Life on the Mississippi

 Monday, August 30, 2021

Today was planned to be mostly a driving day--we are heading for Milwaukee in earnest now. But I did want to stop in Hannibal, Missouri, to check out Mark Twain's childhood home and Museum. We'd also planned to follow the Great River Road again, but it seemed like we didn't do that-- our GPS put us onto US 61, but north of St. Louis that's a divided highway with a straight shot north. So we let it take us until we did reach Hannibal, right on the river.

Downtown "historical" Hannibal is a very cute little town, with a lot of Mark Twain-themed store names in the old buildings. We found a place to park on the curb right outside the museum, and after eating lunch, we went in. The Museum encompasses 7 buildings. The first, main one, was a history of the Clemens family, and Twain's boyhood in Hannibal, and went through the rest of his life using a timeline. Of course we read

Statue of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn

everything--it was disappointing not to have time to watch the 90 minute video which was running continuously as we read the panels in the museum. After that, we saw the Huck Finn house behind the Museum. I had never known that Huck Finn was based on a real boy who was, like his fictional doppelganger, a river rat with a drunkard for a father, who was feared by the parents of other boys, and hence admired by the boys themselves. Huck's house (supposedly the house of this real boy) was actually larger than I would have thought, although quite simple, with only two rooms. It had been reconstructed just a few yards away from the museum.

Inside the Museum

From there, the path led us to the Clemens house itself. It was a nice-sized cottage with several upstairs bedrooms, and a kitchen, parlor, and dining room downstairs. Small, but cozy. I hadn't realized that the Clemens family owned slaves, and there was quite a bit about slavery during Sam's boyhood as well as his anti-slavery stance once he had grown up and understood it better. Both the Museum and the house were filled with quotes from Twain's autobiography, as well as from speeches he made later in life which cast a light on his boyhood. Quite famous in his own time, his life and its similarity to the life of Tom Sawyer (as well as to quotes from the book which sounded exactly like episodes from his own life) must have been as interesting to contemporary audiences as they are today.

Parlor in the Clemens House

After the house, we decided not to go into the three small buildings which were "Becky Thatcher's House," the Justice of the Peace office, and Grant's Drug Store. The Justice of the Peace was significant because Twain's father, although unsuccessful in business throughout his life, was elected to be a Judge, and was much respected in that regard. Joe and I opted for the Becky Thatcher Ice Cream Emporium instead, but of course a town so small did not have no-sugar-added ice cream for Joe, to our disappointment. I had a small scoop of chocolate ice cream, but that was it. And we decided not to walk the three blocks to the last building, the Museum Gallery. In retrospect, I realize I have no idea what might have been in there! 

Joe whitewashing the fence

Instead, we decided to get back on the road, realizing that it was already after 3pm, and we had almost 150 more miles to drive for the day. We arrived around 6:30 at Shady Creek Recreation Area, a Corps of Engineers park in Iowa, right on the shores of the Mississippi. It is absolutely beautiful here--the Corps parks seem to be a cut above many others we've been to. The only problem when we arrived was, there was a camper in our reserved space! This doesn't usually happen, but the camp hosts (two nice women) helped us find a different space which actually had a nicer river view. The people in our spot are nowhere to be found--it's a trailer and the tow vehicle was not here last night and is still missing. Joey says the husband's body is inside, and the wife took off in the SUV, but I'm hoping it's something less nefarious than that! In any case, we are happy in the spot we have, and tomorrow we have to leave anyway, to continue our journey to Milwaukee. Tonight, it's gotten much cooler, and we don't even need the AC, our exhaust fan is pulling cool air right over our bed. Sadly, we will swap this gorgeous area for another urban parking lot, but it's our best option to accommodate both some sightseeing and proximity to Natan and Ruby's wedding on Thursday.

Mississippi at Dusk, with barges passing by

A Great 47th Anniversary

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018

Today was our 47th anniversary, and I say a day which starts with a hot shower and includes a stop at the World's Largest Truck Stop just HAS to be great! And that describes our day.

We started the morning in our beautiful park--after rain during the night, the temperature was down in the low 70s and the humidity was all gone. The park's shower house actually had HOT water.  And I was thrilled, because Joe gave me a beautiful bracelet--he bought it in the gift shop at the Elephant Museum in Lincoln a couple of days ago, and surprised me! So we started the day feeling just great.

