March 19, 2025 • 59 mins
In this exciting Part 2 of the *Mississippi Valley Traveler* I, Patti Hunt welcomes back Dean Klinkenberg, the expert behind explore hidden gems along the *Lower Mississippi River*, sharing insights on historical sites, must-visit campgrounds, and cultural experiences perfect for RV travelers. From **Kentucky to Louisiana**, they highlight scenic drives, Civil War history, off-the-beaten-path adventures, and the best spots for RV camping. Whether you're a history buff, nature enthusiast, or full-time RVer, this episode is packed with valuable travel tips and local secrets!
Dean Klinkenberg reach out to Dean with questions and comments.
Thank you for listening to the RV LIFE Podcast, I would love to hear from you, please leave me a comment or question here on the podcast page or on my social media channels:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is part two of Hidden Gems along the mighty
Mississippi River.
My name is Patti Hunt and youare listening to the RV Life
Podcast.
If you missed part one, whichwas just last week, you may
(00:21):
wanna go back and listen.
My expert guest, deanKlinkenberg, from Mississippi
Valley Traveler, was on talkingabout the Upper Mississippi
River, the five states that theMississippi River runs through,
and gave so much valuableinformation information we knew
(00:47):
we needed a part two and we aregoing to jump into part two.
First, I want to talk aboutopen road resorts, with five
amazing locations in Idaho,nebraska, new Mexico and two
locations in Dallas.
These five locations arefeatured parks on the
RVLifeCampgroundscom featuredparks on the
RVLifeCampgroundscom app, so youcould go to
(01:09):
campgroundsrvlifecom and checkout all of these campgrounds and
what they have to offer.
Like I said, they are afeatured park and you could see
all the reviews from RVers whohave stayed at these parks, or
you could go toOpenRoadResortscom to find out
about these campgrounds.
Dean Klinkenberg is here.
(01:31):
He is back.
We are going to talk about thelower Mississippi River and get
back into it and I'm so excitedthere's been such a wealth of
information.
Again, I recommend people goingback and listening to what he
had to say about the five statesthat are in the upper
(01:52):
Mississippi River.
Okay, welcome back, dean.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hey, thanks for having me back.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Great, let's jump in, and we are going to go through
the five lower states and we'regoing to start with Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And I want to start with kind of an overview of the
lower Mississippi too.
I think it's a very differentkind of experience than the
upper part of the river, andpart of it is that the
Mississippi isn't quite asaccessible in the lower part of
the river and it's levied off.
They're very big levees.
(02:34):
It has a history of some reallytragic floods, so we've built
these giant levees that tend toseparate the Mississippi from
everything else.
So there aren't nearly as manycommunities right on the river
as there are on the upper partof the Mississippi and in some
places it's really hard to getto the river itself.
But having said that, thecultural and historical sites to
visit are still impressive andthere's still plenty to see and
(02:56):
do along the way.
So I think it's a matter ofkind of setting your
expectations, for when you crossdown into the lower part of the
river You're going to be divingmore into the cultural and
historical aspects and you'regoing to have to work harder if
you want to get to the riveritself and experience some of
the natural world of the river.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
As you say.
You know, getting there mightbe a little more challenging.
I think that's what a lot ofRVers are all about let's find
those places, let's hike out tothem, let's get to them.
So I think for a lot of my RVlisteners, you're talking their
language.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And I think the general tip to consider with all
of this too is especially ifyou want to have a chance to
really experience the riverdirectly that there aren't
nearly as many state parks alongthe lower part of the river,
but there are a lot of lessdeveloped areas that might be
called a state natural area or astate wildlife area, and I
(03:54):
would really look to those kindsof places as sites that you
might consider going to toreally get near the river itself
.
Again, pay attention to whetheror not the river is in flood
stage, because some of thesesites will be completely
inaccessible during high waterperiods.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And, as we talked about before we go to that, as
we talk for people who didn'tlisten to part two, I'm going to
recommend they go back andlisten.
But if you haven't, whileyou're talking, just to let
people know that you're not anRVer, you've not done that.
You do know of some.
You know campgrounds you talkedabout.
(04:33):
The road is a highway and it'spretty easy to navigate in an RV
.
For those people, as you talkabout these different areas, to
find a campground whether it's acity, state, national park, BLM
land, private campground theycan go to campgroundsrvlifecom
(04:53):
or on Trip Wizard, which is allpart of the RV Life Pro suite of
products, and you can center inon an area from Trip Wizard to
find a campground in the area ofthese places you're talking
about.
So to help our RV friends tofind the camping that works best
for them, that is a resource asthey listen to these cool
(05:18):
places to visit.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Absolutely.
And keep in mind too, like someof these lesser, some of these
state natural areas and wildlifeareas, the places you might go
to get closer to the river.
Once you leave the main road,you know you might be on a dirt
road or a gravel road, so ifit's rained you know it might be
a bit of a mess, it might be amuddy mess in some places.
So, yeah, I have another bookcalled the Wild Mississippi that
(05:42):
goes.
That describes just the stateparks and public lands where you
can go along the Mississippi.
I chose places that were themost accessible to get to, that
you wouldn't have to have a fourwheel drive vehicle to get to.
So you might check that bookfor some ideas too.
But keep in mind again, likethe quality of the roads can
vary when you get off the mainGreat River Road, right there,
(06:07):
yeah.
So in Kentucky I think when weget talking Kentucky and
Tennessee now, they have muchsmaller sections of road along
the Mississippi or shorelinealong the Mississippi, so there
are fewer places to visit inthere.
And Kentucky in particular isalmost entirely rural in its
stretch along the Mississippi.
So when you cross the riverfrom Cairo, illinois into
(06:32):
Kentucky, the first town you seeis Wycliffe, and Wycliffe has a
historic site of NativeAmerican mounds and an old
community that was built on thatsite.
I think the Wycliffe Mountainsis a good place to visit for
some of that history ofindigenous communities in North
America and they do a reallygood job of explaining what life
(06:55):
was like in that community andthey have a couple of exhibits
that showcase a little bit ofthe work of archaeologists and
how they go about researching asite and digging and trying to
figure out what's what.
So that's a good place to visit.
The other really main site tovisit, I think on the Kentucky
side, is going to be ColumbusBelmont State Park and that's
(07:18):
one of the few places you canget to on the lower Mississippi
that has an overlook.
So in this part of the river,in the upper part of the
Mississippi, the bluffs werebuilt by water that carved out
rock and dug down.
So especially as the glaciersmelted, they cut through and cut
deep through the rock Along thelower Mississippi.
(07:40):
Wind picked up fine sedimentand blew it and built up the
hills along the lowerMississippi.
So Wycliffe sorry, wycliffeColumbus Belmont State Park is
on one kind of these hills thatwere built up by this fine
sediment that blew across theriver and grew taller and taller
(08:01):
, so it's a good place to visit.
I know there's a campgroundthere, but it's also a historic
site.
There's some Civil War history.
I think that's one of the othermain attractions For me.
When I think about this part ofthe lower Mississippi, a lot of
what's going to interest me,and maybe what interests other
travelers, would be the historyof indigenous communities, which
(08:21):
runs deep through here, andthen the Civil War history.
There's also many, many sitesthat go deep into the Civil War
history and the antebellum South.
So yeah, that's about.
I mean, those are thehighlights for Kentucky.
Really Just a couple of placesthat probably you'd be
(08:41):
interested in visiting.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And I want to share.
In Kentucky now this is I don'tknow how far east, but it's
quite a bit east of theMississippi River, but people
traveling across there is acampground called Firefly Hills
and it is in Beattie, kentucky,and again, I don't know that
it's right near the Mississippi.
As a matter of fact it's adistance, but for my RV
(09:06):
travelers this is a incrediblyunique resort park.
Call it what you want to stayat.
I'm going to invite people togo again to campgroundsrvlifecom
.
They are a featured park.
I have not.
I've spoken to the owner, Ihave looked at their site and
(09:27):
their pictures and videos and Iam looking to visit in the
spring and it is hard todescribe the uniqueness of that
campground.
So people who are in the areacheck that out and I will add
that to the show notes.
But that said, I guess we'reoff to Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, and you know, I just remember one other quick
thing about Kentucky, and I'lljust this will be a general
statement again too, and I'm notan RVer, so this is something
that you would probably have toresearch on your own.
There are places along theMississippi where you can still
take a ferry to get from oneside to the other, and then
there is one that connectsHickman, kentucky, with rural
(10:06):
Missouri, so the Doreen andHickman ferry.
Again, it doesn't run if theriver is too high or too low.
Looking at a picture of itright now, and I think you could
probably fit an RV on there,but I don't know if they have
any restrictions on vehicle size.
Some of these ferries are usedto moving trucks.
This is an agricultural country, so they often will move trucks
(10:27):
loaded down with corn orsoybeans from one side to
another, so it's a really insome places that is.
The best way to get on theriver is to hop on one of these
ferries and ride from one sideto the other, and Dorena is the
last opportunity.
You have to do that until youget to the New Orleans area.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Okay, so that was in Kentucky, right.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
That was in Kentucky, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, great.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
So in Tennessee Tennessee again, like until you
get to Memphis is really ruralin that whole northeast section
of Tennessee and there's an areaup in the far corner, just
across the border from Kentucky,called Real Foot Lake.
That is a really interestingplace to visit.
It's a lake that was created bythe New Madrid earthquake of
(11:13):
1812.
So it's an old, like Oxbow Lake, with cypress swamps, and most
of the land around there at thispoint is public and protected
in one way or another.
There is National WildlifeRefuge around some of it, there
are some state protected areasand it's a fairly popular place
to go for a weekend or to fish.
(11:33):
So there are campgrounds andthere's some lodging around
there.
Not a lot of places to eat.
So you know you'll probablywant to make sure you have done
some grocery shopping if you'regoing to be staying around there
.
I've always struggled when I'mdown there, trying to figure out
where to go out to eat if Ididn't bring food with me.
But it's otherwise.
It's a beautiful area and youcan hike around the lake and
(11:57):
there are park rangers that giveguided nature walks and you
might even be able to rent aboat like a canoe or something
to get out on the water too, sothat's a beautiful spot.
I know at the National WildlifeRefuge section they do
occasional guided canoe toursthrough parts of the refuge, so
if you can manage that, thattends to be late spring to early
(12:20):
summer when they do those.
So heading into the South now sothe seasons matter a lot People
may not want to go to Minnesotain December or January.
I don't know why.
Frankly, I love going up therein winter and then leaving, and
same like in the South, when youget into July, august, the heat
can be so oppressive it'sprobably not the ideal time to
(12:43):
go, so a lot of the can be sooppressive, it's probably not
the ideal time to go, so a lotof the recreational activities
tend to scale back that time ofyear as people take a break from
the heat.
So keep that in mind if you'regoing to visit.
I think it's probably best togo in spring, probably until May
or so, and then probablyOctober again is when it really
becomes ideal to go back.
And you're nodding your head.
(13:04):
So I think you probably havesome experience with these
weather variations.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Oh, my goodness, yes, and that is a big thing for
RVers.
And when we talk about RVersand I'm going to do an episode
on the things that new RVersshould consider weather is a big
one.
So it seems, now that I've beenin places, I shouldn't have
been during certain times of theyear.
(13:29):
It seems like that's obvious,but, yes, I agree with that.
So, as we're in Tennessee andwe're talking about that May
timeframe, a couple things goingon.
Nirvc that I have previouslythat I speak about on the
podcast has a location inLebanon, tennessee, and May 31st
(13:50):
they're doing the Music CityMotorhome Expo and this is a way
to be the first to see the 2026model year coaches and it's
from all the major manufacturers.
This event is incredible.
