, herding errant escaped calves back into the fenced pasture, holding a chicken, peeking in on baby barn owls nesting in the barn, and touring the nearby Heron pond, a swamp complete with Cypress knees, water snakes, and angry crawdads (one accosted Sharon and I as we hiked in, waving his big claw around like he knew how to use it! Fortunately he was barely three inches tall...)
I also got to see the nearby town of Cairo (pronounced Cay-roh...) where the Mississippi river meets the Ohio river. The town used to be a hoppin’ place in the early 20th century, but race riots in the 1970’s brought the town to near ruin. Bob and Sharon pointed out the bullet holes in the police station and courthouse, and then proceeded to try to find Cairo’s hospital, which, newly built in the 70’s, was completely abandoned after the riots. As if the bullet holes and entire city blocks of abandoned and broken buildings weren’t enough to give me goosebumps, the sun was setting fast and my hosts showed no signs of turning back. We ended up cruising the projects of Cairo after dark, lost, and searching for this abandoned hospital and a place called the Magnolia Mansion. (Queue high-pitched screechy violin music here...I was pretty sure we weren’t going to make it out of Cairo.) Once located, I took quick pictures out of the car window of the dark, overgrown buildings and we set off back home. Unfortunately, a decision was made to detour to the national cemetery nearby. Normally, I’d be all for a tour of our nation’s historical dead, but as it was nearing 10pm and I still hadn’t eaten dinner, and it was pitch black outside, I have to admit I was pretty bummed about this impromptu cemetery visit. It was so dark, in fact, that we couldn’t read the giant plaque at the entrance of the graves. I took a flash picture of it and read it on my camera screen, and to my great relief, it stated “No visitors after sundown”. Phew! We turned around and went home. Below: The great confluence: Sharon sights the Ohio; I've found the Mississippi.
The haunted hospital (?) and the graveyard sign. *I had to photoshop the hospital pic a bit just so you could make out the building!
A final adventure on the farm included a hike through the neighbor’s property to see a Native American cave painting. Although it was buggier beyond belief (I swear these guys were targeting my eyeballs) it was really cool to see the painting. I think I found a piece of an arrowhead in the rocks around it, too. Bonus!
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