We knew we were basically "just driving" today, but a look at the map showed us that we were going to go right past the Amana Colonies, which we had visited back in 2007. We bought a really cute lawn thingie which we still love. So we decided to stop there and go back to the same shop. We drove about 45 minutes to Amana, then parked and walked to the shop--which was exactly where I remembered it, even after 11 years! And we bought another lawn thingie this time too.

Then we had some lunch and got back on the road again. As I drove, I saw a billboard which reminded me that we were going to pass the World's Largest Truck Stop, the I-80 Truck Stop at exit 284 in Iowa. It was about 4pm when we got there, and of course we had to stop. We were not in the mood for the truck museum adjacent to the truck stop, but we loved the enormous building with its vintage filling station just outside the door, and it's unashamed celebration of the truck driving life.

The I-80 Truck Stop has been described as "Disneyland for truckers." It has all the things a regular truck stop has, but much more of it-- food (8 restaurants), souvenirs, gifts, CDs, DVDs, and books on tape, etc. It also has a huge department for aftermarket upgrades on everything from horns to lights to hubcaps and tire nut covers. There is also a chiropractor, a dentist, a laundromat, a barber, a movie theater, and a library, as well as the usual TV lounge, showers, and of course restrooms. Outside there's a truck wash and a dog wash too . 

Joe found windshield wipers, which we still needed to replace, and we both had something to drink before we went back to our RV (we did not wash the dog!) And after that, it was back to driving. Soon after that stop, we crossed the Mississippi into Illinois. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and overlook just on the Illinois side, but it was closed "indefinitely", the sign said. So we used our wifi and apps, and determined that about an hour down the road was a likely-sounding campground.

And that is where we are tonight-- at Condit's Ranch. It appears to be a multi-purpose kind of place-- it is HUGE, and has a lot of "seasonal" RVs parked here, as well as people like us passing through. There seem to be several houses on the property, and I suspect that these barns near us are not unique. We are adjacent to a cornfield which is also owned by the same people (and the corn, by the way, is taller than Joe and I! There is a LOT of corn being grown in this country, that is for SURE.)  The grounds are very spread out, though, so it seems quite uncrowded, and the trees make it seem like a gigantic park. Definitely a good choice for a stopover for tonight.

And that was our day!

Salt & Pepper

Just ONE room full of Salt & Pepper Shakers

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018

We started today with a definite destination in mind. And a definite route in mind. And a definite time frame in mind. None of that worked out as expected.

We left our campsite around 10:30ish, heading east toward Indianola, Iowa, to the National Balloon Museum. We deliberately turned away from I-80, because we wanted to avoid it, even though we knew the trip (approximately two hours or so) would take longer that way. So we discovered ourselves traveling down a semi-paved road for well over 30 minutes just to avoid the interstate! Joe loves those roads, although I hate all the little stones that get thrown up by our tires. But it’s all part of the adventure.

S&Ps all shaped like fruits and veggies

GPS kept trying to reroute us back to the interstate, admonishing us that it would STILL take less time if we would just turn around and go back! But we persisted until GPS gave up, although we all recognized we were adding an hour to our drive.

At about 12:30, we were still an hour away and we stopped for some lunch in a larger-than-usual town. Joe also changed the windshield wiper-- we’d encountered some scattered rainstorms, and realized the one we had was falling apart suddenly (luckily we had a spare.) Then I began driving, and I told Joe to put in the exact street address of the museum. And that was when we found out-- it is closed Monday and Tuesday!

50 states with related item for each: "go-withs"

So all our back-roads were in vain-- we needed to reimagine what our day would be like. Luckily, I had exactly one Iowa tourist book from some previous trip, and Joe was able to find us an appealing quirky alternative-- the Traer Salt & Pepper Shaker Gallery. I am sure I’d seen this when planning a few months ago, but it had seemed not that compelling. Now, however, we wanted SOMETHING in the more-or-less general direction we were driving, so we chose this.

Fat lady and fridge "go-withs"

We immediately headed north-east, and it was almost two hours before we arrived in Traer just after 4pm, knowing the “museum” closed at 5pm. I was not expecting too much, but I thought it sounded like our brand of quirky.

