Had to stop in Dallas City, right?

When we finally left Hannibal, we crossed over into Illinois to run The Great River Road on the east side of the Mississippi. In pouring over the maps and planning out the trip, I had noticed Dallas City and determined to stop there. It had been close to 20 years since Kevin and I had a beer together in Dallas. This just had to be rectified.
Dallas City is a very small town. But one thing that is certain about nearly every burg we went through on this trip is that even the smallest town has a local watering hole.
Carol's Saloon was about 3 doors up from the railroad tracks where this picture was taken. We provided the bartender with someone to talk to at 2:00 PM, although there were 3 others perched on the stools playing the poker machines.
The other thing I love about these small town bars? An ice cold can of beer was available for $1.25. I hadn't had a Hamm's before and now I have had 2! Kevin's Budweiser was $2.25.
Back in Dallas, Texas, it would be hard to find one beer for what we paid for both.

As we made our way up the Great River Road, we were both struck by the high water marks on some of the houses and farm buildings. We saw one convenience store/gas station that was closed due to the flooding. The building looked to be no more than 10 years old. There was still lots of flood debris all over this area and the fields of course had no crops. In many places there was still standing water.

Not too long after this, we must have missed a turn for the scenic route. Suddenly all the roads were dead straight, running north and south or east and west. After what seemed to me to be 2 hours, I can't tell you how excited I was to see this -

Seriously. That was the first time in FOREVER that I got to lean more than just moving from one side of the lane to the other!
It is unbelievable how much corn there is growing in that part of the world!!