On leaving Sainte Genevieve last week, I rolled into the fabulous setting of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where all the usual southern hospitality seems to bubble out of the river like a hot spring - having reached the point where I am unsurprised by all the pleasant surprises which exist at every twist and turn of the Mississippi.

As I checked in to an eccentric little establishment known as the Rose Bed Inn, a young man bounded down the steps to help me with my luggage (a rare honour for an oily, dusty cyclist). Somewhere between my bike outside, and my room upstairs, I gleaned that this lad had hit the heights, then taken the fall, and is now on the way up again. He will, I am certain, soon become a big, big name in the music business.

His name is JC Harris, and he plays a mean - extremely mean - piano. In fact, his fingers are so adpet on the ebony and ivory that the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis asked him to duet with him during an anniversary bash. Sitting in the audience was Kris Kristoffersen and Sam Phillips, the former owner of Sun Records in Nashville. Kristoffersen subsequently put him on a few of his own tracks, while Sam Phillips - the man who discovered Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison among others - was stricken enough to wander up to the youngster and say, "Boy, you're gonna make it, and you're gonna make it big."

Perhaps that statement pre-empted the sudden fall. By his own admission, JC climbed too far, too fast. A swelling head eventually led to a sharp nosepe and, for a period, a lonely life on the streets. Then, to the rescue came an openly-gay couple who own and run the Rose Bed Inn. They took him in, gave him a job, and encouraged JC to get songwriting and performing again.

The result of this is a forthcoming album called 'Southern Roots', a fabulous blend of blues, country, gospel, bluegrass, and good old bar-room honkytonk. JC is a stunning player and a very rare talent. What is more, he actually looks and plays like the Jerry Lee Lewis of yesteryear - and in my view is gearing upbecome the great man's natural successor.

Music fans, watch out for this name. A much-revived JC Harris is just around the corner.

There can be a few unpleasant surprises along the Mississippi as well. Eldon and James, the aforementioned gay owners of the Rose Bed Inn, have known very bleak times indeed. They met in St Louis 13 years ago, making plans for a future together in Cape Girardeau. But the son of the previously-married Eldon had other ideas. Quite apart from trying to murder his father on three occasions, he embezzled the bank where he worked of almost $500,000, laundering the money through Eldon and James' business account, to which he hadsly access. The result? A few years in a federal prison fora completely innocent father and partner.

The experience has left a nasty after-taste.

But all that was some years back. They came out of jail more or less penniless, with zero credit rating, but with fighting spirit. Between then and now - and with considerable guile - they managed to buy a condemned block of buildings and turned them into a visitor's paradise - worth some $5 million. Their story may be a hard one, but in its way, really quite uplifting.

For me, Cape Girardeau has been the highlight of the trip so far. It is a vibrant river town with a collection of superb murals on the flood-defence walls. It has stupendous views of the river, and a rich history. And more than that, it is home-sweet-home to a number of very special people who have left their mark on me. Departing the cape was not easy.

But this is a tour,leaving me no choice but to saddle up and ride out.

Next stop was the city of Cairo, across the river in Illinois and the most southerly point of that state. Situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, with Missourion one side and Kentucky on the other, Cairo should have become the playground - the Las Vegas if you like - of the entire river. At one time, it simply had it all: wealth,industry, splendid houses, and the gorgeous scenery of two mighty rivers.

Sad to say that in comlete contrast to somewhere like Cape Girardeau, Cairo is in dire peril of becoming a ghost town. In more prosperous days, it had some 30,000 residents, now down to a little over 3,000. Today's main street says it all - an empty, decaying throughfare lined with boarded-up buildings, smashed windows, and weed-strewn sidewalks. It is the Mississppi's equivalent to the Beirut of 20 years ago.

On the day I visted the town, the main street was devoid of life: nobody outon the street, not a single car on the road. In fact, the only sign of life came from a man in a wheelchair rolling along the centre of the street.

How could a river port with such massive potential ever get likethis? The sole explanation that I've been given is that it never recovered from the unpleasant race riots of the Civil Rights & Martin Luther Kingera. The wealthy pulled out,industry pulled out, and all that now remains are a few (unsaleable) grand houses, and a whole lot of ghetto.

What a waste.

So then it was on to East Prairie, Missouri, slightly inland from the river and where the accents switched to an undeniably Deep South drawl. There I heard about a ferry captainwho intrigued my picky little brain. There are no bridges crossing the river 60 miles north or south of the East Prairie region, and Captain Steve Stanionis enjoys a remote ferry boat monopoly between the Missouri side and a place called Hickman, Kentucky - journey time 10-15 minutes each way, depending on the current.

"That's not a lot of time to marrycouples" he said with an affable grinas I rode back and forthwith him up in the pilot house. Sure enough, he is not-infrequently asked to perform midriver weddings - or even the midriver scattering of ashes.

"Couples who want to tie the knot aboard my boa tjust have to mingle in with other passengers who turn up to cross the river" he went on dryly. Steve carries 30,000 passengers and 16,000 cars to and from Missouri/ Kentucky every year, weddings and funerals all part of the service.

This former lighthouse keeper, coastguard, and casino boat skipper doesn't bat an eyelid at his often-strange cargo. "I've carried mules, buggies,covered wagons -and one guy riding a horse all the way down to Alabama to visit a dying uncle."

Ahh, this river. Believe me, there's a story around every bend.

Talking of which, I'll sign off this week with the cautionary tale of Sam Barker, a 60 year old East Prairie farmer and outdoorsman. His own take on the river is "Never to mess with it. I learned that much one winter day in 1989 when out duck-hunting with six friends. There were three of us in my boat, four in another. It was a serene morning with the promise of a great day ahead. Then, in the afternoon, everything changed. The weather whipped up, the water got choppy - and then downright angry. As we headed for shore, the other boat suddenly over turned, putting four guys into the freezing water.

"Getting all four into my own boat could only be done two at a time, because by now I had just two inches of freeboard left. A singlewave pouring into the boat would have toppled us as well. I couldn't go fast because of the weight and lack of freeboard, but I couldn't go slow because the guys stil ltreading water had a limited time before they died of hypothermia."

Cutting a long story short, Sam got everyone out alive....but it was very much touch and go. "Let me put it this way" he said with a wry grin. "It happened on a Saturday. On the Sunday, three guys who'd never been to church in their lives were there in the congregation."

You can find God on this river too.

Later, I travelled on down to Carruthersville, the last town in Missouri, crossing into Arkansas and its cotton fields the following day, staying over in Blytheville, then a charming place called Osceola, and tonight, in West Memphis. I've no idea what Arkansas stories I'll blog up next week, but I'm pretty sure there'll be enough to go around.

Until then, my thanks and best wishes to everyone.

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Keep up to date with Quentin's travels by reading his blog here on Pedelecs, by visiting his site below or listening to the once-weekly broadcast on Radio 5 Live Up All Night programme.

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