Mississippi River Trip: Knoxville - Again!!

We made Knoxville in time to grab a couple of pizzas and treat Annie, Bob, Johanna, and Asa to dinner as a "thank you" for storing the canoe.  We hadn't met Bob the first time around, so it was pleasant to talk with him.  Turns out he's an author (we've got your book on order Bob!) and an interesting fellow to talk to.  After we were fed and had drunk the local beer Bob provided, Larisa and I loaded up Tsssh and headed back to Elk Rock State Park to camp for the night.

Though a little more crowded this time around, we managed to grab the same campsite we'd taken when we came down here from Minnesota, refugees from a frightening experience.  After we set up camp I sat on the picnic table under the stars and reflected on our trip.  Knoxville, of all places, seemed to be the right place to do this.  After all, it was here that we decided to abandon the Mississippi and head west, here where we made new friends and stored to canoe, and here we returned to at the tail end of our journey.

It wasn't the trip we'd planned, but in the end it was an amazing trip to have taken.  We drove thousands of miles among scenery that most people only see on postcards - and then camped there.  We saw some of the Mississippi River up close (and one part, too close), walked with bison in the Badlands, got stranded in the Black Hills (making another friend in the process), touched the sky in the Rocky Mountains, walked great sand dunes, saw great canyons from the inside (and in Larisa's case, the air), strolled among artwork carved ten thousand years ago in the rocks, and then went and touched the Pacific ocean. And we still barely scratched the surface.

The river trip was what we thought we wanted, but in end we got what we needed instead. 

El Rancho somewere in Route 66

Tomorrow we will continue deadheading home, ending the trip about five days early.  Fine by us, we're ready to be back home.

OUR LAST CAMP ON THIS TRIP