Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin

 Day 68: July 30, 2021

We tour the Upper Mississippi and explore the Effigy Mounds

Good Morning from the Upper Mississippi 

The air was still smoky this morning when we got up but the air seemed to clear late in the day.

Our Maiden Voyage Mississippi River tour

We took a River tour and learned a lot about movement of freight on the Mississippi River. Did you know that 92% of all the grain that the US exports is transported on the River at some point? Yup.

Like the Rogue and Snake Rivers we’ve seen previously, we will often see a road and a railroad follow along with the course of the river.

“I have more stories than I have time to tell them”, our captain was easy to listen to and he did know a lot of stories!

Effigy Mounds National Monument

After our boat tour, we decided to hike to the Effigy Mounds. Big elevation gain at the beginning of the 2-mile trail, but the mounds were pretty easy to distinguish, and more so with the way the park had cut the grass, leaving it longer on the top of the mounds themselves.

A whole series of mounds rolls gently down this incline.

Easy to see a small mound behind the first tree, and a large one to the right of the second tree.

#whatmyopessee

View from Eagle Rock

Fungus

Campanula were in bloom

Jean gets to meet Mrs. Higgins, Donna Anne’s Mom

Shirley and Dr. Donna Anne Higgins. We talked and laughed and told stories. I missed our dinner time by a bit over an hour….Dan was so good about it! Donna and I brought home some Chinese food for the three of us!

Goodnight from the Upper Mississippi

Nice to see the air a bit clearer

Tomorrow is our last day in the area…what shall we do? Stay tuned!