Another gloomy day s upon us. After an overnight low of 39 degrees we have so far only managed to climb to 42 degrees and it's not looking good for the rest of the day. The plan is to get back to reading Life on the Mississippi. One of the things I found very interesting and had never considered before was how often the Mississippi river changes its course, especially the lower Mississippi south of Memphis. Yesterday I was playing around with Google Earth and followed the course of the river. The state borders originally were set mid-channel of the river which is a good guide to how the river has wandered east and west over the years. At some point in time the boundaries were fixed, but nobody told the river and it continued to wander. Looking closely you will find that parts of the state of Mississippi are on the west side of the river and parts of Louisiana are on the east side of the river. The same applies to Arkansas and Tennessee with parts of each state located across the river from the main body of the state. Zooming in on the features you can actually see the old channel of the river following the border lines and how the river has altered itself over time. It must have been a interesting when the boundaries followed the course of the river and the river took a notion to change course in the middle of the night. You could go to bed a resident Arkansas and wake up a Mississippian, having traded you allegiance overnight with very little effort on your part.
Today, with the weather being what it is, I intended to ponder more mysteries of this sort to keep my brain in gear while enjoying the good life.
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