House following towboat?

After breakfast with Aunt Ivolene, we headed West from Marion through Carbondale, IL (my birthplace) and on to Illinois Hwy 3 along the Mississippi River. 

Near Chester (home of a famous personage ???) we encountered a towboat with an interesting little house on its fantail.  Never have seen anything like this on a river.

 We continued up Highway 3 to the visitor’s center at the Chester, IL bridge.

The visitor center at the bridge advised us that none other than Popeye the Sailor hails from Chester, Illinois.  More correctly, Elzie Segar, Popeye’s creator lived here before moving to California and modeled his character after a famous (notorious) river rat from Chester.

Crossing the Mississippi at Chester, we wandered through river bottoms and hills of Eastern Missouri and into the Mark Twain National Forest and then up route 19 to Hermann, MO,  our destination for the day.  Hermann is on the Missouri River about 50 miles West of St. Louis.  It is a touristy town full of wineries, breweries, restaurants and shops.  We wandered around all afternoon and finally decided on local brats and beer at the “Wurst House Restaurant”.

Mary especially liked the Curry Brat and the Double IPA while I went for the more sedate Pear and Gorgonzola brat with a Weissen Bier.

Of course, we needed a bit of ice cream from the deli to settle the meal.

Off to Lazy Day Campground nearby for the night.

284 miles 782 total