You can go, do all the testdriving you want, chat with
manufacturers, productdevelopers and engineers, and
they have three meals a day andincredible entertainment.
(14:12):
I was there last year and it isan incredible event.
Anybody in the Tennessee areathat just wants to stop in and
check out this event or lookingto buy their next unit, this
event or looking to buy theirnext unit.
The other thing I want to talkabout in Tennessee I stayed at a
place called Spacious Guys andit was Spacious Guys.
(14:33):
Bell Ridge no-transcript.
East coast, tennessee.
It's on the eastern side, soagain I'm not sure how close to
the river it is.
But as we RVers travel around,this campground is an incredible
campground, everything in thefeel of it, from the time you
(14:55):
enter the gate you walk in andregister, it's just got this
incredible feel.
That area of Tennessee is justbeautiful to explore in the
campground and around thecampground.
So I highly recommend that andI'll put all this in the show
notes.
But if we're done Tennessee,should we move into Arkansas?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Well, let me just highlight a couple other quick
places in Tennessee, becausethere are a lot of public lands
in Tennessee along theMississippi and many of them are
in the floodplain, so again yougot to check to make sure the
river's not flooding when you'rethere.
Chickasaw National WildlifeRefuge is massive and there's
lots of forests.
Most of it is set aside forconservation, but there are
(15:38):
places you can go for hikes andI would just touch base with a
park ranger if you're interestedin looking for a good hike or
two.
They do have some pretty goodinformation on their website.
Most of the hikes are prettyshort there.
It's not like you know you'renot going to go for a 20-mile
hike in the Chickasaw Refuge,but you might find a good two or
three-mile hike somewhere.
And then a couple of state parksI do want to mention, like the
(16:00):
Fort Pillow State Park isanother one that's kind of a mix
of history and recreation, soI've camped there a couple times
.
There's a nice littlecampground on top of the bluff,
but it's also a site of asignificant Civil War battle.
So most of the people who gothere are going for the Civil
War history.
So I highly recommend that, andthere is a hiking trail that
(16:22):
goes along the bluff that opensup this fantastic view, looking
up the Mississippi River fromthe bluff, and it just happens
to be in the right direction.
So if you can hike later in theday, you can catch a good
sunset from there.
And I'm cheating a little bithere because I'm forgetting some
of the names of these places,and that's fine.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And while you're cheating, I love my sunset, so
that sounds amazing to bestanding on the bluff looking at
the sunset.
That is one of my top things.
Favorite things to do is watchthe sunset.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I never get tired of it myself.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
No, you never do.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Again, I'm biased here, but I still think the best
sunsets around are along theMississippi.
So from what I hear.
Sunrise is pretty special too,but I'm not usually up early
enough to catch those.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Right, and a lot of times I'm not, but, if you can,
the times that I have gotten uplike when I was at the
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta andyou're getting up before 5 am,
you tend to catch some amazingsunrises.
So I do recommend people catcha sunrise at some point.
But yeah, that early morningisn't necessarily my favorite.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I will make my plug for the few sunrises that I've
caught.
You know that have caught onthe Mississippi is if you can do
it in fall, especially alongthe upper part of the
Mississippi, those fall mornings, I think, are really
atmospheric and if you catch itjust right, you know, after an
especially cool night, when youwake up there'll be like a mist
(17:53):
that's hanging over the river.
I like to think of it as, likethese river spirits are just
sort of hanging over the waterand they will gradually float
away and burn off as the suncomes up.
And when you get mixed thatwith some of the colors as the
sun is coming up over thehorizon, those can be some
pretty special moments too.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
And I want to stop for a second and again tell
people that they can hear somuch more about you at
MississippiValleyTravelercom.
But you also have MississippiValley Podcast and I had told
you when we did ourpre-interview that listening to
you on the podcast, I just feltlike I was listening to a
(18:32):
storyteller.
Truly just I could feel myselfthere, and I'm feeling that same
way now as you're talking aboutit.
So thank you for that.
It's really just incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Absolutely.
You know, patty, maybe one ofthese days, you know, you'll
come by my area and we'll we'llfind a place where we can camp
and I'll wake you up early inthe morning and we'll make some
coffee and we'll watch the suncome up.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
So that sounds amazing for me.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And then we'll take a nap in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
There you go.
Sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
The last thing I'll mention in Tennessee, like
Memphis, is obviously a greatcultural capital, so you have to
visit.
If you can spend some time inMemphis visiting the cultural
sites, you should do that.
But just north of Memphis, Meemand Shelby Forest State Park,
right on the Mississippi a bigstate park, lots of places to
camp there.
It's a very popular place to goas well and it's got a lot more
(19:22):
hiking trails than some of theother places in Tennessee along
the Mississippi and there's somedirt bike trails and it's also
bike friendly along the parkroad.
So it offers a really good mixof different kinds of ecosystems
.
You can visit from things inthe floodplain to these forests
on top of the loft, so I reallyam a big fan of that park as
well.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Great.
Are we still in Tennessee, didwe I?
It doesn't matter how much time, you're never going to cover
everything there is to cover.
So I'm very thankful for all ofyour books that you've written
and all the materials thatpeople can really dive in, as
much as you know they want,because, again, it's just a
wealth of information.
As they want, because, again,it's just a wealth of
(20:05):
information.
Okay, are?
we ready to go to Arkansas.
Go on, okay, let's go on.
We're going south, and rightnow I'm in Pennsylvania.
It is February, the end ofFebruary.
We're recording this.
It is cold, so I wouldn't mindbeing south, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It's about 60 degrees today here in St Louis, so I'm
getting some spring fever.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I'm jealous.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, in Arkansas again, it's going to be a little
bit like the other states inthat there's very few cities
right on the Mississippi throughthis stretch.
There are some parks to visit,there's some really fantastic
places to visit, but there's notmuch in the way of big parks.
To essentially build one long,continuous bike trail on top of
(20:52):
the levees south of Memphisalong the Arkansas side of the
Mississippi and you can do someof those stretches now.
So if you bring a bicycle withyou, you could pick a stretch of
(21:15):
that.
They have really good maps thatshow you where you can access
the trails or where you can park, and it's not anything you
could do as a loop.
You'd have to double back ifyou wanted to get back to where
you started okay, so and I'm notsure you even know this I have
an electric bike perfect youknow?
Speaker 1 (21:33):
okay good, because I I'm thinking I'm going to get
there by pedaling, but I'm goingto need some assistance getting
back.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Okay, great yeah, and these are still pretty flat.
There's not much in the way ofelevation change along these.
It's just like if you're goingto do 20 miles or so by 10 miles
there and 10 miles back, thatelectric assist will come in
handy on those 10 miles backright.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Absolutely, absolutely, a must-have.
Yes, I'm grateful for myelectric bike.
Sounds like a good place tomake use of it.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
They're awesome.
That's on my short list ofthings to get to.
So that's the Big River Trailyou might want to check out, and
let's just kind of go on down alittle bit.
The one community that ispretty much that is right on the
Mississippi is Helena.
It's technically Helena slashWest Helena Again kind of a rich
(22:24):
cultural history in this area.
There's a city park that'sright on the Mississippi.
That's a great place to stopand get a good view of the river
.
If you have access to a boat,like if you brought a canoe or
kayaks with you, you couldpaddle upstream not quite as bad
as it sounds from that park toget big.
(22:45):
I'm blanking on the name BuckIsland.
That was quick OK so you couldpaddle up there.
It's a short paddle and thenyou can spend a day hiking
around one of the bigger islandsin the middle of the
Mississippi, so there's no wayto drive to it.
It's entirely surrounded bywater, but there are options to
(23:09):
paddle up to that and explorethat undeveloped island, so
that'd be pretty cool.
Helena is also the center ofwhere the King Biscuit Blues
Festival takes place.
So if you're into blues and youlike festivals, I believe it's
where the king biscuit bluesfestival takes place.
So if you're into blues, uh,and you like festivals, I
believe it's fall, like I wantto say october, but you probably
(23:30):
should look that up.
I have not been to it yetmyself.
I know it draws a pretty goodsized crowd, uh, but uh, I will.
Yeah, it's one of those kind ofessential experiences when you
get into south.
Right, even if you're not ahuge blues fan, you got to find
some place to go listen to someblues while you're there, and
King Biscuit Blues Festival is away to do that.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Sounds like something , yes, that people absolutely
should check out.
I love festivals, so thatsounds cool.
Blues music I can you know Ienjoy.
It might not be my favorite,but I certainly enjoy and being
down there in the South it'scertainly one of those things
that you have to do.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yep absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
How about food down there?
I'm sure by now the types offood has changed drastically,
right?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, it's going to be a little harder to find a
good salad, you know, and ifyou're a vegetarian, you know it
might be a bit of a struggle insome of these places.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
And spicy food I found when I was down there.
Everything was like soul food,is that what they call it and
it's all spicy, which I don't do, so, yeah, a little more
difficult, but for those peoplethat like this spice and are not
vegetarians or vegans, probablya good place to be.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Right, and probably most everything is going to be
deep fried, so even thevegetables tend to be deep fried
.
So, yeah, prepare for that.
A catfish will be.
They wanted to know if I wantedit river caught or farm raised.
(25:11):
So most catfish that you eat inrestaurants and you buy
commercially is farm raised.
But there are some places alongthe Mississippi where they will
serve you catfish that wascaught fresh in the Mississippi,
so that's an option.
And then they wanted to knowwhether I wanted steaks or
(25:33):
fillets.
I think that was it.
It's just how it's cutbasically.
So if you're not used to I'venever had that happen since like
so, but I'm sure there areother places where you may get
those questions you may get theoption at least of whether you
want some locally caught catfishor farm-raised.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Interesting Okay, good to know.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, what else should we do in Arkansas?
Well, there's an archaeologicalsite up around Memphis that I
also really like a lot.
It's Hampson Archaeological,something or other.
I should look this up.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Okay, you look it up and that does sound like
something I would be veryinterested in.
And while you're looking it up,I'm actually I'm delayed Give
you time to look it up A lot ofthose.
So, when it comes toarchaeological sites, I think
it'd be really cool to havesomebody that explains what's
there.
We I took a helicopter over theGrand Canyon and the pilot was
(26:31):
able to explain some of thearchaeological information that
was there.
It was just a little bit of it,but it was very intriguing.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think you get a deeper
appreciation for the history ofthese areas when you get to do
this, because people lived alongthe Mississippi for at least
10,000 years and there are spotshere and there where you can
get some insights and some peekinto those cultures of the
(27:04):
people who lived alongMississippi.
So it's Hampson ArchaeologicalMuseum State Park and it's right
at Wilson, arkansas, which is alittle north of Memphis, and
one of the things that I likeabout this place is they have a
really good collection ofartifacts, so pottery, daily
(27:24):
items, everyday items used inlife.
This section of the Mississippi, kind of around where the
Arkansas River meets theMississippi today, is basically
in the Memphis area.
At one time it was heavilypopulated.
There were more people livingthere in 1500 than there are
today.
So there are several differentsites here and there that give
(27:47):
you.
There are archaeological sitesthat spotlight that history,
that period of time, and tellyou about those communities.
I like the Hampson Museumarchaeological site because
there's so many of thesetangible artifacts you can see,
you know heads and bowls and allkinds of interesting pieces
that were created for ceremonialuse and for everyday use, so
(28:09):
it's a highly recommended spot.
Let's just wrap it up Arkansaswith one other spot.
The Chico Lake is an old oxbowof the Mississippi but it's huge
.
Yeah, it's a very big lake.
At one time it was part of themain channel of the river and
then the river diverted, changedchannel and cut that off.
But today it's a pretty populararea to visit.
(28:33):
So there are lots of campingaround there, some big
campgrounds and then the lakeitself.
