Where does the midwest stop and the south begin? I’m not sure, but it could be at milepost 83 on Interstate 55 south of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where the rolling hills of southern Illinois and Missouri come to an abrupt end. A table-flat plain stretches off to the horizon. “This is it,” says geologist David Stewart. “The last hill before the Gulf of Mexico.” If it were up to him, there would be a big billboard here reading “You are entering the New Madrid seismic zone,” and another one 101 miles south at Blytheville, Arkansas, reading “You are leaving the New Madrid seismic zone.” Since he’s not in charge, you just have to know that this area is earthquake central for the lower 48.
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An alternate travel plan is to start the semicircle tour at Reelfoot, which is just east of Tiptonville on State Highway 21. In addition to motels, it offers two state-park campgrounds. The more attractive one, among cypress trees by the lake, is open April 1 to November 1. The other–a collection of bare lots staked off in an open field, suitable for motor homes–is open all year.
Sikeston also has a mall with 34 factory-outlet stores, I-55 to exit 57 (800-908-7467), and Granny’s Antiques and Museum (573-471-3945). Granny’s is six miles off the interstate, not two as promised; follow the signs from U.S. Route 60-62 onto ever smaller blacktops. Be patient with the farm machinery; we met a John Deere 9600 combine that took up both lanes and both shoulders. The store–one huge single room on a concrete slab–contains antiques ranging from hand drills and a canopy bed to antique canning jars full of marbles, Dukes of Hazzard lunch boxes, and yardsticks with small-town business imprints ($12 a pop, so make sure you want to measure something important).
The best way to cross the river would be the ferry between Dorena, Missouri (about 15 miles east of New Madrid on county roads), and Hickman, Kentucky (about 25 miles north of Reelfoot Lake on state routes 78 and 94). “The Mississippi River looks awesome from the bank,” says Stewart, “but you don’t really appreciate it until you’re out on it.” The ferry hasn’t run for the last four years, but operations will resume in mid-June; for up-to-date information call Fulton County judge executive Harold Garrison (502-236-2594).
–Harold Henderson
