Quinta Scott's Two Tank Tours-Unique Day Trips

It's the beginning of a beautiful weekend or a lovely Sunday afternoon, way too pretty to stay at home. But, where to go? What to see?

Two Tank Tours is your online travel guide for unique day trips, a Sunday afternoon drive, or a weekend getaway.

Two Tank Tours is directed at curious people who live in Midwestern cities and want a little information about what they are seeing as they take a Sunday drive or a long weekend to explore a landscape.

Some explore historical landscapes; others explore natural landscapes. Some are mostly driving tours; other tours include hikes.

I love road trips. The history of places I visit interests me. I have written and photographed one book on Route 66, Along Route 66, and photographed a second, Route 66: The Highway and its People.

I just finished, The Mississippi: A Biography, a photographic book on the wetlands created by the Mississippi River, how the river formed them, what we have done to change them, and how we are trying to restore them.

I live in Monroe County, Illinois, the site of first American settlement along the Mississippi by veterans of the American Revolution, and just down the Kaskaskia Trail from Cahokia, Illinois, the first site of French settlement in 1699 by priests from Canada. I call this region the Plymouth Rock of the Mississippi Valley.

I have, sitting under my desk, the photographic manuscript for a book on mills and churches in the Midwest. If you love old mills, I know where to find them. And, I learned that the people who built the mills also built the churches.

And, I am photographing a book I call Missouri Rocks, using the Missouri Geological Column to organize a series of photographs about great rocks.

This is the material I will draw on for your Two Tank Tours.

Click on your city and the tours within a few hours of where you live will show up. Each tour includes photographs of the places you will visit and a short, concise history of the place. Each tour costs $7 to download.

St. Louis

Chicago

Columbia, Missouri

Des Moines

Kansas City

Lincoln

Minneapolis/St. Paul

Omaha

Springfield, Illinois

Springfield, Missouri

Topeka

Witchita