People will go boating out onthe lake and there's some hiking
not too far away and that'skind of down in the southeast
part of Arkansas and that isLake Village.
I think, yeah, lake Village,arkansas is the community that's
(28:54):
right there.
But there are a couple, threedifferent parks right around
that big lake, so good place tochill.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Sounds like it, wow, and it's warmer, so you're
talking my language a littlemore here.
Okay, so did we wrap upArkansas?
We ready to move into Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Well, let's do Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Oh, you want to do Mississippi first.
Okay, I will let you takecontrol of my podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Okay, you're the answer, if you don't mind, then
we'll finish up with Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Not at all.
Let's do Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So Mississippi has a few places I really do want to
highlight too, and again it'sthat mix of like cultural sites
with a few places you can reallyget into the rivers world
itself.
Tunica County River Park isjust south of Memphis.
Tunica, mississippi is an oldDelta community.
There are a lot of casinos inthat region, in that area today,
(29:49):
but there's a really good riverhistory museum right next to
the Mississippi and next to thecasinos and there's also a nice
section of woods around it thatyou can go hike in if it's not
too muddy or if the river's nottoo high.
So that's at Tunica CountyRiver Park.
I recommend a stop there.
(30:10):
From there let's see If youventure away from the river a
little bit.
So much of this part ofMississippi before the Civil War
were really thick swamps,mostly cypress swamps.
Civil War were really thickswamps, mostly cypress swamps.
Most of that was cut down anddrained for the cotton fields
you see today.
So it's one of those thingsthat's kind of hard to imagine.
(30:30):
As you're driving through thearea today you see all this flat
land and all these agriculturalfields.
It's hard to imagine that thatwas all one thick swamp, but
that's what it was.
So there's this area about anhour hour and a half east of the
Mississippi Skylake WildlifeManagement Area that has
(30:51):
preserved this small little bitof old growth cypress tupelo
swamp and there's a boardwalkthat takes you that you can walk
on to get deeper into the swamp.
I really I highly recommend astop there as well.
Again, I would say spring orfall would be ideal, and
midsummer it's going to be, youknow, uncomfortably warm and
(31:15):
muggy and lots of bugs, butspring and fall would be an
awesome time to visit there.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
You're saying swamp, so I'm going to go to.
What do I have to be concernedabout?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
We're talking swamp alligators and you probably
won't see any alligators there.
It's just kind of at thenorthern edge of their range.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Okay, good to know.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, but there will be snakes.
You might see some snakes.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Again with the snakes .
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, sorry.
I can just kind of keep an eyeout for them and keep a
respectful distance.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Oh, I'm more than willing to keep a distance that
is not a problem yeah, uh, Ihear you especially like.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
If you're not great at identifying the different
kinds of stakes, it's just bestto give them a wide berth.
But there's, like I said,there's a boardwalk, uh, so
you're above the water levelquite a bit, depending depending
upon the time of year.
So really it's more of themosquitoes that probably might
get annoying after a while.
(32:28):
The cultural centers likeClarksdale, mississippi is a
traditional blues town.
There's still a couple of clubsthat you can go to that have
blues regularly.
One of those clubs is GroundZero, is co-owned by the actor
Morgan Freeman.
So if you get lucky, you mightshow up some night when Morgan
(32:56):
Freeman is hanging out and youcan maybe strike up a
conversation if he's in the moodfor it.
But otherwise, the Blueshistory is the centerpiece of
that town's identity today andpeople from around the world go
to Clarksdale for that.
It's also the home of theQuapaw Canoe Company.
So if you want to put your RVaside for a little bit and get
in a canoe and go out on theMississippi under your own power
(33:18):
, the Quapaw Canoe Company takespeople out on guided tours.
They take them out in bigcanoes.
They're like 29-footVoyager-style canoes that can
hold 10 people, 12 peopledepending on how much gear, and
they will do day trips.
So if you just want a littletaste of it, or they will do
longer trips where you couldcamp a night or more on an
(33:40):
island in the middle ofMississippi and they'll take
care of all the arrangements foryou for doing that.
So for me, like this is likethe cultural sites are great.
If you really want toexperience the river itself, you
know you have to figure out away to get on the water and I
think to the Quapaw CanoeCompany that's really the best
way to do that.
There are a couple other placesassociated with them that will
(34:03):
do some day trips, some shortertours in kayaks or canoes on the
Mississippi as well Memphis,vicksburg, a couple other places
, so you might check into thatas well.
But uh, the quapaw canoecompany in clarksdale, they're
the masters and uh, john ruskyis, uh, is the master river rat
for all of us that we all admire.
(34:24):
So, um, so clarksdale has that.
And then when you get a littlefurther south, you know you get
into the ot bellum.
South you've got vicksburg andnatchez, both on bluffs,
overlooking the Mississippi.
Different kinds of experiencesthere.
Vicksburg, the primary draw isthe Civil War history, the siege
(34:44):
of Vicksburg.
That was a turning point in theCivil War and there's a big
national park site that you cantake as much time as you want to
explore that area and really godeep into what happened around
that lengthy battle and thatsiege.
And then the downtown area.
It's got a kind of a smallhistoric downtown with some
(35:07):
locally owned businesses, someplaces to eat and the Corps of
Engineers has a river museum inthat area as well.
But for most folks it's theCivil war history that draws
people to vicksburg.
And then natchez is the oppositeend of that.
It's kind of that antebellumsouth history.
You know it's the place where alot of plantation owners built
(35:27):
their mansions to show off.
So there are lots of big oldhistoric homes in natchez.
I think at one time the cityclaimed more millionaires per
capita than anywhere in the US.
So it's got that history, thatpre-Civil War history, where you
can tour some of these mansions, learn about the slave culture
(35:49):
and Southern history.
And it's just also like thisit's a river town with such a
big and deep history to it, uh,and just about any kind of story
about the river you want tofind, you can probably find it
in Natchez, but good, it's alsogood places to eat a lot of bed
and breakfasts, um, and then StCatherine Creek National
(36:11):
Wildlife Refuge is just south oftown.
It's a good place to again tokind of get close to the
Mississippi and experience someof those different kinds of
ecosystems that exist next tothe river.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So a lot of my RV listeners are traveling with
kids and you know certainly thehistory, their schooling,
homeschooling, road schoolingand but you know so many adults
my really good friend would loveto go to these places and learn
(36:46):
more about the Civil War andyou know, actually being where
it happened.
How cool is that?
So a lot of great information,a lot of great things.
Just in Mississippi there's alot of great things to see.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Absolutely.
And that Vicksburg, the BattleNational Park, just you get such
a good sense of how much itaffected the entire country
because there was thesemonuments all throughout the
historic site to troops fromPennsylvania, from Wisconsin,
from every state you know.
(37:22):
So you really get a sense ofthe scale of this conflict, of
this war, and how it pulledpeople from all across the
country.
I will say, like you know myslight editorial hate when it
comes to Natchez and theplantation tours, there's still
some places I think thatsoft-pedal that history too much
.
They're getting a little bitbetter, but I think there's
(37:44):
still a reluctance to really gotoo deep into the full history
of how that economy wasdependent on slaves and how
enslaved people were treated,how that economy was dependent
on slaves and how enslavedpeople were treated.
You can get some of that andthere are smaller museums in
particular that present thatstory in depth.
Natchez has one.
(38:05):
So I definitely I think it'simportant to get the full
picture for me when I'mtraveling around.
I don't want just the highlycurated and polished version of
history, I want to see all thewarts too.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
And it's part of our past and we need to understand
it all.
I agree.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
I agree with that and Mississippi also like well you
know the blues history like,which grew out of some of those
horrific conditions.
Mississippi has a blues trailthat they've designated.
You can drive, you can downloada map from the state tourism
(38:45):
website that takes you todifferent sites around the state
that are tied to differentaspects of blues history and
blues musicians.
There's a museum for BB King,for example, in Indianola.
So if you're going to be inthat area you know, driving down
along Mississippi through thatstate then I think you're
probably going to want to takesome time to explore that wider
history as well.
And one of the unique foodsdown in the Delta are tamales,
(39:09):
and it's not what you mightthink.
It's a hybrid version oftamales that brings in
African-American food traditionsand mixes them with Mexican
food traditions and you get awhole new product out of it.
So if you're down in the Deltaand you see signs for tamales
it's not what you think it is.
You should definitely try one.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I'm assuming it's spicy though.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
It could be.
It's not always spicy, oh okay,but it might be.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I'll have to look for the ones that aren't.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah, it's good to ask yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
I'm a wimp when it comes to spices and that was my
you know, tough time in theMississippi Louisiana area.
But okay, so I'll check beforeI bite into it.
That sounds I mean, that soundsamazing.
I'm going to want Mexican foodnow tonight.
Thanks, you're welcome.
Okay, that's what dinner isthere?
(40:00):
We go All kinds of suggestions.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Anything else I can help with, you know.
If you need, yeah, so just askthem.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Where to see the sunrise.
Food for tonight yes, great,you've covered a lot of it.
Yeah, okay, so anything else inMississippi?
Is there anything else we'reready to?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
I think we should probably move on.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Okay, let's move on to Louisiana Now.
I did spend some time inLouisiana.
I wish I could remember thearea.
I don't think it was near theMississippi, that was near the
Mississippi, you know.
So, again, each state, aspeople travel, each state has
their own types of foods,obviously, and they do a lot of
(40:44):
fried food.
I had my fried seafood.
I was very happy.
A lot of that Creole, I guessit's called soul food, and you
know those different types offlavors.
But I'll let you take Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Well, I mean, probably the first thing to say
is, when you're in Louisiana,just eat.
You know the variety of food.
The quality of the food is verygood.
You're going to find a lot offresh seafood and fish
everywhere you go and I wouldsay, just enjoy as much of that
as you can everywhere you go.
A lot of the cafes in smalltowns are really really good
(41:20):
right, and they're often workingwith food that they just bought
, you know, from some localpurveyor.
So that is kind of one of thehigh level tips about traveling
down there is check out thelocal cafes and don't be afraid
to go in and try something there.
It's so like the Mississippi isa very different experience in
(41:42):
through the, through Louisiana.
Again, it's a much bigger riverand there are it's going to be
harder to get to it in mostplaces.
I don't think we'll really takemuch time at all to talk about
New Orleans on this In thisconversation.
People, there's so much outthere.
On new orleans, I will say like, um, there are some, um,
(42:04):
national or not national parks.
There are some conservationareas that are really close to
new orleans.
Some of them are nationalwildlife refuges, some are more
state run.
Uh, if you have a chance tovisit some of those definitely
do that.
So Bayou Sauvage is just on theedge of town on the east side
(42:24):
of New Orleans, and it's afantastic place just to walk
around.
Again, it's more swamp, butit's swamp kind of where the
Mississippi is starting to mergewith the sea, so you get
different kinds of wildlife thanyou do in other parts of
further north where it's justall freshwater swamp and I'm
(42:44):
blanking on the name again now.
So I'll just look this up realquick.
The place most people will visitif they want swamp tours from
New Orleans is the Jean LafitteNational Historic Park and
Preserve, and it is a fantasticplace and it's an easy drive
from New Orleans is the JeanLafitte National Historic Park
and Preserve, and it is afantastic place and it's an easy
drive from New Orleans proper.
I think I got there in lessthan 45 minutes from the French
Quarter and there's a mix ofexperiences you can get down
(43:07):
there from.
You know there's some placesyou can do some short hikes
through swampy areas.
There are boat tours throughthe swamps.
You know those airboats,sometimes in airboats, sometimes
an airboat, sometimes inquieter boats, and then there
are some folks who do guidedkayak tours through the swamps
as well.
