Tag Archives: Mississippi River

The Hana Chronicles: Month 9, Day 26

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Posted by on in children, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Personal Values, Social, Travel

October 17, 2026- Hana and I went on a long walk this afternoon, as her Mom was taking an hour or so for herself, and it was a beautiful day. Hana enjoyed the walk, but after a while, she wanted to get out of the stroller and stretch. It will be a grand thing, when she can wear socks and shoes, and balance being in a stroller with walking around.

Hana is noticing what other children are doing. She was delighted by a girl of about five, who was walking her much larger dog, and pretty much making it mind. I think my granddaughter will be a rather authoritative pet minder, one of these days. She certainly communicates her feelings quite forcefully.

HANA’S NOTE- I had a huge breakfast today. I didn’t have much room at lunch time, but by dinner, I was very hungry again. So that was another big meal.

EXPANDING CIRCLES: Tennessee-The Volunteer State, along with Kentucky, extends from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. I have been to all parts of Tennessee, visiting about a dozen times. The first time was in 1979, spending an unusually snowy, blustery nigh, in Memphis, sitting by a fireplace and thoroughly enjoying catfish and hush puppies, at an “all-you -can-eat” hotel restaurant. A dear friend lives in Crossville, halfway between Nashville and Knoxville. Other good friends live in each of those cities, and an extended family member lived for a time in Chattanooga. I’ve always enjoyed my visits to the Volunteer State.

The Turf- Tennessee’s western third is riparian plain, part of the Mississippi Delta. The central part of the state is rim country nearly surrounding Nashville, which itself sits in a low-lying Basin. The Cumberland Plateau rises to the east of the Highland Rim. The peaks and valleys of the Appalachian region. including the Blue Ridge, borders the Cumberland, to the east. Tennessee is drained by the Mississippi, Tennessee,Clinch, Cumberland, Buffalo and Holston Rivers, as well as their tributaries.

First Nations- Tennessee is the ancestral home of the Cherokee, Shawnee, Chickasaw, Quapaw and Yuchi peoples. Other tribes found homes among the Cherokee, at different periods of the adjustment to the coming of Europeans to the middle part of North America. Mound builders pre-dated those nations, leaving their earthworks behind, most prominently at Pinson Mounds, Mound Bottom, Toqua, Citico and Old Stone Fort.

With European, and then American, expansion, came pressure on the nations which lived east of Cumberland Gap, such as the Cherokee. These tribes then move in on their neighbours, the Yuchi and Shawnee, pushing them west and south. The Cherokee, and later the Chickasaw, were moved out of Tennessee in the 1830s, as part of the forced relocation to what is now Oklahoma. Today, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw have a small community in Lauderdale County, west Tennessee. Native people have re-settled in Nashville and Knoxville. There are, however, no other organized First Nations communities in the state.

Where I most feel at home- Crossville, Wildersville, Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Shiloh

Where I most feel at peace- Fall Creek Falls, Natchez Trace, Nashville’s Parthenon, Crossville,

NEXT: Mississippi

The Hana Chronicles: Month 9, Day 24

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Posted by on in children, Community, Family, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

October 15,2026- Hana has gotten more boisterous, in the house. She is also a lot more animated, and the inflections in her babbling more clearly indicate meaning and expectation. We made two more walks, up and down the stairs, and she spent more time exploring her future bedroom and the upstairs common area. She was happy just sitting quietly for a while, in the middle of her bedroom carpet. The rest of the time, she had a lot of commentary.

Hana and I went to a small bake sale that some children in the neighbourhood to the northwest of us had put together, this afternoon. It drew a small crowd, and I chose several cakes and cookies that I can share with Aram and Yunhee. Hana doesn’t pay much mind to pastries. She does, however, know what ice cream is, and is not happy about it being off limits to her, for the time being.

HANA’S NOTE- I like my upstairs room. I will be okay with sleeping there, when Mommy and Daddy say I am ready.

EXPANDING CIRCLES: Missouri- The Show Me State is another of my favourites. Two of my cousins live there. They are sisters, as it happens-one living in Blue Springs, near Kansas City and the other in Avilla, a small village between Joplin and Carthage. My maternal grandfather’s family lived on the other side of the state-in St. Louis. He left the area and settled in Saugus, MA, siring nine children, including my mother. I have been in Missouri at least two dozen times, the first being 1972, being let off in Kansas City, and spending two days there. then catching a lift to Columbus, OH.