Well, once again, our expectations were vastly exceeded! We were greeted by a lovely volunteer (whose name unfortunately I have totally forgotten), who gave us an excellent “tour” of the S&Ps. The entire collection--all 16,000+ items-- were collected by ONE woman, Ruth Rasmussen, who is now 94 years old and resides in a local nursing home (and who still adds to the collection from time to time, as a result of gifts she has received.) She started collecting in 1946, and any and every type/style/material/subject S&P was included.

It was immediately apparent that the volunteers who operate the S&P Gallery had exercised their own creativity in presenting the S&Ps. In the front office area are an elaborate birdcage filled with bird S&Ps, a big area called the “Traer Market” filled with “produce"-- all kinds of fruits and veggie S&Ps, and a Hoosier cabinet displaying food-themed S&Ps. The first room we went into from there included more than 300 pairs of dog S&Ps, shelves of Christmas themed S&Ps, and some highly collectible S&Ps made by specific pottery companies and china manufacturers. In general, animals “of a kind” would be found together-- hence you can see all the cats, for example, shelved together. There are several display cabinets of “go-withs"-- pairs of S&Ps which did not match but made a pair, such as a toothbrush and toothpaste tube, a tent and a folding cot, and a hot water bottle with a pair of feet.

Jonah in the Whale

There were farm animals (some displayed in a barn setting); zoo animals; more birds; as I said, almost any animal you can imagine. There were groups based on advertising, from Disney movies and cartoons; on occupations; on foods. There were shelves with cowboys, Indians, and covered wagons. There was a shelf covered with Black “Americana” S&Ps, and several collections from 50 states. There were shelves organized by material: all wood, or copper, or clear glass, or silver, or bakelite. There were shelves of feet, of hands, “double-sided” faces (smiling in one direction, frowning in the other). There was a shelf of S&Ps which were from Iowa, or referenced certain Iowa things (such as Hawkeye football.) And then there were shelves from all the other states referencing places and things such as the Liberty Bell or Statue of Liberty. And then of course the ones from foreign countries-- all gifts to Mrs. Rasmussen, who never traveled to any of those countries.

There were also more unusual types of S&Ps, such as “bobble heads”, where the S&Ps included a stand and they moved back and forth in the stand (waving, or kissing, or a cowboy shooting a gun!); there were hugging pairs; hanging pairs; kissing pairs, miniatures; and even a closet that included “naughty” S&Ps!

Political S&Ps. Clintons and Obamas heads' "bobble"

Our guide was wonderful at telling us about a number of different items, and pointing out some of the more unique ones (it would be easy to miss certain details amid the sheer mass of S&P pairs.) For example, there was a shelf of Presidents. Among them were two bobble-head pairs-- the Clintons and the Obamas (which was made to copy the Clintons). In both cases, the S&P shakers had the heads of the president and first lady, and were set to hang inside a base which looked like the White House. When used and replaced (or simply pushed with a finger), they bobbled back and forth-- with the President nodding “yes”, and the first lady shaking her head “no”. On a shelf with various miscellanous subjects was a pair with an explorer in a large cooking pot, and a cannibal leaning beside him against a tree reading a book entitled, “How to Serve Your  Fellow Man.” I also enjoyed the Jonah inside the Whale set, as well as several Betty Boops and Marilyn Monroes. Joe liked Lady and the Tramp best, from the cartoons--I liked Tweety Bird and Sylvester.

Cannibal and Missionary

We spent over an hour enjoying the collection--impressed with both the extent of it (who wouldn’t be!) and the creative ways it was displayed. They may seem silly or "trivial," but we found them charming and entertaining. We were the only ones there, and we kept our guide/hostess chatting until well after the 5pm closing time. At that point, it started to rain, and first Joe, and then I went back to the RV. (I almost had to swim back--the heavens opened and SHEETS of rain were blowing sideways for about 5 minutes, causing a mini-flood of the sidewalk, just as I tried to leave the building.)

We spent a little time waiting for the rain to stop, and then headed to a nearby county park which the S&P lady had recommended to us. It was about 30 minutes away from Traer, and the sky was dark and foreboding almost the entire way. We got to the park and to our surprise (especially after last night’s experience), it was EMPTY. At the VERY end of the camping loop, we found 5 trailers in sites, but not one tow vehicle there with them. We ended up in a different area, camped on the grass right next to the lake, with not a soul in sight other than a flock of Canadian geese, who we had to gently urge out of the way as we drove into the site.

