We leave Memphis by coach instead of on the boat as scheduled as the water level in the Mississippi is so low that northbound travel is subject to frequent delays. Both to allow commercial traffic right of way and because the river is periodically blocked by barges that have come loose from their tugs, some of which run aground.

We break our nearly 300 mile (480 km) roadtrip in the once thriving riverside port city of Cape Giradeau, Missouri. Ostensibly, we’re stopped for lunch (yet another mediocre buffet) and an opportunity to enjoy what Cape Giradeau has to offer. Which turns out to be not much! Like so many once thriving cities, Cape Giradeau’s Main Street and downtown area are depressingly desolate thanks to the Wal-Mart on the edge of town and its surrounding mega strip mall. A bunch of empty store fronts and a couple of antique marts and that’s about it

Late afternoon we arrive in St Louis and another unusual hotel awaits us. The Union Station hotel is exactly what its name suggests. At one time so we’re told, Union Station was a major transport hub and the world’s busiest railway station. But by the 1970’s, the Interstate road system and domestic air travel had all but killed off cross-country rail travel and the station was abandoned and left to decay. Some time later as the trend towards inner city revitalization took hold, the magnificent station concourse was cleaned up and restored and the surrounding area redeveloped.

A massive hotel (now a Hilton), conference centre, amusement park and numerous restaurants sprung up and most recently a brand new stadium for St Louis’ expansion MLS (professional soccer) team. Still has a way to go - the public areas of the hotel still feel like an abandoned railway station, cavernous and empty. The hotel has hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of poorly signed rooms. Directions (and perhaps a compass) would help!!

St Louis is for us, one of the surprises of this journey. The city’s Downtown is replete with some pretty impressive buildings. Some of the inner suburbs we drive through have tree-lined streets of well-preserved (or restored) late 19th/early 20th century homes. Most impressive of all is the Arch…..the “Gateway to the West”, built in the 1960’s and even today still impresses as a remarkable feat of engineering. 

But St Louis has one more surprise in store for us. On our second evening, the day before we’re due to be reunited with the Viking Mississippi a little way up stream in Hannibal, Missouri, Viking informs us that due to the low water in the river, the ship will only be able to make slow and uncertain progress up to the final destination, St Paul, Minnesota. And there will be no further opportunities to disembark. So all those who chose to disembark in Memphis have the opportunity to rejoin the ship just upstream from St Louis where it’s briefly docked to take on fuel and provisions for the next five days (the choice of most) or to “jump ship” and go home (the choice of a few, including us). 

Which just leaves us all with the very obvious question….why-oh-why did Viking decide to schedule a northbound voyage up the “Mighty Mississippi” at this time of year when as we hear from many locals, the water level in the river is ALWAYS low in late summer/early autumn, even if this year it’s lower than most. 

Certainly a question Viking’s shareholders should be asking…..