)October 10, 2018. The Mississippi River.

Ken and I are not a typical guest on a river cruise. We are here to see the river. I have decided to only read after dark. The rest of the time I am watching the river. Our balcony has two comfortable chairs and one table so we are enjoying watching the river flow by. This evening, just before dinner, we saw the Ohio River merge with the Mississippi. The Ohio is a big river too and brings lots of suspended soil along with the water, making the Mississippi cloudy and dark. Another trip on the same cruise line goes from St. Louis to Pittsburg, another trip I would love to take. But the weather is not helping. More rain fell in St.Paul and now the boat will not be able to go even as far as St. Louis. Tomorrow we stay at Chester. If you wish, an excursion will take guests to St Louis for the day. But not us. We are here to experience the river. Unfortunately we will miss the Upper Mississippi. Too much flooding. This afternoon an historian gave an hours talk on the past of the Mississippi. We could either attend the lecture which was held in lounge, or listen over the intercom, which we did. I take some risk being in enclosed spaces with lots of people, so we will listen to the talks in our own cabin, which pleases us. We feel fortunate to be taking this trip. And we are enjoying it and bit by bit making our selves even more comfortable. So far so good.