Japanese Gardens

San Francisco--1982

St. Louis to Memphis, TN: Left St. Louis this morning at 8:00 a.m... Took Interstate 55 south through an agrarian landscape of rolling hills and neat farms, passing historic towns like St. Genevieve, MO, which was settled in the 1600s by French Canadian fur trappers. It’s the oldest town west of the Mississippi. A pretty and sunny day, although most of the leaves are already off the trees. We stopped at a rest area along the way and saw a HUGE cat in one of the fields. This cat was way too big to be a house cat (unless it was on steroids) and it wasn’t a bobcat because it had a long tail, and it was totally black. A panther maybe? I know we have mountain lions in Missouri. Stopped in Sikeston to fuel up and switch drivers. Apparently, there was a transformer out somewhere and we went to three travel centers before we found one with power. Fueled up, ate, and back on the road. Around Sikeston the rolling hills give way to large, flat expanses of cotton and rice fields. Usually the cotton has been harvested by now, but the fields are still full—probably because of all the rain lately. Arrived at the KOA in W. Memphis around 2:15 and got set up. No TV because when they put on our new roof they didn’t hook up the antenna correctly. So-o-o, unless we’re on cable, no TV. Got lots of books to read anyway. Life is good.