Day Three Page Two

Illinois Roadtrip

You can see three states from here, at Ft. Defiance State Park.  We're in Illinois, to the left is Kentucky, and on the right is Missouri.  This is where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers merge.	It seems like the Ohio should continue south toward the Gulf of Mexico because the Mississippi comes in from the right and makes a sharp turn while the Ohio just ends even though the waters continue straight ahead.
A look back at the great state of Illinois.	And a look up the Mississippi River.

This is the very very southern tip of Illinois.  Pretty exciting, right?

There goes Illinois disappearing into both the Ohio and Mississippi rivers at the same time.  This is a really cool state park!

We've left Cairo and the Ohio River far behind as we go north on IL 3 near Thebes.  This road has a great view of the Mississippi.

I went for a late lunch in Cape Girardeau and found a nice Italian restaurant that was casual.  This view is from IL 146 WB.  You can see the new river crossing on IL 146.  The old bridge was demolished fall 2004.

At the top of a large hill in the middle of Shawnee National Forest, a giant cross stands representing a place of peace for all people of every background.  This is Bald Knob Cross.	The view southward from the cross.
Hey, look!  There's a blue car in this view to the west!	This is the guy who made the cross a reality.

Another view of the cross.  There were two other groups of visitors at the time I arrived.  The keepers of the visitor center are glad to talk to you about the cross' history.  It was rather interesting talking to them.

This is the very windy, hilly, and narrow road that leads to the cross from IL 127.  It was a great road!

Hairpin curves galore.

The cross from a couple miles away.  The narrow road goes through all those trees and hills.

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