Day 10: St. Louis, MO to Sikeston, MO

We left St. Louis this morning.  The plan was to drive to Paducah, KY but Beth nixed that idea, since it was a stop I had planned for her and since I couldn't convince her otherwise, and since no one else wanted to go to Peducah, it was, indeed, nixed.  So, that pretty much left us with no plans and nowhere to go.

What we did decide to do.  We stopped in Ste. Genevieve, MO, a historic French village.  We stopped to see the visitor's center and toured two houses (Bolduc House and LeMeilleur House as part of one tour).  The Bolduc House (built in 1792) was built in very small and primitive (like many of the forts we have toured), and was owned by the second richest man in town.  He lived here with his children and grandchildren, all in a single bedroom.  It is amazing how much more we have now, when almost anyone can afford at least as much luxury as this man had.  However, that said, he had some pretty beautiful furniture, and I doubt very much that my house will still be standing in 2218 (about equivalent to how old this house is).  A testament to the workmanship that went into the place (and the historic importance that led people to preserve it, but it was still in the family and being lived in until the 1950s).

Departing Ste. Genevieve, we decided to take the ferry and visit the fort on the other side in Illinois.  We took a little time to find the landing and flashed our lights as instructed and waited.  And waited some more.  I checked the ferry's website on my phone for further instruction and found that the ferry was actually closed.  Not sure how one is supposed to know that without having the Internet in their pocket.  There was no signage that said the ferry was closed.  Nice.  So, we retreated and skipped the fort.

After that.  Driving.  We did stop in Cairo (say CARE-oh, I guess) to see the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi.  Cairo is in disrepair.  We saw a couple beautiful old houses off the beaten path, but really, it was a lot of industry that was falling apart and homes that needed attention.  Fort Defiance State Park (Cairo was known as Fort Defiance when occupied by the Union forces during the civil war), at the confluence, was in about the same state of repair as the city (reading wiki afterward, the city is now responsible for the park, which seems to explain matters).  The observation tower was a mess with the electrical closet opened and the wires ripped out of it, it looks like there used to be campsites here and they were all overgrown with weeds, there was old rusty playground equipment, and a good amount of garbage and beer cans.  Anyway.  Primary fact of note, river-wise, TONS of barges visible from this point.  It seems like the Ohio river is much busier with barge traffic than the upper Mississippi.

Since we were skipping Paducah, we decided we better visit Kentucky now, or we never would on this trip.  We made a short foray into the state, not more than a few miles.  But, it looked different from the driving we had just been doing in Illinois.  We believe it is kudzu.  There was a lot of vineiness going on and we are blaming kudzu.  Looking at Wikipedia (again) we have just entered the range of Kudzu in the Southern US: and there it is.  Amazing.

We checked into our hotel and went to Lambert's ("only home of throwed rolls").  It sounded like a kitschy tourist attraction and so had been on my list from day 1.  It was a kitschy tourist attraction and everyone enjoyed it.  There were a lot of folks on the Internet panning Lambert's for its atmosphere or for mediocre food.  Since we went with the expectation of a quirky environment targeted at tourists, we were not put off by the carnival vibe.  Also, I wouldn't say the food was mediocre.  I'm not an expert on Southern food but most everything was relatively well prepared.  There were some misses (I thought most everything was undersalted [correctable] and the chicken dumplings were not my favorite [too much dumpling, too little chicken, and really nothing of anything else, but not to say that isn't what it's like in the South) but overall the food was competently prepared (which is more than can be said for most restaurants).

Anyway, Throwed Rolls, yup, exactly what you might think (or might not).  A gentleman walks around the restaurant shouting "Throwed Rolls!" and if you put your hand up, a hot roll lands in it (so you need to be careful, if you are not in the market for a roll at the moment).  You are probably thinking about a light underhand toss, or some-such dainty thing.  Yes, that does happen sometimes, but just as often, it is a good overhand lob across the whole dining room (which is huge, by the way).  We saw quite a few throws while we were there and only one when truly awry (hitting some overhead restaurant decorations instead of the requesting customer's open hand.  Ira was our designated roll catcher and caught every one that was thrown to him.

Following Lambert's we went back to the hotel and Ira and Zoë swam before going to sleep.