Illinois - Day 15 - to Metropolis

Fort Massac State Park, Metropolis
Sunday, 15 September 2019

today's route

It's less than an hour's drive from Ferne Clyffe State Park (I don't want to ask where that spelling came from) down to Metropolis, even on rural roads, and it was a beautiful sunny day, so we had a pleasant drive.

Just before I hit the city limit sign, I passed a large Honeywell facility, so I'm guessing they're pretty important to the local economy.

I stopped right after I got into town to do laundry, so the dogs got to check out another neighborhood while we waited.

My take on Metropolis is that if Honeywell is injecting a lot of wages into this community, then the town would be in big trouble if the company pulled out.  It seems like an old town that's trying very hard to keep itself in the running for any source of income and could really use a boost.

Metropolis (note the name) has embraced all things Superman.

That's the county courthouse in the background.  They have an annual Superman Festival that draws hundreds of enthusiasts - costumed, of course.  There's a Superman Museum behind where I was standing for this photo, which claims the largest collection of Superman memorabilia on the planet.  The local newspaper is the Metropolis Planet (it's a weekly, not a daily).  And there are streets with extra names: Truth, Justice (the street by the courthouse), and The American Way (the main street).

On the edge of town is Fort Massac State Park, where I was staying the night.  When I parked to check in at the office, I passed 2 young boys wearing plastic gloves and their mother, pushing a baby stroller, had a bag the boys were putting litter in.  They were picking up even tiny bits of litter and I was very impressed.  I found out in the office that this is the park's annual Ohio River Sweep, where participants get a free t-shirt and lunch in exchange for cleaning up the area. 

Fort Massac was a late-French early-American fort on the Ohio River that has been partly rebuilt and preserved, for historic reasons.  I found one sign that explained a little about George Rogers Clark, who I've been hearing of for a while now.

Doesn't sound to me like he did much, but apparently historians think this was important.

The campground was extremely pleasant, there was almost no one here, and I was lucky enough to get a wifi signal.  Hard to beat all that.