Great stories!

I spent 3 1/2 years in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. It was the first town west of the Mississippi settled by non-Natives: Acadian French trappers to be exact. It stands on the banks of the Mississippi, south of St. Louis and north of Poplar Bluff, hometown of one of the characters in "Designing Women," and Cape Girardeau, hometown of Rush Limbaugh, unfortunately not a fictional person like Jean Smart's character. There are still a lot of folks with French last names in Ste. Genevieve, and they have an annual "Fete du Jour" celebrating their Acadian French heritage. The local culture is nothing like the Cajuns of Louisiana. It was a lovely, unspoiled, small town when I was there in the mid-1980s. Then a WalMart superstore opened. I have no idea what-all it's like now.

Elmer