The turf- Missouri, in its southwest and mid-south, shares the Ozark Plateau with Arkansas. Southeast Missouri, the “Boot Heel”, is the northernmost part of the Mississippi Delta. West Central and Northern Missouri are areas of rolling plains, the heritage of glaciation.Missouri is drained by the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, which have their confluence near St. Charles, northwest of St. Louis. The White, Osage, Gasconade and St. Francis Rivers also drain the state.

FIRST NATIONS-Missouri is the ancestral home of the Nutachi, who are also called Missouria. This tribe was nearly wiped out by raids of the Sac and Fox, in the mid-Eighteenth Century . Their remnants joined the Otoe, in Oklahoma. No major clashes between white settlers and Native Peoples are known to have occurred in Missouri.

Where I fell most at home- Sarcoxie, Avilla, Joplin, Carthage, Wheatland, Columbia, Rolla, Kansas City

Where I feel most peace- Sarcoxie, Wilson’s Creek, New Madrid

NEXT: Kentucky

The Hana Chronicles: Month 9, Day 23

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Posted by on in children, Community, Education, Family, Historical, Personal Values, Social, Travel

October 14, 2026- Hana passed another mini-milestone today. She decided to walk up the stairs. She did so, twice: Up to the mezzanine and back down, with me providing support and control; all the way up, with her father doing the honours. The second time, she drawled into my bedroom, looked around and went back out. We still won’t need a gate, until she is actually walking on her own. That, however, looks to be a matter of weeks-not months. Good thing we already have the gates on hand.

She is sleeping more independently and no longer wants to be rocked to sleep. When she is tired and in need of a nap, she will come up to whoever is minding her and put her head against their chest. She is then carried to the crib and will curl up to sleep.

This evening at dinner, Hana talked a lot, in between bites of food and “bantered” with her father. We can pretty much decipher what she’s saying by watching her body language. She also points at the object of her attention, usually so we can explain its use.

HANA’S NOTE- I am curious about a little box that is plugged in. Papa says it measures something called carbon monoxide, which he says can hurt of kill someone. I guess I won’t be touching that box.

EXPANDING CIRCLES: Illinois- I have sauntered back and forth through the Land of Lincoln about 25 times-first in a van going from St. Louis to Columbus, in 1972, and just about every time I’ve since traveled between Arizona and Massachusetts. Chicago has been a a major point on many of those journeys, especially when I’ve stopped in at the Baha’i House of Worship, in Wilmette, about forty minutes’ drive from the Loop.

The turf- Illinois figures prominently as a part of the Mississippi River Valley, from Galena in the far north to Cairo, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. The state is mostly prairie in the northern and central regions. Southern Illinois has some uplands and is more forested. Illinois is drained by the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, Rock, Des Plaines, Kankakee, Kaskaskia, Sangamon and Wabash Rivers, along with their tributaries. Lake Michigan forms Illinois’ northeastern boundary.

First Nations- Illinois is the ancestral home of the Illini, Ojibwe, Sauk & Fox, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Kaskaskia, Miami, Shawnee and Iroquois people. The Mound Builders culture was prominent in Illinois, from 1700 BC to about 1200 AD/CE. The preserved mounds at Cahokia are the largest and most prominent burial mounds of the Mississippian Culture. Other preserved mounds may be found at Rockford, Galena, Albany, East Dubuque,and Quincy.

Conflicts between Native peoples and white settlers/U.S. Army occurred in Illinois from about 1802 until 1832, when Black Hawk’s War concluded with the Battle of Bad Axe, at the junction of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, then all considered the Northwest Territory. Illinois provided militia men for the Army during this conflict. One of them was a young Abraham Lincoln, whose attitude towards First Nations people was not helped by his experience in the war. Today, the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Nation has a reservation near the town of Kansas, Il. Many Native peoples also live in Chicago as well.

