reasons

We spent last night and the night before at a camp site right where the Leech River meets the Mississippi (and a heron is often standing at the point formed by the confluence of the two streams). This morning, a pick-up truck pulled up and a local man - probably in his 50s - got out and came over to talk. He obviously loves the area very much and has lived here all his life. We talked about the river - he said that the level of the water was very low - and also about the wildlife round about. He told me he had once seen a turtle in the campsite laying eggs and burying them in the sand.

At one point he mentioned the campsite at Gambler's Point and I asked him about the name. It's pretty obvious that the name comes from the fact that people used to gamble there but I was interested to see if he'd have anything else to say about it. He said that they used to have a 'fine old time' at the point and that a couple of people even got shot there. But then he said, 'There's a reason for everything'. And he repeated it a number of times.

I like this because, as I said in my last post, I've been having some problems seeing the connection between the present experience and the history. 'There's a reason for everything' is a nice assertion of the connection that I'm sometimes missing.