Cairo, IL

Cairo, Illinois is where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi.  When I first Goggled Cairo I was greeted with a post that Cairo was the most depressed town in the United States.  As we drove through Cairo I realized the post was right.  Not just empty store fronts but vacated buildings that were as run down as many slum areas.  I estimate that at least 40% of the buildings were vacant.  Somewhat of a ghost town.  We drove through town to cross the Ohio River into Kentucky to get to our campground and set up.


We set up camp at Columbus-Belmont State Park.  This was one of the nicest Campgrounds we have been in.  It had big level sites with a fire pit, picnic table and lots of grass.  The real beauty was that it was on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi.  So we not only had a great view, but part of the view was being able to watch boats pushing long lines of barges up or down the river.  The only down side to this location was that we had no internet and no phone service.

The next morning we headed back into Cairo to find the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi.

After seeing the confluence we drove into town to a diner where we could use our phones and get internet.  After taking care of that it was back home.