So in an area known as HoneyIsland, which is along the Pearl
(43:29):
River just east of New Orleans,I did a kayak tour through
there.
That was a lot of fun.
So I think probably the thinghere, when you get down into
this part of the river inLouisiana again, you've got some
of the cultural sites.
St Francisville is a prettyhistoric village to visit with a
pretty good art scene, littleart galleries, probably more of
(43:53):
a day trip kind of thing, butthen it's just looking for these
places where you might be ableto do a kayak tour somewhere and
then really eating as much asyou can eat, you know,
experiencing the food culture asmuch as you can.
And then the areas that kind ofborder around like puncture
terrain.
There's several parks andprotected areas around there and
(44:14):
some of those again have bigparks with campgrounds and then
maybe some opportunities to renta canoe or a kayak and go out
on the water a little bit too.
All of that is fantastic.
This is an area where you mightencounter alligators, so I
don't know how do you feel aboutalligators?
Speaker 1 (44:34):
So I don't know, how do you feel about alligators?
So I spend a lot of time inFlorida and anytime you see
water there's a potential foralligators, they seem to.
I don't want one coming up tome, let me say it that way.
But if they're at a distance,in their own environment, you do
you, I'll do me.
Let's not bother each other.
But I don't want to get close.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
Does that?
Speaker 1 (44:59):
how's that sound?
Okay, yeah, right, yeahabsolutely, that's fair.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
I did a couple of kayak tours where we were on the
water and there were alligatorsnearby and it feels a little
odd, but from what everybody hassaid, like alligators are not
the least bit aggressive towardpeople, so I wouldn't recommend
going for a swim necessarilythere.
But if you're in a kayak andyou're paddling through there,
you're going to be absolutelyfine, and I did guided tours in
(45:26):
the Manchac Swamp and then onHoney Island, like I said.
So I'm there with people whohave a lot of experience
paddling through.
I really would recommend thatas a starting point.
Especially even if you're anexperienced paddler, I think it
would be good to probably gowith a guided tour, because
there's such a labyrinth ofchannels through some of these
swamps.
(45:46):
I think it'd be really easy tolose your bearings and have
trouble finding your way backout if you're not familiar with
it.
So I think the guided tours areprobably the best way to do
that, and for many of them youdon't even have to have any real
experience handling the kayak.
They do tours with people whoit might be their first time
(46:07):
sitting in a kayak.
So I think that's a good way todo it and it gets you on the
water and you always see morefrom the water than you do
standing on the shore anyway.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Oh, totally, and that sounds amazing.
I agree, you know, do theguided tour, get the bearings,
understand and then go out onyour own.
That's good advice and thatsounds.
That's right up my alley.
Sounds amazing.
If I'm on a guided tour andthere's other people and there's
an alligator, maybe I won'tscream so bad.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Just watch out for the snakes dangling in the trees
.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, I'm out, I'm done.
Listen, if I have nightmaresabout snakes tonight, you're
getting a call tomorrow at like5 am, okay, just so we're clear
All right, fair enough.
Okay, okay, okay.
So Louisiana, are we now at thetip of the Mississippi, where?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
are we?
Yeah, I think maybe one of thethings that people forget is
that the Mississippi does notend at New Orleans.
There's another hundred plusmiles of river from there, and
the Great River Road doescontinue on past New Orleans to
the little town of Venice,louisiana.
That's where the pavement ends.
There are lots of places withinthat Delta region where you can
(47:29):
follow roads until they end atsome old town, on the bayou or
in a backwater area.
Some of them get a littlenarrow, so if you're driving a
big RV again, you may want to dosome research before driving
down there, and it can be verydifficult sometimes to find a
place to turn around once youget down the road a couple miles
(47:50):
.
But there are some places thatare really fantastic when you
get closer to the Gulf.
I won't go into too much ofthat, but there's a place called
Elmer's Island.
It's a state refuge that iskind of at the end of the road
when you go south of New Orleanstoward Grand Isle.
(48:12):
It's around Grand Isle but ahuge beach, and when I've been
there a couple of times I'vebeen there there's almost nobody
around.
So and now of course I'mtelling this on a podcast I know
everybody's going to know aboutit, but it's a really nice
wildlife area because it's, youknow, it's mostly it's an island
(48:34):
with some coastal habitats, alot of birds around, and then
you've got this expansive beachthat is almost never very busy.
So there are places like thatall along the Gulf Coast.
I think that's along a sidechannel of the Mississippi, a
distributary channel from theMississippi that ends in that
area.
But gosh, there's just so muchto see and do down there.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
It sounds like each of these areas you could, we
could have done.
I'm sitting here thinking wecould have done a whole episode
on each of the 10 states youknow just covered the whole the
state near the river and just aseparate episode in each of
these states.
I want to let people know andagain, safety, most important
(49:20):
thing, when you're in an RV, Idon't care if you're in a
conversion van or a huge RV,like I drove.
Rv Life's trip planning RV LifePro suite of products will take
you on the safest route.
So the road you were talkingabout is not, for I was in a 40
foot.
I was towing my Jeep Does notsound like the place my RV
(49:43):
should go Turning around.
I don't wanna have to get outof the RV and disconnect the
Jeep and try and turn around.
That's a nightmare.
So everybody can avoid that.
Use Setup RV Life.
It asks you the height, theweight, the length, whether
you're towing.
It'll do all that for you andlet you know if that is a road
(50:03):
that you should or should not beon.
So safety, be safe is a bigpart of what we talked about.
Okay, we are now at the gulf.
You have gone from the top andpeople could go back if they
haven't already listened to partone.
We covered the upperMississippi River and that is
(50:24):
for people who don't know.
We covered Minnesota, wisconsin, iowa, illinois and Missouri,
and yes, I'm reading because Icannot remember.
We covered 10 states in twoepisodes and this has been
amazing.
Thank you so much.
We are not done yet, though.
(50:45):
I'm not letting you go.
First of all, I want to remindpeople that they can go to
MississippiValleyTravelercom toget in touch with you, to see
all there is about you.
There's such a wealth ofinformation.
You have books, you have blogs.
You have so much information.
You have the Mississippi ValleyTraveler podcast, which amazing
(51:10):
and, as I've said I think Isaid it in part one listening to
your voice, listening to youtell a story, I just felt like I
was there.
You truly paint pictures withyour words and it was just
mesmerizing listening to you.
People could also check outRoad Tripping the Great River
Road and that'll be on yourwebsite.
(51:32):
They can reach out to you onsocial media.
I'll put that in the show notes.
I do want to talk to peopleabout innovative toll solutions
because, as you're traveling onthose toll roads, this is a toll
pass that covers all 48 statescosts $24 for the whole year.
There's a link in the shownotes.
(51:53):
Best part is, if you should geta fine or there is a problem
with your toll, you just reachout to them and they take care
of it for you.
We talked last time.
We asked what was on yourbucket list and you said
Antarctica.
So you were talking about thatremote.
That's really remote.
I don't know a lot aboutantarctica, so why don't you
(52:16):
continue?
What is it about antarcticathat has you interested?
Speaker 2 (52:22):
um, I think it's partly because I like the
experience of being in placesthat really, uh, take me out of
my the world that's familiar tome.
I kind of seek out thoseexperiences when I travel,
especially when I'm able to dointernational travel, and the
landscape and the wildlife inAntarctica are just going to be
(52:45):
unlike anything that I'veexperienced before.
So I think fundamentally it'sabout that.
Speaker 1 (52:53):
Yeah, and again, I'm going to look into it.
Think about putting that on mybucket list because I do like
those different areas.
When I first started RVing fouryears ago, we were, hey, let's
go full time.
And you know, my husbandsuggested this.
I had never been in an RV.
I actually spent seven nightsin an RV total in an RV.
(53:17):
I actually spent seven nightsin an RV total.
And so he decided, during thepandemic, let's sell everything,
buy an RV and go travel acrossthe country.
And I thought he was joking.
So after I was done laughing, Isaid what would we do?
Like what does this look like?
I couldn't even fathom.
And he said, well, we can go toevery national park in the
country.
And three and a half years onthe road, full time, back and
(53:39):
forth across the country, threeand a half times.
And we went to zero nationalparks, not one national park.
Because it's like you said, Iliked the little town, the off
the beaten path road.
We were staying in Lake Meadand I saw this.
You know what looked like ruins.
(54:00):
We kept passing by it.
I'm like what is it?
And I started researching itand that, to me, was so cool.
We actually did a video on it,but it was just so cool to see
that place that most peopledidn't know about, and that's
what I appreciate about whatyou've shared today.
You've shared such a wealth ofinformation and I don't know
(54:22):
that, though the common thingsomebody goes to Louisiana, they
might go to New Orleans.
You're talking about thingsthat people may not be aware of,
and I love that and Iappreciate that.
Thank you for that aware of andI love that and I appreciate
that.
Thank you for that.
But it's now time for thecampground of the week and I
already mentioned the featurecampground is Firefly Hills in
(54:43):
Beatty, kentucky.
So those people you know,wanting to travel and get to the
Mississippi River, this goodstopping place and it is this RV
RV resort talks aboutexperience.
They want you to experience thewarm, welcoming environment
that makes everybody feel likehome.
It is a small resort.
They have 15 full hookup sites.
(55:07):
They also have the opportunityfor RV rentals and rooms in the
beautiful old historic farmhouseand they have glamping
experiences coming in the summer.
This RV park is near the RedRiver Gorge.
I've had her on the podcast,I've had the owner on the
podcast.
I'll put it in the show notes.
(55:27):
This place is one of the mostunique campgrounds.
I've heard of experience.
In the spring I will be goingthere and experiencing it for
myself.
And again, you can go tocampgroundsrvlifecom to find out
all about Firefly Hills,kentucky.
You can see all their picturesand their amenities, everything
(55:48):
about this site.
And the nice thing is you canbook right from that site.
You don't have to go anywherefrom that site.
You don't have to go anywhere.
You can book right there.
I talked about RV Life becausethe suite of products helps with
a lot of things that we talkedabout.
It'll help people find thosecampgrounds along the
Mississippi River, it'll helppeople to know where they can
(56:11):
navigate their RV, based on thesize and all of that.
So it is very helpful Anybodylooking to travel up and down
the Mississippi River.
Rv Life Pro is a great tool foryou to have.
I highly recommend it.
I just want to thank you somuch and I want to make sure my
(56:33):
listeners are reaching out toyou and or I, telling us about
their experience, telling usabout what they like, telling us
their thoughts, telling us whatthey don't like.
I'd really recommend that.
Speaker 2 (56:49):
And tell people again where they can reach you on
social media.
I'm on Instagram, at deanclink,and on Facebook.
If you just look up theMississippi Valley Traveler on
Facebook, you'll find a pagethere and you know.
If people want to contact medirectly, honestly, maybe the
best way you could send me anemail, and I probably shouldn't
(57:10):
put my email out there onpodcast, but I will Just you can
email me, dean attravelpassagescom.
If you have a question, if youquestion my judgment about
something, I'd love to hearabout that too and, as Patty
said, I would just I'd becurious to know what your
experiences are like if you comeand travel along this part of
the US.
Speaker 1 (57:28):
Great.
And all of this is also on yourwebsite because you have so
many, so much material, so much.
You have books, you have thepodcast, you have so much
information, you have blogs.
So I am going to keep leadingpeople to the website, where
they'll find everything in oneplace.
My social media is Instagramand Facebook at RV Life Podcast.
(57:49):
Reach out to me, I will makesure anything.
If you don't get in touch withDean, I will make that happen,
because we definitely want tohear from the listeners you, my
listeners.
Again, thank you so much forbeing on for two parts.
So much information.
I am very grateful.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
Well, thank you very much, and get out there and
explore the Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
I'm going to now that I've heard.
