We are still parked in Missouri

Originally I had written that we would only spend three weeks in Missouri. As it turned out, that was not to be. John had heart issues which required emergency placement of stents and a brief hospitalization. He is better now and very anxious to hit the road again! However, we do need to stay another week for him to visit his doctor one last time. Thanks be to God that John is on the mend and that we happened to be near our doctors, family and friends when this all occurred last week! Another blessing came our way Saturday when  daughter Melissa called and announced her engagement to Spencer. We are thankful that he is joining our family! Their wedding will happen about a year from now. We also had another surprise last week when our son Daniel flew in to visit us after he had received the news of John's illness. I was thankful to have his support, especially now that John needs encouragement to take on a new life style after his heart attack.  A low-fat diet is now very important!  On Monday we all decided to venture out and drive to the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Illinois. In the sanctuary we mainly saw herons, egrets and many swallows swooping and diving over the waters. We had hoped see either eagles or pelicans, unfortunately it is too early in the season for them.  From the wetlands we drove over to Confluence Point State Park, one of the most significant places in our nation. It is where two of our greatest rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri, flow together. They both were essential in the western expansion of the United States.

Most of our day was spent driving along the "green corridor" of conserved open spaces along the Mississippi River from St.Charles to Alton. We also stopped at one heritage location where there is a reproduction of the winter camp of Lewis and Clark (1804). Our day ended at the Chain of Rocks Canal. Many barges come through this canal but none could be seen while we were there.

As John and I always discover, it does not take much touring around to kill a day. By late afternoon we needed to head toward the airport for Daniel to catch his flight back to Washington D.C.