Day of the Pictures.

   I'm just going to rant a little about a few of the Pictures I have taken lately. first off I got an unusually killer deal on a new camera, welcome to the digital age .  So far this camera has proved amazing, even though I am learning it's basics I still have along way to go before figuring it out. Meanwhile I'm just going to try posting some of my practice , on the sight as a peek into the world and mind as I navigate my way through a world gone madder.

  Yes I bought a Kayak.  I worked hard this summer needed something to show for it besides really tired knees.
     What gets me most is people  here ask me where I could take a kayak. Part of the reason I wanted a self propelled water craft is the thousands of places I could explore  within a half hour of my house.   Across the river is Alton Illinois, a favorite place of mine and home of the Piasa bird.  It's also billed itself as the most haunted small city in America.   An aside the place   I'm parked at is part of what was once called Small Pox Island.

  
    It's where they took the soldiers dying from small pox during the civil war.   Alton had a hospital and prison where they kept the confederate troops.  When small pox broke out they sent the infected to an island out in the river as a quarantine.   They also of course buried the dead on the island, maybe into the thousands.   Flash forward about 80 years and the island has been forgotten and they build a lock and dam on the site.  It was now part of the
Missouri side they think.   Like a lot of the history here they never bothered to really keep tabs on the old before they built on top of it.    Forward  again to the 90's and they build a new lock and dam.   When they tore the old one out someone got interested in historical preservation of small pox island.   They consulted an expert and he said best guess was that they had built exactly on top of the gravesight . So now we have a chunk of old lock and dam to commemorate the graves of civil war soldiers. 




   This is is just typical fall foliage. This is kind of like a secret spot, its about a mile up the river on my side. Its a lake inside an island.   It's a core of engineers project from the Eighties. A beauty place called dressers Island.  It's claim to fame is in the winter the eagles hang out and fish the river from it.
   This little hunk of land is actually very  important as it is a rest stop on the migratory route of most birds in the country. 



  it's cool how small you really are , I think the view from a kayak is unique.   A little bitty boat out there with the big fellows. It makes me feel all primeval like channeling my ancestors , my inner hunter gatherer.   yet instead of primeval I think it's more pre-evil like how I would of been without the modern world society. This spot would of seen little guys like me paddling in it since the aliens? created and left us here.

These are some riverfront pics, as you can see the lows are pretty low and the highs are well  you know.

This pic last one as I ride into the sunset.