It started to rain again as we hooked up (we wanted electricity again, because despite the rain it was muggy), and the ranger came by soon after and hand-collected my payment so I didn’t have to walk in the rain to the check in area. I asked, where is everyone? And he said that the trailers were probably from people who were staking out a spot before the holiday weekend, and that in the next day or two he expected the place would fill up again. But for tonight, we have it entirely to ourselves. The connectivity is spotty again, but we are very satisfied otherwise.

NEBRASKA! GIANT MAMMALS! AMAZING!!

Elephant Hall display

Monday, Aug. 27, 2018

We got up a little earlier today so we could have time to spend in the Nebraska State Museum on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln. We drove 3 straight hours, getting close by at around noon, and stopping for lunch first. Then we negotiated the roads in the city, including on the campus of the university, until we came to the museum. It was located right by Memorial Stadium, the home of the Cornhuskers, which holds 90,000 screaming fans when it is full (and it has been sold out for every game since 1962!!)

Our problem was not 90,000 fans, however, but a parking lot made for cars, not for RVs. There actually was a section clearly labeled "For Museum guests ONLY!", but all the spaces were metered and were, of course, normal size slots for cars. We were lucky, I guess, because those spaces were half empty, including a stretch of about 10 of them in a row at the end of the parking lot. So we decided to park parallel to the side instead of like a normal car, and take up four whole spaces. This worked fine-- except of course, we had to stuff quarters into 4 parking meters to make ourselves "legal". Luckily, we also had a LOT of quarters (despite using up quite a few doing laundry last week, and using up others when we ran out of singles and needed to pay $12/night for camping at Stillwater campground.)

Early four-tusker elephant

Anyway, we each simultaneously slipped quarters into the meters until we'd put in enough for an hour (each quarter was only good for 12 minutes!!) I added a sign on the window for good measure saying "Visiting Museum", and we went inside.

We were immediately WOWed!!!  The museum is largely a museum of paleontology, and it turns out (who knew???) that Nebraska is a huge repository of... well, HUGE bones! They have found a complete fossil record of the development of elephants in Nebraska. There were more than 10 complete skeletons of elephants, beginning with some with 4 tusks (instead of only two), shorter legs, etc. and going to mastodons, mammoths, and modern elephants. ALL of which developed in Nebraska! They were fabulous!

Giant Mastodon (modern elephants in front of him)

In the next room over, we saw camel skeletons-- it seems a giant camel evolved in Nebraska, too. It was only later that they migrated into other continents. The llama, also, is a descendant of this camel; it ended up in South America. So both the dromedary (one hump) and bactrian (two hump) camels which are seen in the middle east and Asia, and the llama in South American, developed from the giant camel in Nebraska!

There were other galleries-- giant rhinos, horses (we should have come here instead of the Hagerman Fossil Beds!), one of "weird animals and fish", including a shark with teeth that looked like a buzz saw blade, large armored fish, and a 5 foot tall invertebrate of some sort which was just horrible looking! Speaking of horrible, there were several animals, some dead-end evolutionary "experiments", with truly ugly skulls. There were also skeletons of a giant sloth, a giant deer, and some kind of huge round THING, I can't remember what exactly it was (I'm posting a photo.)

Giant Camel

This floor of the museum was so utterly fascinating that we spent well over an hour in it--I had to run out and shove MORE quarters in our parking meters! We had about 30 minutes left to go upstairs where the "real dinosaurs" were-- including a stegosaurus which came from, guess where? Utah's Dinosaur National Monument! So we had visited the place it was buried, and here was the skeleton itself! They also had an Allosaurus from there as well. And in the room next door, there was a plesiosaur neck in the floor--it went from one end of the gallery to the other.

Plesiosaur skull and body found in Nebraska

This museum has a number of really rare fossils, such as a fossilized early deer which was pregnant, and the bones of the fetus were also fossilized. There is a giant something that I never heard of, which is very rare, and an entire flying dinosaur skeleton still embedded in rock for display-- it is rare to find an entire skeleton in one piece, so to speak. All in all, we simply were boggled by the richness of the fossil record in Nebraska, and plan to come back again. For one thing, we didn't find out until today about the Ashfall Fossil Beds in northern Nebraska. We easily could have stopped to see them on our way west a few weeks ago. They are a paleological version of Pompeii-- a volcano erupted in Idaho, killing hundreds of now extinct animals at a waterhole area in what is now Nebraska. I took a photo of one fossil from the site which was in the museum, but I am avid to go see the original site now, which, I believe, is also enclosed inside a building like Dinosaur National Monument is.

