I could go on and on about Mount Gretna (it brings out my inner three-year-old), but there was a bike tour waiting. The drive from PA to Cape Girardeau, MO was long, grueling, and mostly rainy. Russ, who prefers not to drive anymore, is constantly on edge, which puts me on edge—how would you like to be yelled at every time the vehicle drifts slightly off center? Passing another car elicited white-knuckle terror.

The fact that my neck and shoulder are still hurting doesn’t help at all. Thanks again to Lynn and Sandy, who generously lent me a TENS unit, which has been a great help.

Despite all of Russ’s misgivings about my driving, we made it to Cape Girardeau alive and in time for his scheduled start. Actually, we arrived a day early, which gave us a chance to stay at and explore Trail of Tears State Park, where we saw a heart-wrenching short film on the forced Cherokee relocations, and visited a small but well done museum. The staff was very well informed, and gave us a lot of information, plus a detailed map of the routes taken by some 20,000 Cherokee from their lands in Tennessee to internment camps, and then to Oklahoma. Most had to travel by foot, through one of the worst winters on record. Nearly 1/4 of them died on the way.

Russ started his tour at the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau on Sunday, May 24. The levees had many murals showing the area history. Lewis and Clark passed through here and it was a major ferry stop on the Trail of Tears.

Before taking off, the ritual of dipping a rear tire in the Mississippi:

He’s off! And I’m off to Johnsons Shut-Ins State Park.