Classic Mississippi River Crossing

From St. Louis southward the Mississippi looks pretty much like people would imagine it, all wide, muddy, surrounded by flat forested land and big cities and crossed by a number of truss bridges.

So it is here looking south from the I-70 crossing in St. Louis.  This shot even includes an advertisement for a casino riverboat in it (there was a classic one with crowned smokestacks moored to the north but a clear shot would be difficult in heavy traffic).  Of course, north of here, there are many places where the Mississippi looks entirely different, complete with sheer cliffs framing her banks and dark, tannin-stained waters coursing through Canadian Shield granite near her source in Minnesota.  She is a remarkable river which runs through a great cross section of both climates and cultures in the middle of the continent.  She has served as the first great drain for the most recent continental glaciers, has served explorers and settlers as a doorway to the western lands, and ran red with blood in the 1860's.  She is no simple river.  I count every crossing.  To date I am up to 16.