Our plan was to cross the Mississippi south of Cairo, Illinois and visit Fort Defiance to photograph the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Since the Route 62 was closed at the confluence due to flooding we crossed the Mississippi on I-57 and passed through Cairo only to discover that the confluence was totally flooded and inaccessible.
Much of the background I looked at preparing this page was very negative on Cairo although I did not find it much more depressed that a lot of other towns we see meandering the back roads. Heading down to the confluence I was so impressed by the Library I had to stop for a few pictures on the way back. We were in a little hurry so I did not get all the other nice things but we will stop again when we get a chance to return to the confluence.