BAD TRAVELS

After we left Texas, we spent 3 nights in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It’s a pretty little town, right in the middle of the Hot Springs National park. We finally got some good hiking in on 2 beautiful days.

Check out the Hot Springs Album.

April 30

We left Hot Springs today and had originally planned to only drive about 3.5 hours to Blytheville, Arkansas in the top North east corner of the state but as we were driving, across the very flat land seeing all the standing water and flooded creek and river banks we thought we'd better keep on driving. Good decision because when we crossed the Mississippi at the Missouri and Illinois border on I-57...holy crap! You should see how much it's overflowed already. As we drove by, we thought it won't take much for the water to cross that interstate and we could actually see the water up to the levies. None of this damage is showing up on the National US News that you're seeing at home as of today, but it will soon.  All they're showing is the Tornado damage in Alabama which is devastating, but man, if this storm that's about to go thru now, dumps the rain they're predicting, its going to be bad. There's a town, Cairo, Illinois which is now under a mandatory evacuation order because they expect the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to flood. They're showing on the local news here something called Sand boils that are happening there. These happen when the water has found a path underground, in this case under the levy and that means that not only is the water getting in, but as it gets in, it is eroding all the ground above it and that means big sink holes are possible.

There’s also a lot of debate going on as to whether or not the Army Corp of Engineers should blow the levies on the Missouri side to reduce the level of the rivers. This would mean sacrificing about 100 homes there and flooding 130,000 acres of farm land to save 2800 people in Cairo.

So we're pretty happy we decided to drive longer than normal and made it to to Marion, Illinois that seems to be high and dry. Dave says that I should consider this my bday present...sad but true, I have to agree 100%!!! Way better than being under water!

May 2

The engineers decide to blow the levies in Missouri. The flooding is now in the news big time.  Sad for all those farmers but good for Cairo. Here’s a link to an article about that. Dave talked to a fellow traveller in Marion today, coming from Memphis who told us that I-57 and I-55 were closed. Man, did we make a good decision to drive for longer than normal on the 30th. Made it across the Mississippi just in time! Phew!