I just have to figure out whereto start.
There's so much to do, so thankyou for that.
Definitely on my bucket list.
Well, I want to thank mylisteners for tuning in for two
parts of the Mississippi Riverand I want to remind you life's
a journey.
Live each day to the fullest,without regret.
(58:37):
I'm Patty Hunt and you havebeen listening to the RV Life
Podcast.
Thank you.
This is part two of Hidden Gems along the mighty
Mississippi River.
My name is Patti Hunt and youare listening to the RV Life
Podcast.
If you missed part one, whichwas just last week, you may
(00:21):
wanna go back and listen.
My expert guest, deanKlinkenberg, from Mississippi
Valley Traveler, was on talkingabout the Upper Mississippi
River, the five states that theMississippi River runs through,
and gave so much valuableinformation information we knew
(00:47):
we needed a part two and we aregoing to jump into part two.
First, I want to talk aboutopen road resorts, with five
amazing locations in Idaho,nebraska, new Mexico and two
locations in Dallas.
These five locations arefeatured parks on the
RVLifeCampgroundscom featuredparks on the
RVLifeCampgroundscom app, so youcould go to
(01:09):
campgroundsrvlifecom and checkout all of these campgrounds and
what they have to offer.
Like I said, they are afeatured park and you could see
all the reviews from RVers whohave stayed at these parks, or
you could go toOpenRoadResortscom to find out
about these campgrounds.
Dean Klinkenberg is here.
(01:31):
He is back.
We are going to talk about thelower Mississippi River and get
back into it and I'm so excitedthere's been such a wealth of
information.
Again, I recommend people goingback and listening to what he
had to say about the five statesthat are in the upper
(01:52):
Mississippi River.
Okay, welcome back, dean.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hey, thanks for having me back.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Great, let's jump in, and we are going to go through
the five lower states and we'regoing to start with Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And I want to start with kind of an overview of the
lower Mississippi too.
I think it's a very differentkind of experience than the
upper part of the river, andpart of it is that the
Mississippi isn't quite asaccessible in the lower part of
the river and it's levied off.
They're very big levees.
(02:34):
It has a history of some reallytragic floods, so we've built
these giant levees that tend toseparate the Mississippi from
everything else.
So there aren't nearly as manycommunities right on the river
as there are on the upper partof the Mississippi and in some
places it's really hard to getto the river itself.
But having said that, thecultural and historical sites to
visit are still impressive andthere's still plenty to see and
(02:56):
do along the way.
So I think it's a matter ofkind of setting your
expectations, for when you crossdown into the lower part of the
river You're going to be divingmore into the cultural and
historical aspects and you'regoing to have to work harder if
you want to get to the riveritself and experience some of
the natural world of the river.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
As you say.
You know, getting there mightbe a little more challenging.
I think that's what a lot ofRVers are all about let's find
those places, let's hike out tothem, let's get to them.
So I think for a lot of my RVlisteners, you're talking their
language.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And I think the general tip to consider with all
of this too is especially ifyou want to have a chance to
really experience the riverdirectly that there aren't
nearly as many state parks alongthe lower part of the river,
but there are a lot of lessdeveloped areas that might be
called a state natural area or astate wildlife area, and I
(03:54):
would really look to those kindsof places as sites that you
might consider going to toreally get near the river itself
.
Again, pay attention to whetheror not the river is in flood
stage, because some of thesesites will be completely
inaccessible during high waterperiods.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And, as we talked about before we go to that, as
we talk for people who didn'tlisten to part two, I'm going to
recommend they go back andlisten.
But if you haven't, whileyou're talking, just to let
people know that you're not anRVer, you've not done that.
You do know of some.
You know campgrounds you talkedabout.
(04:33):
The road is a highway and it'spretty easy to navigate in an RV
.
For those people, as you talkabout these different areas, to
find a campground whether it's acity, state, national park, BLM
land, private campground theycan go to campgroundsrvlifecom
(04:53):
or on Trip Wizard, which is allpart of the RV Life Pro suite of
products, and you can center inon an area from Trip Wizard to
find a campground in the area ofthese places you're talking
about.
So to help our RV friends tofind the camping that works best
for them, that is a resource asthey listen to these cool
(05:18):
places to visit.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Absolutely.
And keep in mind too, like someof these lesser, some of these
state natural areas and wildlifeareas, the places you might go
to get closer to the river.
Once you leave the main road,you know you might be on a dirt
road or a gravel road, so ifit's rained you know it might be
a bit of a mess, it might be amuddy mess in some places.
So, yeah, I have another bookcalled the Wild Mississippi that
(05:42):
goes.
That describes just the stateparks and public lands where you
can go along the Mississippi.
I chose places that were themost accessible to get to, that
you wouldn't have to have a fourwheel drive vehicle to get to.
So you might check that bookfor some ideas too.
But keep in mind again, likethe quality of the roads can
vary when you get off the mainGreat River Road, right there,
(06:07):
yeah.
So in Kentucky I think when weget talking Kentucky and
Tennessee now, they have muchsmaller sections of road along
the Mississippi or shorelinealong the Mississippi, so there
are fewer places to visit inthere.
And Kentucky in particular isalmost entirely rural in its
stretch along the Mississippi.
So when you cross the riverfrom Cairo, illinois into
(06:32):
Kentucky, the first town you seeis Wycliffe, and Wycliffe has a
historic site of NativeAmerican mounds and an old
community that was built on thatsite.
I think the Wycliffe Mountainsis a good place to visit for
some of that history ofindigenous communities in North
America and they do a reallygood job of explaining what life
(06:55):
was like in that community andthey have a couple of exhibits
that showcase a little bit ofthe work of archaeologists and
how they go about researching asite and digging and trying to
figure out what's what.
So that's a good place to visit.
The other really main site tovisit, I think on the Kentucky
side, is going to be ColumbusBelmont State Park and that's
(07:18):
one of the few places you canget to on the lower Mississippi
that has an overlook.
So in this part of the river,in the upper part of the
Mississippi, the bluffs werebuilt by water that carved out
rock and dug down.
So especially as the glaciersmelted, they cut through and cut
deep through the rock Along thelower Mississippi.
(07:40):
Wind picked up fine sedimentand blew it and built up the
hills along the lowerMississippi.
So Wycliffe sorry, wycliffeColumbus Belmont State Park is
on one kind of these hills thatwere built up by this fine
sediment that blew across theriver and grew taller and taller
(08:01):
, so it's a good place to visit.
I know there's a campgroundthere, but it's also a historic
site.
There's some Civil War history.
I think that's one of the othermain attractions For me.
When I think about this part ofthe lower Mississippi, a lot of
what's going to interest me,and maybe what interests other
travelers, would be the historyof indigenous communities, which
(08:21):
runs deep through here, andthen the Civil War history.
There's also many, many sitesthat go deep into the Civil War
history and the antebellum South.
So yeah, that's about.
I mean, those are thehighlights for Kentucky.
Really Just a couple of placesthat probably you'd be
(08:41):
interested in visiting.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And I want to share.
In Kentucky now this is I don'tknow how far east, but it's
quite a bit east of theMississippi River, but people
traveling across there is acampground called Firefly Hills
and it is in Beattie, kentucky,and again, I don't know that
it's right near the Mississippi.
As a matter of fact it's adistance, but for my RV
(09:06):
travelers this is a incrediblyunique resort park.
Call it what you want to stayat.
I'm going to invite people togo again to campgroundsrvlifecom
.
They are a featured park.
I have not.
I've spoken to the owner, Ihave looked at their site and
(09:27):
their pictures and videos and Iam looking to visit in the
spring and it is hard todescribe the uniqueness of that
campground.
So people who are in the areacheck that out and I will add
that to the show notes.
But that said, I guess we'reoff to Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, and you know, I just remember one other quick
thing about Kentucky, and I'lljust this will be a general
statement again too, and I'm notan RVer, so this is something
that you would probably have toresearch on your own.
There are places along theMississippi where you can still
take a ferry to get from oneside to the other, and then
there is one that connectsHickman, kentucky, with rural
(10:06):
Missouri, so the Doreen andHickman ferry.
Again, it doesn't run if theriver is too high or too low.
Looking at a picture of itright now, and I think you could
probably fit an RV on there,but I don't know if they have
any restrictions on vehicle size.
Some of these ferries are usedto moving trucks.
This is an agricultural country, so they often will move trucks
(10:27):
loaded down with corn orsoybeans from one side to
another, so it's a really insome places that is.
The best way to get on theriver is to hop on one of these
ferries and ride from one sideto the other, and Dorena is the
last opportunity.
You have to do that until youget to the New Orleans area.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Okay, so that was in Kentucky, right.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
That was in Kentucky, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, great.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
So in Tennessee Tennessee again, like until you
get to Memphis is really ruralin that whole northeast section
of Tennessee and there's an areaup in the far corner, just
across the border from Kentucky,called Real Foot Lake.
That is a really interestingplace to visit.
It's a lake that was created bythe New Madrid earthquake of
(11:13):
1812.
So it's an old, like Oxbow Lake, with cypress swamps, and most
of the land around there at thispoint is public and protected
in one way or another.
There is National WildlifeRefuge around some of it, there
are some state protected areasand it's a fairly popular place
to go for a weekend or to fish.
(11:33):
So there are campgrounds andthere's some lodging around
there.
Not a lot of places to eat.
So you know you'll probablywant to make sure you have done
some grocery shopping if you'regoing to be staying around there
.
I've always struggled when I'mdown there, trying to figure out
where to go out to eat if Ididn't bring food with me.
But it's otherwise.
It's a beautiful area and youcan hike around the lake and
(11:57):
there are park rangers that giveguided nature walks and you
might even be able to rent aboat like a canoe or something
to get out on the water too, sothat's a beautiful spot.
I know at the National WildlifeRefuge section they do
occasional guided canoe toursthrough parts of the refuge, so
if you can manage that, thattends to be late spring to early
(12:20):
summer when they do those.
So heading into the South now sothe seasons matter a lot People
may not want to go to Minnesotain December or January.
I don't know why.
Frankly, I love going up therein winter and then leaving, and
same like in the South, when youget into July, august, the heat
can be so oppressive it'sprobably not the ideal time to
(12:43):
go, so a lot of the can be sooppressive, it's probably not
the ideal time to go, so a lotof the recreational activities
tend to scale back that time ofyear as people take a break from
the heat.
So keep that in mind if you'regoing to visit.
I think it's probably best togo in spring, probably until May
or so, and then probablyOctober again is when it really
becomes ideal to go back.
And you're nodding your head.
(13:04):
So I think you probably havesome experience with these
weather variations.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Oh, my goodness, yes, and that is a big thing for
RVers.
And when we talk about RVersand I'm going to do an episode
on the things that new RVersshould consider weather is a big
one.
So it seems, now that I've beenin places, I shouldn't have
been during certain times of theyear.
(13:29):
It seems like that's obvious,but, yes, I agree with that.
So, as we're in Tennessee andwe're talking about that May
timeframe, a couple things goingon.
Nirvc that I have previouslythat I speak about on the
podcast has a location inLebanon, tennessee, and May 31st
(13:50):
they're doing the Music CityMotorhome Expo and this is a way
to be the first to see the 2026model year coaches and it's
from all the major manufacturers.
This event is incredible.
You can go, do all the testdriving you want, chat with
manufacturers, productdevelopers and engineers, and
they have three meals a day andincredible entertainment.
(14:12):
I was there last year and it isan incredible event.
Anybody in the Tennessee areathat just wants to stop in and
check out this event or lookingto buy their next unit, this
event or looking to buy theirnext unit.
The other thing I want to talkabout in Tennessee I stayed at a
place called Spacious Guys andit was Spacious Guys.
