays claim to being the oldest U.S. city west of The River. It has a lot of charm. But unlike many quaint, old River towns, it has a thriving current industry outside of tourism. Namely, lime. It produces some of the highest grade lime / limestone anywhere. The lime is used in water treatment facilities, cement production and lots of other things, and brings Ste. Genevieve a lot of jobs and prosperity.
The second highlight is Fort Kaskaskia State Park, where I am camping tonight. Aside from being spectacularly beautiful, it has a fascinating history. In the flood of 1881, The River actually changed course and rerouted itself from the west side of the village of Kaskaskia to the east side of the village. Over the course of the next decade or so it swept the village entirely away. Kaskaskia had been the capital of Illinois and had once been known as the "Paris of the West." It had been a thriving river town at one time, but by the turn of the century it had been completely abandoned and most of the buildings had been washed away by The River. Mark Twain writes of this in his book, "Life on The Mississippi". My camp site is at the site of an old French fort on a bluff overlooking what had once been the town of Kaskaskia.
Only bit of bad news is that the new biking shoes I bought in St. Louis two days ago became very uncomfortable today. Hopefully it is just a matter of breaking them in! And mosquitos have returned in this warmer climate! Oh, and this beautiful campground has no showers! Other than that, things are great!
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