Jackson's Island

The following sentence is controversial: We are reading Huckleberry Finn to the kids before bed. Despite the controversial nature of that, it was quite interesting to stand on the bank of the Mississippi River tonight and skip rocks.

The weather has been fine, in the upper fifties, and the sun has been shining, so we visited with some friends and walked down to the famous river. It was fun to think about the history attached to that river, and in particular the story of Huck Finn and his friend Jim, the slave. They traveled down the Mississippi from Jackson's Island, somewhere between Illinois and Missouri.

What was the river like then? What did it look like? Did rocks skip any better then than they do now?

For those of you in Washington or Oregon, think twice the next time you cross the mighty Columbia. What was it like for Lewis and Clark? What was it like for Hudson when he founded Fort Vancouver. Hey, I know, take a sunny afternoon this summer and go down and explore Fort Vancouver again. It is worth your time.

We will try and visit Fort Snelling in our part of the world. Then we can compare notes.