At Vicksburg they must negotiate a 120-degree turn on the meandering Mississippi, then straighten up to pass under the railroad bridge and the Interstate 20 bridge.

NPR: Oil Leak: Miss. River At Vicksburg Remains Closed

Wind-whipped whitecaps curled over the top of the flood walls near the Claiborne Avenue railroad bridge while others poured across the levee in the Gentilly neighborhood, north of downtown.

CNN: Concerns about New Orleans-area levee ease

Loren and I walked the railroad tracks along the river coming back from fishing the big pool under the old iron bridge, and I couldn't remember a lovelier evening before or after our world changed.

NPR: Excerpt: 'World Made By Hand'