It’s a Big Dam Country – Day 19

Wow. Day 19.

Okay, it wasn’t much of a wow day.

From Louisville, KY to Cape Girardeau, MO via a scenic round the barn tour of Hoosier National Forest and Santa Claus, IN.

I meant to visit the Cannelton Lock and Dam in Cannelton, IN and the Newburgh Lock and Dam in Newburgh, IN.

I never made it to Cannelton. I got completely turned around in the Hoosier National Forest and while I got this lovely shot of the Ohio River at Leavenworth I never actually made it back to the river until I was 25 miles west of the dam.

For what it’s worth, the Hoosier Nat’l Forest is pretty and has lovely, curvy, swoopy roads. They just don’t go where I thought they went.

I did however find Santa Claus. Here’s the hardware store. It is by far the most normal thing in town.

I did finally find the Newburgh Lock and Dam. Not much to see. Smaller than some of the others and awkwardly placed.

This is the top of the tugboat that was locking through at the time. I couldn’t see what cargo they were pushing.

By this time the heat was blinding. 97 degrees. Even the finest German engineering gives up in the face of that kind of heat and crawling construction traffic. The AC couldn’t keep up, it was cooler to roll the windows down and sweat in the breeze. But I (we?) soldiered on because we were heading for the last point of this trek down the Ohio River. Yup – Mississippi River here we come.

Or not.

Fort Defiance park is the only access to the actual point of confluence.

and it was *Closed for Cleaning*

Sob.

The town of Cairo didn’t make me feel any better. Once prosperous now largely abandoned.

I pointed the GPS at a nice hotel in Cape Girardeau and turned my back on the Ohio River Valley.

I did find this sweet little park-let with a boardwalk to to river view on the way.

Made me feel a bit better.

Today’s Route:

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