Driving Along Mississippi River?

For our vacation this year, my wife and I want to take a driving trip.
Leaving Raleigh, NC, we plan to drive along the Mississippi River and then
come back to Raleigh. The total trip will be about 2 weeks and take place in
mid-May. As we go along, we enjoy stopping and seeing/doing things, like
historical areas, good scenery, interesting cities/towns, eating at an
outstanding place, etc. We usually drive 6-8 hours a day, not including
stops. We will not slavishly follow the river, but will detour maybe up to
100 miles for something outstanding. We have seen the River below Memphis,
so we will probably not drive south of there.

Using these parameters, can anyone suggest a route(s) for us to consider,
places to visit, things to see, etc.?

Thanks for assistance.

John McCrory

John McCrory wrote:
For our vacation this year, my wife and I want to take a driving
trip.
Leaving Raleigh, NC, we plan to drive along the Mississippi River and
then
come back to Raleigh. The total trip will be about 2 weeks and take
place in
mid-May. As we go along, we enjoy stopping and seeing/doing things,
like
historical areas, good scenery, interesting cities/towns, eating at
an
outstanding place, etc. We usually drive 6-8 hours a day, not
including
stops. We will not slavishly follow the river, but will detour maybe
up to
100 miles for something outstanding. We have seen the River below
Memphis,
so we will probably not drive south of there.

Using these parameters, can anyone suggest a route(s) for us to
consider,
places to visit, things to see, etc.?

Thanks for assistance.

John McCrory

I'm assuming that you know that the Mississippi River doesn't flow
anywhere near Raleigh. Without knowing where you want to pick up the
river, I'll just assume you plan to drive along the whole thing, so
from Raleigh this is what I'd do:

1) Take your favorite Interstate Highway down to New Orleans - if you
drive 6-8 hours a day, it'll take you a day and a half to two days and
pretty much doesn't make much of a difference which highway you take
out of Raleigh (so long as you're heading in the right direction). In
other words, count on two days to get to Louisiana, so pick a route
where you can make a couple of nice stops along the way. I think my
personal preference would be to head west towards Asheville (you can
visit Biltmore if you haven't done so yet) and then keep going west
through the Ocowees - visit the Joyce Kilmer Forest and the Ocowee Dam
(#1 I think, also I can't spell Ocowee). You should be able to get as
far as Chattanooga the first day without really pushing it - the drive
from Asheville to Chattanooga is very scenic. For the second day, I'd
just head down I59 and only make a stop in Tuscaloosa, AL (Dreamland
BBQ) or Meridian, MS (Weidmann's) for lunch. Save room for dinner in
New Orleans.

2) enjoy New Orleans. If you're early birds, go down to Venice or
Ycloskey and take a fishing trip (don't forget to get your fishing
licenses first). The only catch (other than the fish) is that you'd
have to find a way to store the fish for a couple of weeks. Anyhow,
there are plenty of other things that you can do (canoeing in Bayou
Savage or in Lafitte, swamp tours, walking around the French Quarter
and/or Garden District, visiting the Battle of New Orleans site in
Chalmette, visiting the zoo and taking the boat from the zoo to the
aquarium, riding a streetcar, etc., etc. - and the list goes on).

3) New Orleans to Vicksburg. Heading up river (I prefer the west/south
bank), stop and take a plantation tour between New Orleans and Baton
Rouge. Then head up past Baton Rouge to Vicksburg by way of Port
Gibson and Natchez. There is a neat, old synagogue on the main road in
Port Gibson - it's an interesting building and I think tours are
available by appointment. Natchez and Vicksburg have plenty of
antebellum homes, many of which have been converted to B&Bs. You can
also drive through the battle memorial in Vicksburg.

4) Vicksburg to Memphis. Stop in Clarksdale to see the Blues exhibit
in their library and stop in Leland to see the birthplace of Kermit the
Frog (no, really, this is where Jim Henson grew up). If you like
gambling, there are casino boats in Tunica. In Memphis, you can visit
Beale Street, Graceland (I've never been - I have a real hangup about
shelling out $20 or go inside a big house and maybe an airplane), the
former home of the Piggly Wiggly founder (also haven't been there, but
I've always wanted to see it), Mud Island (it's been closed every time
I've been in town), or the Civil Rights Museum (incidentally, the one
in Birmingham is really good, too). I think there's also a winery or
two out by Germantown. Also check out the Peabody Hotel to watch the
duck parade - there are also some nice restaurants in the vicinity of
the hotel.

5) Memphis to St. Louis. You can see the biggest bend in the river and
learn about one of the strongest earthquakes to strike the US if you
stop in New Madrid along the way - there's a nice litte museum there.
Otherwise, ask someone else for advice on St. Louis outside of Eads
Bridge, the Arch, Forrest Park, Anheuser-Busch, or the Bowling Hall of
Fame.

6) St. Louis to the Quad Cities. Finish up in St. Louis and then head
north to stop in Hannibal to see all the Mark Twain stuff and take a
short river tour. When you get to the Quad Cities, note that Davenport
has been doing a lot to revitalize its riverfront and that there is
supposed to be a new art museum in Bettendorf. John Deere is
headquartered in Moline in a building designed by one of the Saarinen's
(I think Eero) - I'm not sure if they give tours.

7) Quad Cities to the Twin Cities. If you get off the main road a
little around Dubuque, you can go see where "Field of Dreams" was
filmed. On the Illinois side, you can visit an old lead mine or US
Grant's home in Galena. Galena is actually a very nice, quaint town
and you may want to spend some more time there. Also a little ways off
the River Road (maybe an hour's drive or so) is the Spam Museum off of
I-90. In the Twin Cities, two spots with great views are Dayton's
Bluff in St. Paul and Nicollet Island in Minneapolis. One of the
things I like about the view from the south end of Nicollet Island is
that you can see the falls, the flour mill, and the stone arch bridge
all from the same spot.

8) Twin Cities to Lake Itasca - I've never been up this way, but Lake
Itasca was one of my mother's favorite places to visit as a child.
Around Hibbing there are some mining museums and Bob Dylan's boyhood
home, but I don't think you can take a tour.

9) Lake Itasca to the Twin Cities. Just go down to I94 and speed on in
to the Twin Cities where there's still plenty more to do and see.

10) Start making your way back to Raleigh - it ought to take 3-4 days.
If it were me, I'd take I94 and spend enough time in Milwaukee to visit
the art museum and the domes or the zoo. I'd eat at Kopp's somewhere
in the area. I don't think anyone can do justice to Chicago in only
one day, so I'd probably just stop to visit friends and then start
heading down I65 to Indianapolis (maybe visit the Children's Museum or
the Art Museum) and/or Louisville (Churchill Downs, Louisville Slugger
Museum). I liked visiting the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, too.
From Lexington, you can go a couple of different ways back to Raleigh.

Sorry for the long post - best of luck on your trip.

Dan wrote:

I'm assuming that you know that the Mississippi River doesn't flow
anywhere near Raleigh. Without knowing where you want to pick up the
river, I'll just assume you plan to drive along the whole thing, so
from Raleigh this is what I'd do:


Also check out the Great River Road site:

http://www.greatriver.com/

--
Best
Greg