(14:33):
Bell Ridge no-transcript.
East coast, tennessee.
It's on the eastern side, soagain I'm not sure how close to
the river it is.
But as we RVers travel around,this campground is an incredible
campground, everything in thefeel of it, from the time you
(14:55):
enter the gate you walk in andregister, it's just got this
incredible feel.
That area of Tennessee is justbeautiful to explore in the
campground and around thecampground.
So I highly recommend that andI'll put all this in the show
notes.
But if we're done Tennessee,should we move into Arkansas?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Well, let me just highlight a couple other quick
places in Tennessee, becausethere are a lot of public lands
in Tennessee along theMississippi and many of them are
in the floodplain, so again yougot to check to make sure the
river's not flooding when you'rethere.
Chickasaw National WildlifeRefuge is massive and there's
lots of forests.
Most of it is set aside forconservation, but there are
(15:38):
places you can go for hikes andI would just touch base with a
park ranger if you're interestedin looking for a good hike or
two.
They do have some pretty goodinformation on their website.
Most of the hikes are prettyshort there.
It's not like you know you'renot going to go for a 20-mile
hike in the Chickasaw Refuge,but you might find a good two or
three-mile hike somewhere.
And then a couple of state parksI do want to mention, like the
(16:00):
Fort Pillow State Park isanother one that's kind of a mix
of history and recreation, soI've camped there a couple times
.
There's a nice littlecampground on top of the bluff,
but it's also a site of asignificant Civil War battle.
So most of the people who gothere are going for the Civil
War history.
So I highly recommend that, andthere is a hiking trail that
(16:22):
goes along the bluff that opensup this fantastic view, looking
up the Mississippi River fromthe bluff, and it just happens
to be in the right direction.
So if you can hike later in theday, you can catch a good
sunset from there.
And I'm cheating a little bithere because I'm forgetting some
of the names of these places,and that's fine.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And while you're cheating, I love my sunset, so
that sounds amazing to bestanding on the bluff looking at
the sunset.
That is one of my top things.
Favorite things to do is watchthe sunset.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I never get tired of it myself.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
No, you never do.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Again, I'm biased here, but I still think the best
sunsets around are along theMississippi.
So from what I hear.
Sunrise is pretty special too,but I'm not usually up early
enough to catch those.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Right, and a lot of times I'm not, but, if you can,
the times that I have gotten uplike when I was at the
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta andyou're getting up before 5 am,
you tend to catch some amazingsunrises.
So I do recommend people catcha sunrise at some point.
But yeah, that early morningisn't necessarily my favorite.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I will make my plug for the few sunrises that I've
caught.
You know that have caught onthe Mississippi is if you can do
it in fall, especially alongthe upper part of the
Mississippi, those fall mornings, I think, are really
atmospheric and if you catch itjust right, you know, after an
especially cool night, when youwake up there'll be like a mist
(17:53):
that's hanging over the river.
I like to think of it as, likethese river spirits are just
sort of hanging over the waterand they will gradually float
away and burn off as the suncomes up.
And when you get mixed thatwith some of the colors as the
sun is coming up over thehorizon, those can be some
pretty special moments too.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
And I want to stop for a second and again tell
people that they can hear somuch more about you at
MississippiValleyTravelercom.
But you also have MississippiValley Podcast and I had told
you when we did ourpre-interview that listening to
you on the podcast, I just feltlike I was listening to a
(18:32):
storyteller.
Truly just I could feel myselfthere, and I'm feeling that same
way now as you're talking aboutit.
So thank you for that.
It's really just incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Absolutely.
You know, patty, maybe one ofthese days, you know, you'll
come by my area and we'll we'llfind a place where we can camp
and I'll wake you up early inthe morning and we'll make some
coffee and we'll watch the suncome up.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
So that sounds amazing for me.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And then we'll take a nap in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
There you go.
Sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
The last thing I'll mention in Tennessee, like
Memphis, is obviously a greatcultural capital, so you have to
visit.
If you can spend some time inMemphis visiting the cultural
sites, you should do that.
But just north of Memphis, Meemand Shelby Forest State Park,
right on the Mississippi a bigstate park, lots of places to
camp there.
It's a very popular place to goas well and it's got a lot more
(19:22):
hiking trails than some of theother places in Tennessee along
the Mississippi and there's somedirt bike trails and it's also
bike friendly along the parkroad.
So it offers a really good mixof different kinds of ecosystems
.
You can visit from things inthe floodplain to these forests
on top of the loft, so I reallyam a big fan of that park as
well.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Great.
Are we still in Tennessee, didwe I?
It doesn't matter how much time, you're never going to cover
everything there is to cover.
So I'm very thankful for all ofyour books that you've written
and all the materials thatpeople can really dive in, as
much as you know they want,because, again, it's just a
wealth of information.
As they want, because, again,it's just a wealth of
(20:05):
information.
Okay, are?
we ready to go to Arkansas.
Go on, okay, let's go on.
We're going south, and rightnow I'm in Pennsylvania.
It is February, the end ofFebruary.
We're recording this.
It is cold, so I wouldn't mindbeing south, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It's about 60 degrees today here in St Louis, so I'm
getting some spring fever.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I'm jealous.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, in Arkansas again, it's going to be a little
bit like the other states inthat there's very few cities
right on the Mississippi throughthis stretch.
There are some parks to visit,there's some really fantastic
places to visit, but there's notmuch in the way of big parks.
To essentially build one long,continuous bike trail on top of
(20:52):
the levees south of Memphisalong the Arkansas side of the
Mississippi and you can do someof those stretches now.
So if you bring a bicycle withyou, you could pick a stretch of
(21:15):
that.
They have really good maps thatshow you where you can access
the trails or where you can park, and it's not anything you
could do as a loop.
You'd have to double back ifyou wanted to get back to where
you started okay, so and I'm notsure you even know this I have
an electric bike perfect youknow?
Speaker 1 (21:33):
okay good, because I I'm thinking I'm going to get
there by pedaling, but I'm goingto need some assistance getting
back.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Okay, great yeah, and these are still pretty flat.
There's not much in the way ofelevation change along these.
It's just like if you're goingto do 20 miles or so by 10 miles
there and 10 miles back, thatelectric assist will come in
handy on those 10 miles backright.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Absolutely, absolutely, a must-have.
Yes, I'm grateful for myelectric bike.
Sounds like a good place tomake use of it.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
They're awesome.
That's on my short list ofthings to get to.
So that's the Big River Trailyou might want to check out, and
let's just kind of go on down alittle bit.
The one community that ispretty much that is right on the
Mississippi is Helena.
It's technically Helena slashWest Helena Again kind of a rich
(22:24):
cultural history in this area.
There's a city park that'sright on the Mississippi.
That's a great place to stopand get a good view of the river
.
If you have access to a boat,like if you brought a canoe or
kayaks with you, you couldpaddle upstream not quite as bad
as it sounds from that park toget big.
(22:45):
I'm blanking on the name BuckIsland.
That was quick OK so you couldpaddle up there.
It's a short paddle and thenyou can spend a day hiking
around one of the bigger islandsin the middle of the
Mississippi, so there's no wayto drive to it.
It's entirely surrounded bywater, but there are options to
(23:09):
paddle up to that and explorethat undeveloped island, so
that'd be pretty cool.
Helena is also the center ofwhere the King Biscuit Blues
Festival takes place.
So if you're into blues and youlike festivals, I believe it's
where the king biscuit bluesfestival takes place.
So if you're into blues, uh,and you like festivals, I
believe it's fall, like I wantto say october, but you probably
(23:30):
should look that up.
I have not been to it yetmyself.
I know it draws a pretty goodsized crowd, uh, but uh, I will.
Yeah, it's one of those kind ofessential experiences when you
get into south.
Right, even if you're not ahuge blues fan, you got to find
some place to go listen to someblues while you're there, and
King Biscuit Blues Festival is away to do that.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Sounds like something , yes, that people absolutely
should check out.
I love festivals, so thatsounds cool.
Blues music I can you know Ienjoy.
It might not be my favorite,but I certainly enjoy and being
down there in the South it'scertainly one of those things
that you have to do.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yep absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
How about food down there?
I'm sure by now the types offood has changed drastically,
right?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, it's going to be a little harder to find a
good salad, you know, and ifyou're a vegetarian, you know it
might be a bit of a struggle insome of these places.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
And spicy food I found when I was down there.
Everything was like soul food,is that what they call it and
it's all spicy, which I don't do, so, yeah, a little more
difficult, but for those peoplethat like this spice and are not
vegetarians or vegans, probablya good place to be.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Right, and probably most everything is going to be
deep fried, so even thevegetables tend to be deep fried
.
So, yeah, prepare for that.
A catfish will be.
They wanted to know if I wantedit river caught or farm raised.
(25:11):
So most catfish that you eat inrestaurants and you buy
commercially is farm raised.
But there are some places alongthe Mississippi where they will
serve you catfish that wascaught fresh in the Mississippi,
so that's an option.
And then they wanted to knowwhether I wanted steaks or
(25:33):
fillets.
I think that was it.
It's just how it's cutbasically.
So if you're not used to I'venever had that happen since like
so, but I'm sure there areother places where you may get
those questions you may get theoption at least of whether you
want some locally caught catfishor farm-raised.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Interesting Okay, good to know.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, what else should we do in Arkansas?
Well, there's an archaeologicalsite up around Memphis that I
also really like a lot.
It's Hampson Archaeological,something or other.
I should look this up.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Okay, you look it up and that does sound like
something I would be veryinterested in.
And while you're looking it up,I'm actually I'm delayed Give
you time to look it up A lot ofthose.
So, when it comes toarchaeological sites, I think
it'd be really cool to havesomebody that explains what's
there.
We I took a helicopter over theGrand Canyon and the pilot was
(26:31):
able to explain some of thearchaeological information that
was there.
It was just a little bit of it,but it was very intriguing.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think you get a deeper
appreciation for the history ofthese areas when you get to do
this, because people lived alongthe Mississippi for at least
10,000 years and there are spotshere and there where you can
get some insights and some peekinto those cultures of the
(27:04):
people who lived alongMississippi.
So it's Hampson ArchaeologicalMuseum State Park and it's right
at Wilson, arkansas, which is alittle north of Memphis, and
one of the things that I likeabout this place is they have a
really good collection ofartifacts, so pottery, daily
(27:24):
items, everyday items used inlife.
This section of the Mississippi, kind of around where the
Arkansas River meets theMississippi today, is basically
in the Memphis area.
At one time it was heavilypopulated.
There were more people livingthere in 1500 than there are
today.
So there are several differentsites here and there that give
(27:47):
you.
There are archaeological sitesthat spotlight that history,
that period of time, and tellyou about those communities.
I like the Hampson Museumarchaeological site because
there's so many of thesetangible artifacts you can see,
you know heads and bowls and allkinds of interesting pieces
that were created for ceremonialuse and for everyday use, so
(28:09):
it's a highly recommended spot.
Let's just wrap it up Arkansaswith one other spot.
The Chico Lake is an old oxbowof the Mississippi but it's huge
.
Yeah, it's a very big lake.
At one time it was part of themain channel of the river and
then the river diverted, changedchannel and cut that off.
But today it's a pretty populararea to visit.
(28:33):
So there are lots of campingaround there, some big
campgrounds and then the lakeitself.
People will go boating out onthe lake and there's some hiking
not too far away and that'skind of down in the southeast
part of Arkansas and that isLake Village.
I think, yeah, lake Village,arkansas is the community that's
(28:54):
right there.
But there are a couple, threedifferent parks right around
that big lake, so good place tochill.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Sounds like it, wow, and it's warmer, so you're
talking my language a littlemore here.
