Joe is a legendary St. Louis County Parks volunteer who has been removing invasive plants along the Mississippi Greenway in Cliff Cave Park.  Not only has he opened up views of the river for greenway users, he’s also lost 135 pounds!

“I started around 2013. I like to make places look better. I just did it because it needed to be done. Before you couldn’t see the river down here- you’d walk along the greenway and you could hear the boats but you couldn’t see them. It was a shame…that’s a good attraction! I can see the progress I made, and so can everybody else. A lot of the people who walk down here know my name. They say “Hi Joe- you sure got it looking great!” It’s like a pat on my back- I like that! ~ Joe M. Mississippi Greenway: Cliff Cave Park

Whenever we are out and about, we always like meeting new people and learning about their connection to the greenways. One person we had the great pleasure of meeting recently was Maxwell (and his mom):

“Maxwell has always loved to go fast. In his earlier years, he rode the greenways on a child’s bike seat that was attached to the front of my Workman tricycle. One of his first phrases was “go, go go!” Max now has an adaptive recumbent bike with rear steer. He still loves to go fast—and thanks to the wide and accessible greenways—he can! His phrase now is “let’s get ‘em” as he gleefully pedals away trying to catch up with other cyclists.” ~Max’s mom, Heather