RIVER CITY JOURNAL: WATCHING ICE FLOAT DOWN THE RIVER INSPIRES COOL IDEAS

Anyone who knows me also knows I'm a big booster of the Mississippi River.

Quite frankly, the river needs all the fans it can get.

As noted elsewhere in this newspaper (the lead editorial on today's Opinion page), the river that flows past the River City of Roses, Murals and One-Lane Streets Currently Under Construction rarely gets noticed unless it's threatening to wipe out downtown or has trapped a tug pushing a line of barges in a block of ice.

It's a shame.

So far, my idea for putting windows in the floodwall has gone unheeded.

So has my equally brilliant idea for painting pictures on the floodwall -- pictures of what the river would look like if there wasn't a wall to block our view.

I spent part of my sunny midday yesterday parked at the overlook at Cape Rock Park. I was just admiring the river. It's gorgeous with its edges of snow and its constant flow of Goliath-sized ice cubes.

Wild creatures never cease to amaze.

There was a heron floating down the river on a good-sized floe. Apparently it was watching for good things to eat. When the ice rounded the bend, the heron took flight, spreading its wide wings, and headed back upstream where it gently landed on another chunk of ice and took another ride down the river.

I didn't see the heron catch any fish, but he took three rides on the ice in the short time I watched. Maybe the bird was enjoying the sunshine and the river as much as I was.

It was good to see so many other people coming through the park. There wasn't a traffic jam or anything like that, but the stream of vehicles was steady. A few motorists stopped to eat lunch. A few got out of their cars to get a good look at the river. Others just went slowly by without stopping.

It was good to see, because it meant I wasn't the only nut out looking at the river the same river that's been there a long time and hasn't changed a whole lot since the first time I saw it.

The bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark exploration of the Missouri River is coming up. Some folks would like to see Cape Girardeau included in the commemorative celebration. I'm one of them.

For some reason, I thought Lewis and Clark came up the Mississippi from New Orleans. They didn't. They came down the Ohio River and turned up the Mississippi at Cairo, Ill. One of their first stops on the Mississippi was to visit Louis Lorimier in Cape Girardeau.

One of them did, that is. The other one -- I can't remember which is which -- had had a tussle with Lorimier previously, and they weren't on good terms.

One way to mark the expedition would be to raise funds to rebuild Lorimier's house, which stood somewhere between Indian Park and the floodwall. The house could become an important museum filled with information about the founding of the city and Lorimier's role.

In order to be successful, of course, the Lorimier museum project would have to have (in this order) public restrooms, a snack bar, a gift shop and displays of historic stuff.

As long as I'm dreaming, the Lorimier House Historical Center could be tied in somehow to the idea I had a couple of years ago for the National Riverways Interpretive Center, Museum and Aquarium.

See how inspirational a few minutes looking at the river can be?

And speaking of looking at the river, there are precious few places to do that in our fair city, which is why I still think we need to add a river observation area at the waterworks on Cape Rock Drive or some sort of viewing platform atop the floodwall.

By the way, if you haven't been by the waterworks (also Currently Under Construction) recently, you haven't seen the ice sculpture that has grown around the tiny fountain in the tiny park across the road. It's worth a special trip.

By now you're probably primed for me to take off on another rant about the World Famous Downtown Golf Course.

Or the Old Bridge Souvenir, Crafts, Bungee-Jumping and Funnel Cake Pier and Walking Trail.

But I'm trying to be serious here.

Mostly.

There are so many ways we could capitalize on the river. We just have to use some imagination.

And, by golly, if it takes turning cow chips into natural Frisbees and selling them from Big Ed's House of Handmade Crafts and Bleach-Bottle Objets d'Art, located on the Old Bridge (Etc.) Pier/Trail, then so be it.

It's the only river we've got, you know.