A few days ago, we watched a bass tournament on one of the sports channels. George has fished a lot of tournaments and has won a few. He won a Ranger bass boat at a tournament in Muskogee, OK several years ago. Not by catching the most fish, but by his name being drawn from a hat. But that’s another story. This recent tournament caught my eye. Familiar scenes and sounds of chirping birds grabbed my attention. I realized that the tournament was taking place on Pool 8 and 9 of the Mississippi River. Our old stomping grounds.

During the last ice age, great sheets of ice scraped over the land. Because of dolomite rock outcrops found throughout several Midwestern states, the ice sheet split and left the land intact. Untouched by the glacier the area, called the Driftless Area, has been described as the most beautiful part of the Mississippi River Valley. Deep ravines and high bluffs, meandering streams and rolling hills line the river. Thick forests, with streams and waterfalls, makes a perfect home for wild life. Islands and sloughs are an ideal home for aquatic life. Native Americans called it Misi Sipi (Big River or Father of all waters).

We watched the tournament to the end. George knew the winner: Tom Monsoor from La Crosse, WI. I hope one day we can return to that area. I miss everything about that “Old Man,” the nickname for the Mississippi River. The sunny days, the water, as it laps along the shore, the storms that begin beyond the Minnesota bluffs and make their way across the river to Wisconsin. My dad, Pondo May, spent his life on that river. He loved it. I feel that the nick-name for the Mississippi River is fitting. My “Old Man” was part of that river. The song of the same name was made famous in the movie and play “Showboat.”

The above photo was taken from a bluff in Wisconsin. Looking north in the distance is the small town of Clayton, IA. I lived there a few years in the 1960s, until George and I married and moved to Minneapolis. Beautiful area.