I have been boating on the Mississippi River more this year than any other place. Sure, I still like lakes, and Bull Shoals is my favorite lake to boat on, but you just can't beat the convenience of being 20 minutes from the boat launch. When I bought a boat I thought about boating on the river, but never made it out there due to the horror stories I would hear from people who had never really been on the river. Once I tried it though, I was hooked. Plenty of restaurants, sand bars for beaching and plenty of places to explore. The only downside is you need to be very mindful of the wing dams and barges, and the water is muddy, but it still feels great. The only down side is that I now sit at work and dream of skipping out early to go boating every single day. I will have to follow through on this threat some day soon though since during the week the river is typically calm and beautiful with hardly any other boaters around.