Travel Photographer Gayle Harper Surrenders to Serendipity

By Travel Tunica on Tuesday September 28, 2010

gayle-harper, mississippi-river, tourism, travel-photography, tunica

Ever wondered exactly where the Mississippi River goes? Most people know that it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, but have you ever stopped to think about where the Mississippi River has been before it reaches us?

Six years ago, Gayle Harper, an accomplished travel photographer and writer, decided to embark upon a journey to explore the Mississippi Great River Road in its entirety. The route, a collection of state, provincial, federal, and local roads, follows the course of the Mississippi River through ten U.S. states.

Gayle developed the clever idea to take a 90-day trip, which is the amount of time it takes a single drop of water to travel the entire length of the Mississippi River. She hoped to explore all the culture the Mississippi Great River Road had to offer and share it with the world through her online blog.

Gayle had ventured down parts of the Mississippi Great River Road before but had good reasons to return.

“People I meet are open-hearted. Aliveness is very present there.”

Gayle Harper has been on the road for 35 days so far and has found great food, met great people and taken great photos. On her trip, she has visited Bemidji, Minnesota, the “first city on the Mississippi,” stayed in a 30-room mansion in Little Falls, Minnesota, and attended an apple festival complete with a Kiddie Parade and fried Oreos in La Crescent, Minnesota.

She wanted to share her travels and enlighten readers about other areas of the country along the Mississippi River, so she is blogging about her journey as she experiences it on the road. Her goal is to expose a broad audience to all the treasures that can be found along the Mississippi River and encourage others to experience it as well.

To follow the remainder of Gayle Harper’s journey or to catch up on what you have missed so far, you can find Gayle’s blog, Surrendering to Serendipity, at http://gayleharper.wordpress.com.