Okay, so did we wrap upArkansas?
We ready to move into Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Well, let's do Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Oh, you want to do Mississippi first.
Okay, I will let you takecontrol of my podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Okay, you're the answer, if you don't mind, then
we'll finish up with Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Not at all.
Let's do Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So Mississippi has a few places I really do want to
highlight too, and again it'sthat mix of like cultural sites
with a few places you can reallyget into the rivers world
itself.
Tunica County River Park isjust south of Memphis.
Tunica, mississippi is an oldDelta community.
There are a lot of casinos inthat region, in that area today,
(29:49):
but there's a really good riverhistory museum right next to
the Mississippi and next to thecasinos and there's also a nice
section of woods around it thatyou can go hike in if it's not
too muddy or if the river's nottoo high.
So that's at Tunica CountyRiver Park.
I recommend a stop there.
(30:10):
From there let's see If youventure away from the river a
little bit.
So much of this part ofMississippi before the Civil War
were really thick swamps,mostly cypress swamps.
Civil War were really thickswamps, mostly cypress swamps.
Most of that was cut down anddrained for the cotton fields
you see today.
So it's one of those thingsthat's kind of hard to imagine.
(30:30):
As you're driving through thearea today you see all this flat
land and all these agriculturalfields.
It's hard to imagine that thatwas all one thick swamp, but
that's what it was.
So there's this area about anhour hour and a half east of the
Mississippi Skylake WildlifeManagement Area that has
(30:51):
preserved this small little bitof old growth cypress tupelo
swamp and there's a boardwalkthat takes you that you can walk
on to get deeper into the swamp.
I really I highly recommend astop there as well.
Again, I would say spring orfall would be ideal, and
midsummer it's going to be, youknow, uncomfortably warm and
(31:15):
muggy and lots of bugs, butspring and fall would be an
awesome time to visit there.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
You're saying swamp, so I'm going to go to.
What do I have to be concernedabout?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
We're talking swamp alligators and you probably
won't see any alligators there.
It's just kind of at thenorthern edge of their range.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Okay, good to know.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, but there will be snakes.
You might see some snakes.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Again with the snakes .
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, sorry.
I can just kind of keep an eyeout for them and keep a
respectful distance.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Oh, I'm more than willing to keep a distance that
is not a problem yeah, uh, Ihear you especially like.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
If you're not great at identifying the different
kinds of stakes, it's just bestto give them a wide berth.
But there's, like I said,there's a boardwalk, uh, so
you're above the water levelquite a bit, depending depending
upon the time of year.
So really it's more of themosquitoes that probably might
get annoying after a while.
(32:28):
The cultural centers likeClarksdale, mississippi is a
traditional blues town.
There's still a couple of clubsthat you can go to that have
blues regularly.
One of those clubs is GroundZero, is co-owned by the actor
Morgan Freeman.
So if you get lucky, you mightshow up some night when Morgan
(32:56):
Freeman is hanging out and youcan maybe strike up a
conversation if he's in the moodfor it.
But otherwise, the Blueshistory is the centerpiece of
that town's identity today andpeople from around the world go
to Clarksdale for that.
It's also the home of theQuapaw Canoe Company.
So if you want to put your RVaside for a little bit and get
in a canoe and go out on theMississippi under your own power
(33:18):
, the Quapaw Canoe Company takespeople out on guided tours.
They take them out in bigcanoes.
They're like 29-footVoyager-style canoes that can
hold 10 people, 12 peopledepending on how much gear, and
they will do day trips.
So if you just want a littletaste of it, or they will do
longer trips where you couldcamp a night or more on an
(33:40):
island in the middle ofMississippi and they'll take
care of all the arrangements foryou for doing that.
So for me, like this is likethe cultural sites are great.
If you really want toexperience the river itself, you
know you have to figure out away to get on the water and I
think to the Quapaw CanoeCompany that's really the best
way to do that.
There are a couple other placesassociated with them that will
(34:03):
do some day trips, some shortertours in kayaks or canoes on the
Mississippi as well Memphis,vicksburg, a couple other places
, so you might check into thatas well.
But uh, the quapaw canoecompany in clarksdale, they're
the masters and uh, john ruskyis, uh, is the master river rat
for all of us that we all admire.
(34:24):
So, um, so clarksdale has that.
And then when you get a littlefurther south, you know you get
into the ot bellum.
South you've got vicksburg andnatchez, both on bluffs,
overlooking the Mississippi.
Different kinds of experiencesthere.
Vicksburg, the primary draw isthe Civil War history, the siege
(34:44):
of Vicksburg.
That was a turning point in theCivil War and there's a big
national park site that you cantake as much time as you want to
explore that area and really godeep into what happened around
that lengthy battle and thatsiege.
And then the downtown area.
It's got a kind of a smallhistoric downtown with some
(35:07):
locally owned businesses, someplaces to eat and the Corps of
Engineers has a river museum inthat area as well.
But for most folks it's theCivil war history that draws
people to vicksburg.
And then natchez is the oppositeend of that.
It's kind of that antebellumsouth history.
You know it's the place where alot of plantation owners built
(35:27):
their mansions to show off.
So there are lots of big oldhistoric homes in natchez.
I think at one time the cityclaimed more millionaires per
capita than anywhere in the US.
So it's got that history, thatpre-Civil War history, where you
can tour some of these mansions, learn about the slave culture
(35:49):
and Southern history.
And it's just also like thisit's a river town with such a
big and deep history to it, uh,and just about any kind of story
about the river you want tofind, you can probably find it
in Natchez, but good, it's alsogood places to eat a lot of bed
and breakfasts, um, and then StCatherine Creek National
(36:11):
Wildlife Refuge is just south oftown.
It's a good place to again tokind of get close to the
Mississippi and experience someof those different kinds of
ecosystems that exist next tothe river.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So a lot of my RV listeners are traveling with
kids and you know certainly thehistory, their schooling,
homeschooling, road schoolingand but you know so many adults
my really good friend would loveto go to these places and learn
(36:46):
more about the Civil War andyou know, actually being where
it happened.
How cool is that?
So a lot of great information,a lot of great things.
Just in Mississippi there's alot of great things to see.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Absolutely.
And that Vicksburg, the BattleNational Park, just you get such
a good sense of how much itaffected the entire country
because there was thesemonuments all throughout the
historic site to troops fromPennsylvania, from Wisconsin,
from every state you know.
(37:22):
So you really get a sense ofthe scale of this conflict, of
this war, and how it pulledpeople from all across the
country.
I will say, like you know myslight editorial hate when it
comes to Natchez and theplantation tours, there's still
some places I think thatsoft-pedal that history too much
.
They're getting a little bitbetter, but I think there's
(37:44):
still a reluctance to really gotoo deep into the full history
of how that economy wasdependent on slaves and how
enslaved people were treated,how that economy was dependent
on slaves and how enslavedpeople were treated.
You can get some of that andthere are smaller museums in
particular that present thatstory in depth.
Natchez has one.
(38:05):
So I definitely I think it'simportant to get the full
picture for me when I'mtraveling around.
I don't want just the highlycurated and polished version of
history, I want to see all thewarts too.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
And it's part of our past and we need to understand
it all.
I agree.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
I agree with that and Mississippi also like well you
know the blues history like,which grew out of some of those
horrific conditions.
Mississippi has a blues trailthat they've designated.
You can drive, you can downloada map from the state tourism
(38:45):
website that takes you todifferent sites around the state
that are tied to differentaspects of blues history and
blues musicians.
There's a museum for BB King,for example, in Indianola.
So if you're going to be inthat area you know, driving down
along Mississippi through thatstate then I think you're
probably going to want to takesome time to explore that wider
history as well.
And one of the unique foodsdown in the Delta are tamales,
(39:09):
and it's not what you mightthink.
It's a hybrid version oftamales that brings in
African-American food traditionsand mixes them with Mexican
food traditions and you get awhole new product out of it.
So if you're down in the Deltaand you see signs for tamales
it's not what you think it is.
You should definitely try one.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I'm assuming it's spicy though.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
It could be.
It's not always spicy, oh okay,but it might be.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I'll have to look for the ones that aren't.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah, it's good to ask yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
I'm a wimp when it comes to spices and that was my
you know, tough time in theMississippi Louisiana area.
But okay, so I'll check beforeI bite into it.
That sounds I mean, that soundsamazing.
I'm going to want Mexican foodnow tonight.
Thanks, you're welcome.
Okay, that's what dinner isthere?
(40:00):
We go All kinds of suggestions.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Anything else I can help with, you know.
If you need, yeah, so just askthem.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Where to see the sunrise.
Food for tonight yes, great,you've covered a lot of it.
Yeah, okay, so anything else inMississippi?
Is there anything else we'reready to?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
I think we should probably move on.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Okay, let's move on to Louisiana Now.
I did spend some time inLouisiana.
I wish I could remember thearea.
I don't think it was near theMississippi, that was near the
Mississippi, you know.
So, again, each state, aspeople travel, each state has
their own types of foods,obviously, and they do a lot of
(40:44):
fried food.
I had my fried seafood.
I was very happy.
A lot of that Creole, I guessit's called soul food, and you
know those different types offlavors.
But I'll let you take Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Well, I mean, probably the first thing to say
is, when you're in Louisiana,just eat.
You know the variety of food.
The quality of the food is verygood.
You're going to find a lot offresh seafood and fish
everywhere you go and I wouldsay, just enjoy as much of that
as you can everywhere you go.
A lot of the cafes in smalltowns are really really good
(41:20):
right, and they're often workingwith food that they just bought
, you know, from some localpurveyor.
So that is kind of one of thehigh level tips about traveling
down there is check out thelocal cafes and don't be afraid
to go in and try something there.
It's so like the Mississippi isa very different experience in
(41:42):
through the, through Louisiana.
Again, it's a much bigger riverand there are it's going to be
harder to get to it in mostplaces.
I don't think we'll really takemuch time at all to talk about
New Orleans on this In thisconversation.
People, there's so much outthere.
On new orleans, I will say like, um, there are some, um,
(42:04):
national or not national parks.
There are some conservationareas that are really close to
new orleans.
Some of them are nationalwildlife refuges, some are more
state run.
Uh, if you have a chance tovisit some of those definitely
do that.
So Bayou Sauvage is just on theedge of town on the east side
(42:24):
of New Orleans, and it's afantastic place just to walk
around.
Again, it's more swamp, butit's swamp kind of where the
Mississippi is starting to mergewith the sea, so you get
different kinds of wildlife thanyou do in other parts of
further north where it's justall freshwater swamp and I'm
(42:44):
blanking on the name again now.
So I'll just look this up realquick.
The place most people will visitif they want swamp tours from
New Orleans is the Jean LafitteNational Historic Park and
Preserve, and it is a fantasticplace and it's an easy drive
from New Orleans is the JeanLafitte National Historic Park
and Preserve, and it is afantastic place and it's an easy
drive from New Orleans proper.
I think I got there in lessthan 45 minutes from the French
Quarter and there's a mix ofexperiences you can get down
(43:07):
there from.
You know there's some placesyou can do some short hikes
through swampy areas.
There are boat tours throughthe swamps.
You know those airboats,sometimes in airboats, sometimes
an airboat, sometimes inquieter boats, and then there
are some folks who do guidedkayak tours through the swamps
as well.
So in an area known as HoneyIsland, which is along the Pearl
(43:29):
River just east of New Orleans,I did a kayak tour through
there.
That was a lot of fun.
So I think probably the thinghere, when you get down into
this part of the river inLouisiana again, you've got some
of the cultural sites.
St Francisville is a prettyhistoric village to visit with a
pretty good art scene, littleart galleries, probably more of
(43:53):
a day trip kind of thing, butthen it's just looking for these
places where you might be ableto do a kayak tour somewhere and
then really eating as much asyou can eat, you know,
experiencing the food culture asmuch as you can.
