FILL YOUR SOUL, YOUR STOMACH AND YOUR AFTERNOON AT OUT-OF-THE-WAY PLACES

With the help of some people who, you might say, have been around, we went looking for some out-of-the-way places that may have escaped our readers' lists of afternoon drive destinations.

As a group, they are wonderfully capable of filling your soul, your stomach and your afternoon.

THE SHRINE OF THE

LADY OF ST. JOSEPH

In the space of six years in the 1970s, Fr. George Schrammel guided the parishioners of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Apple Creek in transforming a sink hole behind the church into a shrine to the Blessed Mother.

Now the shrine, with its marble statue of the Virgin Mary, its altar and waterfall and terraced natural amphitheater, is a tranquil attraction that draws tour buses from St. Louis and as many as 2,000 people at a time to special outdoor masses.

The shrine lies below and behind the 108-year-old church. The 40 acres of grounds also are home to a school and its menagerie of animals, including Deacon the dog, Francis and Clara the cows, and H. Ross Parrot.

The entrance near the church is adorned with geraniums, moss roses and begonias encircling a marble statue of St. Joseph. A stone path leads down a hillside to a natural limestone bluff and hidden caves.

Here, a spring that once provided water to the church has been dammed to create a waterfall that surges during the winter and spring. It floods most of the entire shrine during a heavy rain, lapping at the feet of the statue of St. Mary at the top of the bluff.

The water falls into a small, froggy pool, then drops into a cave where it joins an underground river.

The shrine can be illuminated with blue lights at night, creating an especially spectacular effect during the snow season.

The site is especially favored for wedding pictures and baptisms. "I consider this part of the church," says Fr. John Bolderson, the parish priest for the past two years.

In fact, Fr. Bolderson says: "I call it the soul of the parish. It's the one thing everybody in the parish agrees on 100 percent."

L.L. "Lee" Buchheit, the president of the shrine committee, just retired as the postmaster at Old Appleton. He says he now has plenty of time to conduct tours.

The tours are free. For a group of 30-35 people, the women of the parish will prepare a noon meal for $5 per person. A tour can be arranged by calling 788-2330.

But arranging a tour isn't necessary. The shrine is always open to anyone who wants to come at any hour.

As beautiful as it is, it remains a work-in-progress. In the talking stage is a plan to add meditation sites representing the Stations of the Cross. Those are the 14 events that occurred in Jesus' life from the time he was condemned to death until he was buried.

To reach the shrine from Cape Girardeau, take the Fruitland exit off I-55. Follow Highway 61 north to Uniontown, then turn left on Route F. The church is two miles away on the right in Apple Creek. If you go at night, the do-it-yourself switches are on one of the first lampposts along the path and in the switch box at the top of the hill above the shrine.

YOUNT'S STORE AND SYCAMORE

VALLEY ARTESIAN WELL

Today, Janet DeSpain makes some of the world's best homemade pies at the Hide-A-Way Restaurant at the junction of Routes A and O just past Patton. Apple and raisin, cherry crumb, pumpkin, coconut cream, all for 75 cents a slice. If it's breakfast time, it's time for the Hide-A-Way's cinnamon rolls. If the special is catfish, there'll be blackeyed peas and slaw and corn and hush puppies. There might be a few horses tied to a tree outside.

In 1910, many horses were tied outside the same building. That was the year W.A. Yount and his son "Lum" built the store, which also housed the post office.

They sold shoes, clothing and all kinds of machinery to the farmers. From the farmers they bought eggs, cream, hams and animal pelts, shipping many of the local products to St. Louis by the train, which ran through nearby Marquand.

The Younts milled grain brought in by farmers on Wednesdays and Fridays, receiving one pound for every seven pounds they ground.

The restaurant has not been gussied up to appeal to tourists, but you can almost hear the ghosts bartering. And the food is terrific.

Less than three miles away is a sight and taste that's becoming increasingly harder to find the pure water bubbling from the Sycamore Valley Artesian Well.

Discovered when the St. Joseph Lead Co. was drilling in the area, the well is 1,300 feet deep.

DeSpain's parents owned the land the well was drilled on. "People hauled water for miles and miles," she says. "...They would put it in their cisterns."

The well is capped but still spurts a rain of cold, clear water. Bring wide-mouthed containers if possible, and be prepared to get wet anyway.

From Cape Girardeau, take Highway 61 to Jackson, then Highway 34 to the intersection with Highway 72. Follow Highway 72 to the junction with Highway 51, turning left toward Patton. Once past Patton, take Route A to the Hide-A-Way, at the intersection with Route O. The Hide-A-Way is closed Sundays and Mondays. To get to the well, take Route O nine-tenths of a mile to County Road 872. Turn left. The well is 1.8 miles ahead.

HINES LANDING

Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, says Hines Landing affords Southeast Missouri's second-best view of the Mississippi River. First prize, in Nickell's estimation, goes to the bluffs at Trail of Tears State Park.

If you've never heard of Hines Landing, that's because its importance as an access to the river faded as transportation improved throughout the county in the 20th century. But it was once a significant place in the lives of farmers in the northeast part of Cape Girardeau County, Nickell said.

If they had livestock or turkeys or wheat to ship, a flag would be hung from a tree at the landing as a signal to passing riverboats to stop.

Today, the river at Hines Landing looks much as it must have in the days when Charles C. Hines and family held forth at Hines Landing. Hines was born in 1852 and died in 1943.

Modern-day boats push barges by and lean into the curve far off to the north. The sign at a small, paved boat landing warns that it's for members only.

But Joyce Rumfelt, whose father-in-law bought the land about 20 years ago, says sightseers are welcome "as long as they don't cause any destruction."

She said lots of people fish from the landing, and weekends bring unfamiliar cars.

Her and her husband Ralph's house sits a short distance up the road from the landing. A mobile home owned by their son and daughter-in-law, Ralph and Kandy, is now on the site of the historic Hines family home, which was destroyed by fire a few years ago.

Charles T. Hines, the last surviving member of his pioneer family, died in 1977 at the age of 92. Today, many maps of the county yield no clue to the location of Hines Landing.

A great part of the charm of Hines Landing is getting there on roads few Cape countians travel anymore. The easiest way is taking Route CC east from Highway 61 about seven miles north of Fruitland. Route CC eventually intersects with County Road 535 a short distance from the river. A left on County Road 535, which quickly turns to gravel, leads to the river and Hines Landing.

Near the river, the road narrows precariously and runs alongside the railroad tracks to a crossing that enables cars to reach the landing.