Where I most feel at home- Wilmette, Chicago (Wrigleyville) , Normal, Lake Forest, Effingham, Vandalia, Dixon, Cairo

Where I most feel at peace- Wilmette, Cahokia, Ferne Clyffe, New Salem

NEXT- Missouri

The Hana Chronicles: Month 8, Day 31

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Education, Entertainment, Family, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 21, 2026- Hana does not hold back, when it is time to express her opinion. She was not happy about being left out of ice cream for dessert. (We have a rule that there will be no sugary foods until she’s at least a year old, and maybe not until her “two-year” molars come in.). She didn’t throw a tantrum, but she did voice her objection, along with three strong taps of her hand on the playpen fence. Then it was over, as we acknowledged her feelings, and she went back to playing.

This afternoon, when I set her down in the crib, for her second nap, she was sleeping happily for about forty minutes. Then the afternoon sun came shining brightly, even through the fairly thick shades, She got up and called for me, then slept on my shoulder, in the recliner, for another hour. The girl is not shy about expressing her needs, and I want to keep it that way.

Today is the last day of summer. It’s been a season of loss- my friends Annie Lovell, Carole Hitti and Eva Kahn left this world, much as Randy Smith and Betty Cooper Ritchey did in the spring. Another, very dear, friend is deathly ill. Suffering and pain are widespread, both due to mismanagement and to climatic cycles.

Still and all, it has been a good summer. Hana has begun standing up, both with and without support. She feeds herself, at least 60% of each meal and has “told’ us that she wants the hot food before the hand-held cold items. She likes the little standing shower device that lets her parents bathe her, while she experiences something very close to a ‘grown-up” shower. Toilet training is right around the corner-and it is something she seems to want.

HANA’S NOTE- I just want a spoonful of ice cream-or maybe three or four.

EXPANDING CIRCLES– Arkansas- It would be very sweet to visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, with my family, and devote 2-3 hours to digging and sifting. That is just one of the reasons to stop in Arkansas, which borders Texas on the northeast.

The turf- Arkansas is largely rolling hills and small mountains, in its western two thirds, and flat riparian plain, “the Delta”, in its eastern third. The Natural State is drained by the Mississippi, into which flow the White, the Ouachita and of course, the Arkansas River.

First Nations- Arkansas is the ancestral home of the Caddo, Chickasaw, Osage, Quapaw and Tunica peoples. The Nations, as entities, have moved to Oklahoma and Louisiana, but Arkansas is still their hearts’ home. Ceremonial mounds abounded in the state, with Toltec Mounds State Park being the largest preserved collection of mounds in the area.

I have visited the State Capitol and the Clinton Presidential Library, during visits to Little Rock, in the 2010s. The western Arkansas “twin cities” of Fort Smith and Van Buren are worth a day or two, especially the riverside Fort Smith National Historic Site. A favourite of my son and daughter-in-law is Hot Springs, for obvious reasons. The Ouachita and Boston Mountains extend into Arkansas, from Oklahoma and the Ozarks dominate the northern region. There is a lot to be said for stopovers in the Natural State.

Where I feel most at home: De Queen, downtown Van Buren, Little Rock Fitness Park

Where I feel most at peace: The banks of the Arkansas, at Fort Smith National Historical Park

NEXT- Louisiana

Father of Waters and His Diligent Children

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Posted by on in Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Social, Spiritual, Travel

July 14-15, 2019, Wapello, IA-

Almost as essential as a visit to the Baha’i House of Worship, when crossing the country, is some time spent in the vicinity of the Mississippi River.  Its residents, whether north or south, have a temperament, a work ethic, and a resilience, all their own.

My meeting with a steadfast and inspiring friend lasted about forty-five minutes. Afterward, I prayed in the House of Worship for a half hour further, then made my way out of Chicagoland, stopping for lunch and to do laundry, in Bolingbrook, on the Metropolitan area’s southern edge. A horrific accident, coupled with ongoing roadwork,  had left I-59 backed up, on the northbound side, for at least four miles.  I would have felt fine, had we southbounders shared part of our road with our hapless fellow-travelers.  The heat, this afternoon, was back, with a vengeance, after two days of fairly mild temperatures.

