Continuing my trip through Southeast Missouri, I stopped at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge (http://ruralmissouri.org/04pages/04SeptMingo.html) near Puxico for a cold early morning ride. Mingo is a great place, about 32,000 acres of prime Missouri swampland, the largest tract left. It's also a great place to see where the Ozark escarpment meets the delta lowlands. The change is quite abrupt. I rode my bike here once before, but that time I had a mountain bike which let me ride the many gravel roads in addition to the 6 miles of pavement. Still it was a fun ride, I saw three deer immdeiately, then three wild turkey and then several more deer. If you go before the frost you will likely see hundreds of snakes, mostly northern water snakes but also many water moccasins. There are scenic overlooks, hiking trails and a nice visitors center. If you wanted to make a longer ride you could park at the visitors center, ride the road through the refuge and then hook up with either Hwy 52 north to Arab or State Rd. T to Wappapello. Here's a couple pics:

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q77/moselle1962/Orbea%20photos/Orbea-Mingo.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q77/moselle1962/Orbea%20photos/Mingo2.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q77/moselle1962/Orbea%20photos/swamp.jpg

Beautiful!

Flyn G