"Round thing"-- a Glyptodont, related to an armadillo

There was also an exhibit highlighting the fossils found through the State's "Highway Paleontology Program," where there is cooperation between the state and the scientists when new roads are being put it-- the paleontolgists work side by side with the road construction crews to deal with fossils that may be uncovered at the time of the work being done. It is one of the first cooperative programs of this type in the country. All in all, this was one of the most fascinating museums I've ever seen, and just standing in the "Elephant Hall" was to be in awe. As Joe said, Nature is truly incredible! This museum is worth a special visit-- I hope to go back there someday soon. We had to skip entire galleries due to lack of time and energy (and quarters!)

Complete flying dinosaur skeleton

By the time we finished up at the museum, Joe was pretty wiped out (he'd done almost all the morning's driving), so we found a park to stop in while we looked at our options for the rest of the day. There are a LOT of places to "overnight" in parking lots near Omaha (Walmart, Cabela's, Cracker Barrel, and even the highway rest areas), but we needed electricity tonight--it was in the 90s and SO hot, and we knew we wanted AC tonight.  In the end, we decided to go to a county park campground near Omaha, about 45 minutes further east. But when we got there, it was full.

Plesiosaur paddle

Allosaurus

Stegasaurus from Dinosaur Nat. Monument in Utah

Fossilized animal burrows (bottom one has animal remains in it)

A very weird animal-- I have no idea what!

So we did MORE thinking and mapping, and headed east again, crossing the Missouri River into Iowa until we came to another county park, Arrowhead Park in Neola, IA. We were lucky yet again to get one of the last spots available. So we are in Iowa now, about 2 hour's drive from tomorrow's destination. I can't upload today's photos because we have very little connection for some reason, but I will certainly do that. The skeletons we saw today were, as I said, mind-boggling! If they are not here when you read this blog, come back again!

I have no idea what this is!

Crazy Ideas: How People Play

Made from Matchsticks--the U.S. Capitol

Monday, Aug. 6, 2018

Well. Last night was one wild night. After I finished my blog and went to bed, the rain started up again. We had thunderstorms and torrential rains ALL night. The emergency weather radio did not go off again, but that didn't matter-- the rain itself kept waking me up. It would pound on the roof for 10-15 minutes, then ease up to almost nothing. Then start pounding again. At 3:30 I was awake, wondering if it would ever stop.

I was also concerned about Cassie. She had utterly refused to go outside with me just before I came to bed (which is our usual routine, and I knew she hadn't "gone" for quite a long time.) She spent the night curled up between the bed and the wall of the camper, which is where she goes to feel safer when there is thunder. I thought I heard her whimper at one point, which she does when she needs to go out, although she was not moving at all from her "safe spot." Finally I heard a lull in the rain, and got up and called her to come with me. She actually did, and we went outside. I chose my moment well--it was not really raining at the moment, although the air felt wet. The ground was completely saturated, with the parking lot surface soaked and small rivers in every crack. Luckily, we were right by an "island" of grass and mulch, and Cassie hopped onto it. As soon as she was finished, we both rushed back to the RV, and about 5 minutes later, yet another deluge commenced.

So it went all night. But the great news is-- my makeshift ceiling leak barrier worked great! We didn't get dripped on, and everything was still dry in the morning!

We got a sort of slow start after all that rain, which didn't matter too much. I wanted to stop at an "attraction" (I hesitate to call it a museum) on our way today, but it didn't open until 1 p.m. and was 2 hours drive away. So we took our time, dealing with sheets everywhere, and the damp bedspread, etc. We also went back into the Walmart yet again, to pick up some roof sealant (and I returned the extra sheet I'd bought last night, which thank goodness I didn't need.) Then we finally hit the road.

The scenery all day today was pretty much the same everywhere-- huge huge HUGE farms of corn and soybeans. It is a beautiful countryside, and unless you've driven through it for hours on end, it's hard to fathom how much grain is really produced in this country-- this is just one state, but driving through Nebraska, or Kansas, or the Dakotas (all of which are "stacked up" in the center of the country) are similarly part of the "bread basket". We are supplying the world with grain; it is quite astonishing how much there really is.