And then the areas that kind ofborder around like puncture
terrain.
There's several parks andprotected areas around there and
(44:14):
some of those again have bigparks with campgrounds and then
maybe some opportunities to renta canoe or a kayak and go out
on the water a little bit too.
All of that is fantastic.
This is an area where you mightencounter alligators, so I
don't know how do you feel aboutalligators?
Speaker 1 (44:34):
So I don't know, how do you feel about alligators?
So I spend a lot of time inFlorida and anytime you see
water there's a potential foralligators, they seem to.
I don't want one coming up tome, let me say it that way.
But if they're at a distance,in their own environment, you do
you, I'll do me.
Let's not bother each other.
But I don't want to get close.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
Does that?
Speaker 1 (44:59):
how's that sound?
Okay, yeah, right, yeahabsolutely, that's fair.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
I did a couple of kayak tours where we were on the
water and there were alligatorsnearby and it feels a little
odd, but from what everybody hassaid, like alligators are not
the least bit aggressive towardpeople, so I wouldn't recommend
going for a swim necessarilythere.
But if you're in a kayak andyou're paddling through there,
you're going to be absolutelyfine, and I did guided tours in
(45:26):
the Manchac Swamp and then onHoney Island, like I said.
So I'm there with people whohave a lot of experience
paddling through.
I really would recommend thatas a starting point.
Especially even if you're anexperienced paddler, I think it
would be good to probably gowith a guided tour, because
there's such a labyrinth ofchannels through some of these
swamps.
(45:46):
I think it'd be really easy tolose your bearings and have
trouble finding your way backout if you're not familiar with
it.
So I think the guided tours areprobably the best way to do
that, and for many of them youdon't even have to have any real
experience handling the kayak.
They do tours with people whoit might be their first time
(46:07):
sitting in a kayak.
So I think that's a good way todo it and it gets you on the
water and you always see morefrom the water than you do
standing on the shore anyway.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Oh, totally, and that sounds amazing.
I agree, you know, do theguided tour, get the bearings,
understand and then go out onyour own.
That's good advice and thatsounds.
That's right up my alley.
Sounds amazing.
If I'm on a guided tour andthere's other people and there's
an alligator, maybe I won'tscream so bad.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Just watch out for the snakes dangling in the trees
.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, I'm out, I'm done.
Listen, if I have nightmaresabout snakes tonight, you're
getting a call tomorrow at like5 am, okay, just so we're clear
All right, fair enough.
Okay, okay, okay.
So Louisiana, are we now at thetip of the Mississippi, where?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
are we?
Yeah, I think maybe one of thethings that people forget is
that the Mississippi does notend at New Orleans.
There's another hundred plusmiles of river from there, and
the Great River Road doescontinue on past New Orleans to
the little town of Venice,louisiana.
That's where the pavement ends.
There are lots of places withinthat Delta region where you can
(47:29):
follow roads until they end atsome old town, on the bayou or
in a backwater area.
Some of them get a littlenarrow, so if you're driving a
big RV again, you may want to dosome research before driving
down there, and it can be verydifficult sometimes to find a
place to turn around once youget down the road a couple miles
(47:50):
.
But there are some places thatare really fantastic when you
get closer to the Gulf.
I won't go into too much ofthat, but there's a place called
Elmer's Island.
It's a state refuge that iskind of at the end of the road
when you go south of New Orleanstoward Grand Isle.
(48:12):
It's around Grand Isle but ahuge beach, and when I've been
there a couple of times I'vebeen there there's almost nobody
around.
So and now of course I'mtelling this on a podcast I know
everybody's going to know aboutit, but it's a really nice
wildlife area because it's, youknow, it's mostly it's an island
(48:34):
with some coastal habitats, alot of birds around, and then
you've got this expansive beachthat is almost never very busy.
So there are places like thatall along the Gulf Coast.
I think that's along a sidechannel of the Mississippi, a
distributary channel from theMississippi that ends in that
area.
But gosh, there's just so muchto see and do down there.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
It sounds like each of these areas you could, we
could have done.
I'm sitting here thinking wecould have done a whole episode
on each of the 10 states youknow just covered the whole the
state near the river and just aseparate episode in each of
these states.
I want to let people know andagain, safety, most important
(49:20):
thing, when you're in an RV, Idon't care if you're in a
conversion van or a huge RV,like I drove.
Rv Life's trip planning RV LifePro suite of products will take
you on the safest route.
So the road you were talkingabout is not, for I was in a 40
foot.
I was towing my Jeep Does notsound like the place my RV
(49:43):
should go Turning around.
I don't wanna have to get outof the RV and disconnect the
Jeep and try and turn around.
That's a nightmare.
So everybody can avoid that.
Use Setup RV Life.
It asks you the height, theweight, the length, whether
you're towing.
It'll do all that for you andlet you know if that is a road
(50:03):
that you should or should not beon.
So safety, be safe is a bigpart of what we talked about.
Okay, we are now at the gulf.
You have gone from the top andpeople could go back if they
haven't already listened to partone.
We covered the upperMississippi River and that is
(50:24):
for people who don't know.
We covered Minnesota, wisconsin, iowa, illinois and Missouri,
and yes, I'm reading because Icannot remember.
We covered 10 states in twoepisodes and this has been
amazing.
Thank you so much.
We are not done yet, though.
(50:45):
I'm not letting you go.
First of all, I want to remindpeople that they can go to
MississippiValleyTravelercom toget in touch with you, to see
all there is about you.
There's such a wealth ofinformation.
You have books, you have blogs.
You have so much information.
You have the Mississippi ValleyTraveler podcast, which amazing
(51:10):
and, as I've said I think Isaid it in part one listening to
your voice, listening to youtell a story, I just felt like I
was there.
You truly paint pictures withyour words and it was just
mesmerizing listening to you.
People could also check outRoad Tripping the Great River
Road and that'll be on yourwebsite.
(51:32):
They can reach out to you onsocial media.
I'll put that in the show notes.
I do want to talk to peopleabout innovative toll solutions
because, as you're traveling onthose toll roads, this is a toll
pass that covers all 48 statescosts $24 for the whole year.
There's a link in the shownotes.
(51:53):
Best part is, if you should geta fine or there is a problem
with your toll, you just reachout to them and they take care
of it for you.
We talked last time.
We asked what was on yourbucket list and you said
Antarctica.
So you were talking about thatremote.
That's really remote.
I don't know a lot aboutantarctica, so why don't you
(52:16):
continue?
What is it about antarcticathat has you interested?
Speaker 2 (52:22):
um, I think it's partly because I like the
experience of being in placesthat really, uh, take me out of
my the world that's familiar tome.
I kind of seek out thoseexperiences when I travel,
especially when I'm able to dointernational travel, and the
landscape and the wildlife inAntarctica are just going to be
(52:45):
unlike anything that I'veexperienced before.
So I think fundamentally it'sabout that.
Speaker 1 (52:53):
Yeah, and again, I'm going to look into it.
Think about putting that on mybucket list because I do like
those different areas.
When I first started RVing fouryears ago, we were, hey, let's
go full time.
And you know, my husbandsuggested this.
I had never been in an RV.
I actually spent seven nightsin an RV total in an RV.
(53:17):
I actually spent seven nightsin an RV total.
And so he decided, during thepandemic, let's sell everything,
buy an RV and go travel acrossthe country.
And I thought he was joking.
So after I was done laughing, Isaid what would we do?
Like what does this look like?
I couldn't even fathom.
And he said, well, we can go toevery national park in the
country.
And three and a half years onthe road, full time, back and
(53:39):
forth across the country, threeand a half times.
And we went to zero nationalparks, not one national park.
Because it's like you said, Iliked the little town, the off
the beaten path road.
We were staying in Lake Meadand I saw this.
You know what looked like ruins.
(54:00):
We kept passing by it.
I'm like what is it?
And I started researching itand that, to me, was so cool.
We actually did a video on it,but it was just so cool to see
that place that most peopledidn't know about, and that's
what I appreciate about whatyou've shared today.
You've shared such a wealth ofinformation and I don't know
(54:22):
that, though the common thingsomebody goes to Louisiana, they
might go to New Orleans.
You're talking about thingsthat people may not be aware of,
and I love that and Iappreciate that.
Thank you for that aware of andI love that and I appreciate
that.
Thank you for that.
But it's now time for thecampground of the week and I
already mentioned the featurecampground is Firefly Hills in
(54:43):
Beatty, kentucky.
So those people you know,wanting to travel and get to the
Mississippi River, this goodstopping place and it is this RV
RV resort talks aboutexperience.
They want you to experience thewarm, welcoming environment
that makes everybody feel likehome.
It is a small resort.
They have 15 full hookup sites.
(55:07):
They also have the opportunityfor RV rentals and rooms in the
beautiful old historic farmhouseand they have glamping
experiences coming in the summer.
This RV park is near the RedRiver Gorge.
I've had her on the podcast,I've had the owner on the
podcast.
I'll put it in the show notes.
(55:27):
This place is one of the mostunique campgrounds.
I've heard of experience.
In the spring I will be goingthere and experiencing it for
myself.
And again, you can go tocampgroundsrvlifecom to find out
all about Firefly Hills,kentucky.
You can see all their picturesand their amenities, everything
(55:48):
about this site.
And the nice thing is you canbook right from that site.
You don't have to go anywherefrom that site.
You don't have to go anywhere.
You can book right there.
I talked about RV Life becausethe suite of products helps with
a lot of things that we talkedabout.
It'll help people find thosecampgrounds along the
Mississippi River, it'll helppeople to know where they can
(56:11):
navigate their RV, based on thesize and all of that.
So it is very helpful Anybodylooking to travel up and down
the Mississippi River.
Rv Life Pro is a great tool foryou to have.
I highly recommend it.
I just want to thank you somuch and I want to make sure my
(56:33):
listeners are reaching out toyou and or I, telling us about
their experience, telling usabout what they like, telling us
their thoughts, telling us whatthey don't like.
I'd really recommend that.
Speaker 2 (56:49):
And tell people again where they can reach you on
social media.
I'm on Instagram, at deanclink,and on Facebook.
If you just look up theMississippi Valley Traveler on
Facebook, you'll find a pagethere and you know.
If people want to contact medirectly, honestly, maybe the
best way you could send me anemail, and I probably shouldn't
(57:10):
put my email out there onpodcast, but I will Just you can
email me, dean attravelpassagescom.
If you have a question, if youquestion my judgment about
something, I'd love to hearabout that too and, as Patty
said, I would just I'd becurious to know what your
experiences are like if you comeand travel along this part of
the US.
Speaker 1 (57:28):
Great.
And all of this is also on yourwebsite because you have so
many, so much material, so much.
You have books, you have thepodcast, you have so much
information, you have blogs.
So I am going to keep leadingpeople to the website, where
they'll find everything in oneplace.
My social media is Instagramand Facebook at RV Life Podcast.
(57:49):
Reach out to me, I will makesure anything.
If you don't get in touch withDean, I will make that happen,
because we definitely want tohear from the listeners you, my
listeners.
Again, thank you so much forbeing on for two parts.
So much information.
I am very grateful.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
Well, thank you very much, and get out there and
explore the Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
I'm going to now that I've heard.
I just have to figure out whereto start.
There's so much to do, so thankyou for that.
Definitely on my bucket list.
Well, I want to thank mylisteners for tuning in for two
parts of the Mississippi Riverand I want to remind you life's
a journey.
Live each day to the fullest,without regret.
(58:37):
I'm Patty Hunt and you havebeen listening to the RV Life
Podcast.
Thank you.
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