My Own True Love and I are in the early planning stages of an adventure. This fall we’re going to drive along the Mississippi from Minnesota to Louisiana on the Great River Road. * Three weeks of roots music, regional food, and historical sites. (Not to mention blog posts.)

It’s an open question whether we’ll make it all the way down river to the the Gulf. We have some old friends on the road that it will be tempting to stop at again: the Fort Crawford Museum at Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin, Cahokia Mounds outside of St. Louis, the River Music museum in Dubuque… There are places we’ve wanted to see for a long time: the Ornamental Metal Museum** in Memphis and the WWII Museum in New Orleans to name two. And we are big believers in driving with serendipity. It’s possible that we’ll never make it out of Minnesota.

We obviously have some tough choices to make. I’m hoping to get a little help from the folks who visit the Margins. What are your must-see historical sites along the Mississippi–famous and obscure alike? Which widely heralded sites are duds, or closed for construction? What little town has a great restaurant, bakery, farmer’s market, or music venue? Traveling history nerds want to know.

*Which isn’t actually a single road but a conglomeration of local and state roads. Sort of like the Silk Road.

** So many ways to be nerdy, so little time.