This post was originally published on this site The Muddy, the Mighty, call it what you will, but the Mississippi River found fame by many a song, film and book. From Gone with the Wind and Mississippi Burning to Tina Turner’s Proud Mary and Johnny Cash’s Big River to the inspired literary works of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. It’s the beating river artery of the US that also attracts tourism on steamboats and barges, and a major river route that winds through ten states beginning as a small stream at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, flowing south to the Gulf of Mexico. Between are tumbling waterfalls, neck-creaking bluffs towering over winding rivers through valleys and prairies. The Great River Road is a National Scenic Byway which showcases scenic, historical, natural and cultural elements along the Mississippi River County. Each state has its own segment with Illinois having the longest at 550 miles. I traced the route through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Minnesota Minnesota tops the score for the highest number of miles of the Mississippi River. The state also boasts more than 10,000 lakes, islands, bays, beaches and rapids, many of which