Gammy got out of the hospital Thursday and was tired of being sequestered.

Yesterday we decided to hit the road with no real destination in mind. We essentially took a Sunday drive on Saturday.

We stopped in Chester and went down to check out Old Man River. I had been noticing for a couple of weeks that the Mississippi was down. I just hadn't realized how much.

A quick check of USGS Current Conditions, Chester, IL shows a gauge reading of 7.64 feet. Last June, I posted a video about the Mississippi being up and its closing down the bridge in Chester.

We sat there for a while watching the traffic on the river and some kids playing on a newly exposed sand bar.

After a while, we jumped back in the truck and headed West. We took a random right hand turn a few miles East of Perryville.

After many random turns here and there, we found ourselves driving down hard-packed gravel roads. On two occasions, we happened upon people who had been out on their four wheelers and were stopped where the creek ran across the road.

We stopped briefly and spoke to both groups and asked where the roads came out. "It all depends on which way you turn."

I figure that we wound up driving 50 miles or so on those back roads looking at valleys, farms, ridgelines. The woods were dense and I'm sure they were thick with mosquitoes.

All in all, it was a good way to spend an afternoon out of the house.

Sadly, though, I didn't take any photos. 

Image by David Mark