Backroad Weekly

Sorry to have to call them out like this, but your cycling friends are holding out on you. Southern Illinois' Tunnel Hill State Trail is famously a cyclist's good time. But adventurers who hoof it can have a little tunnel fun, too.

If you have some kind of weird places-to-use-an-outhouse bucket list, I have great news for you.

Before agriculture became King of the Missouri Bootheel, it was a tangled world of cypress trees and wetlands. Today, only fragments of that wild past remain. This week's destination is Otter Slough Conservation Area.

Tourists spend thousands traveling to Arizona's Havisu Falls and Costa Rica's Rio Celeste in pursuit of water that's a cerulean shade of blue. Meanwhile, we're just sitting over here in Southern Missouri on our goldmine of unsung beauty.

Some days you want a grand, sweat-through-your-shirt adventure. Other days you want to spot wildlife from the comfort of your car's air conditioning. This Semo destination lets you do both.