On we went, though, and my necessaries were done, after two hours.  Bolingbrook is a cosmopolitan little place, the type in which I am quite comfortable.  The genial, but imposing, laundromat manager kept order by circulating among the families, stopping to comfort a boy of about ten or eleven, who was crying after having somehow disappointed his mother.  She wasn’t acting angry nor was she scolding him. It was just that love which a child has for a parent, in which feeling like the parent has been let down, is the worst feeling in the world.  Mr. D. seemed to know this, and had the boy calmed down, by quietly getting to ht heart of the matter.

I stopped, briefly, in Peoria, to say prayers for the memory and soul’s progress of a native of that town, who had been a friend of ours in Dinetah, for several years.  Nancy went back to Peoria for her final year or so, before passing on, earlier this year.  The Clock Tower was about the only part of the River District  that wasn’t blocked by construction, so it serves as a stand-in for the historic downtown area.

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From Peoria, it was on to the Mississippi, in its northern segment.  Crossing into Iowa, I found my first Riverside encounter in Bettendorf, the northwest quarter of the Quad Cities. (The other three being Moline and Rock Island, IL and Davenport, IA.)

The playground at Leach Park looks like it would engage a variety of child age groups.

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Having had a childhood fascination with conical roofs, I would have gravitated towards that building, had it been in my local playground, way back when.

The Mississippi, though, remains the main draw.

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This lodge-type structure is on Rock Island Arsenal, an island on the Illinois side, just west of the city of Rock Island.  From the looks of things, it seems to have a role in flood control.

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I was getting tired, as I passed through Davenport and Muscatine.  When little Wapello appeared, I was grateful to see Roy-El Motel, just off the highway.  As  tourist traffic is light in these parts, the owners were glad to see me, too.  This is a view of downtown Wapello.  The town is named for a mild-mannered chief of the Meskwaki people, who led them to this area and enjoyed harmonious relations with the white settlers of the  river front. I had a light breakfast at Chief Brew, where local farmers and retired folks gather, “three days a week, so we don’t get tired of one another.”  The men were surprised to see someone from Arizona.  I explained that I enjoy stopping along the River, to which one man said- “Bet you’d change your mind, after seeing one flood stage.”

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There was no such deluge, this Monday morning, though.

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The Father of Waters was enjoying his siesta.  I headed on west, with the destination being Kansas City.

NEXT:  Wilbert Harrison had it right.

 

 

The 2018 Road, Day 7: Savouring American Routes

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Posted by on in Community, Entertainment, Historical, Service Activities, Social, Travel

June 2, 2018, Carthage, IL-

I had a decent night’s sleep, in my premium room at Budget Inn, before embarking on a morning and noon of enjoying some of the International Ragtime Festival, downtown Sedalia.

The Festival is sparked by Scott Joplin’s connection with Sedalia, but many others are celebrated by the Festival:  James Scott, James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Greene and Eubie Blake (whom I once had the pleasure of meeting and hearing, in person. Mr. Blake could still play piano and sing, at the age of 90.)

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Approaching, and inside, the main performance tent, I found a skilled ragtime pianist entertaining the crowd, with both songs and stories of James Scott and Jelly Roll Morton, as well as of john Philip Sousa, whose energetic marches influenced ragtime, as well.

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One must also eat, whilst at a festival of this sort, and eating local foods is always preferable.  This food truck offered “hand-cut, hand-breaded tenderloin” sandwiches.  I got one, with hand-squeezed fresh lemonade.  It lasted me the rest of the day.  (“Chilli” refers to Chillicothe, MO).

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Lastly, this performer was focusing his energies on the work of James P. Johnson.SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

So, the day was a perfect counterpoint to last night’s confusion and disappointment.  I went on to visit a couple, now living in Columbia, who were American Legion friends in Prescott.  Then I headed riverward.

The Mississippi, from Hamilton, IL, southeast of Keokuk, IA, offered this sunset.

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I had the best of what was left me in my cooler, at the quiet Smith Memorial Roadside Park, in Missouri, just west of Keokuk.  Out of respect, I did a bit of clean-up on the property, before eating.

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Stopping in Nauvoo, the last residence of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I found that it would not have been a good idea to take twilight photos.  All the houses are occupied, and a vigilant security guard was there, to warn away evening visitors.  It is a hauntingly pretty place in early evening, though.