Our stop was in Gladbrook, Iowa, at something called Matchstick Marvels. Gladbrook itself was a tiny town with nothing much going on in it as far as we could tell, but it does have this one claim to fame-- a guy from Gladbrook named Pat Acton has a hobby-- building things out of matchsticks. (I joked to Joey that considering the size of these small towns, how isolated they are from each other, and how there is NOTHING much but farming all around, what did the people do in the winter? Building things with matchsticks must be the only thing TO do. But it's funny, Acton works as a school counselor, not a farmer.)

So we stopped at Matchstick Marvels to see these matchstick "sculptures," for lack of a better word. They are truly amazing. He has sold several dozen to Ripley's Believe It Or Not, and they are displayed all over the world that way. But now he's just building his own museum in Gladbrook. We saw models of ships, buildings (the Iowa Governor's mansion, Notre Dame cathedral, and the U.S. Capitol), animals, and miscellaneous things like Pinocchio and a rocket ship (all of these items were specific; that is, it was a particular ship, a specific rocket, etc.-- but I forget what they were.) I was disappointed that two models I really hoped to see-- Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter books, and Minis Tirith, from Lord of the Rings, were displayed elsewhere. But what we did see was awesome.

We spent about 45 minutes or so there, then kept heading west. We had nothing else scheduled for the day besides driving, but suddenly we saw a sign on the highway-- World's Biggest Popcorn Ball. Now, HOW could we EVER pass that by? I was driving, so Joey directed me about a mile off the highway to Sac City, IA, where indeed, we found the Popcorn Ball in its own little building. There were a lot of photos showing all the volunteers putting the popcorn ball together. They got the popcorn from the Noble Popcorn company just a few blocks away. So utterly silly, and such a perfect example of Americana.

And that is why I called this blog, Crazy Ideas: How People Play. The matchstick models and the creation by a group of volunteers of the World's Biggest Popcorn Ball are such a contrast with the amazing natural beauty of the Mississippi River-- people are creative and just love to do things that are so.... well, "unnatural." That's one of my favorite things about people--the playfulness. I appreciate the passion that goes into those matchstick models so much, and I would most certainly have enjoyed helping create that popcorn ball. It all sounds like fun. (I stopped myself from buying a bag of matchsticks to make my own model!)

After the popcorn ball side trip, we really had to book it through the rest of Iowa. We got to South Dakota at about 7:30, after passing the KOA where we stayed in 2007 when Mo broke down and we had to wait for 2 days for the repairs to be completed. Now we are in a county park in Vermillion, South Dakota, just over the border from Nebraska. It is a very pretty campground, only about half full, less than $20, and for such a low price, we get electricity, a very nice bathhouse, and all the mosquitoes we can swat! Tomorrow morning's plan: The National Music Museum here in Vermillion.

And Then Came the Deluge!

I could use a clothes-line right about now!

Sunday evening, Aug. 5, 2018

We left Fenelon Place at about 5:30 pm, and headed for Walmart to do our next errand--purchase a new battery for the RV's "house" systems. I still thought that we could go back to the casino for the night, but it occurred to me that if the Walmart was RV friendly, staying there might be easier. But as we drove, it became the obvious choice, because the skies turned black, and opened up, and suddenly it was simply POURING. Pounding heavy rain, and winds blowing the water across the roads in front of us like rivers, and the wind blowing, and the visibility almost at ZERO. I had the thought that, this being Iowa, perhaps I should be listening to a weather station--I didn't know if there was something going on besides just a torrential thunderstorm (tornado, maybe?)

Thank goodness, we were not far from the Walmart, and we parked, quickly deciding to wait for the rain to let up before we even ATTEMPTED to go inside! I had realized that while Joe looked for a battery (which he was determined to install right then and there), I had the time to pick up the groceries which we needed (yes, i know we shopped 48 hours ago, but we had a list of things we'd forgotten!)

We waited for about 15 minutes until the rain had let up and was just a normal, light rain again. We also took out our weather radio, which we haven't had occasion to use in years, and turned it on to hear if there was anything we needed to know. But no, it was just a thunderstorm (with hail in some places!) after all. The good part, however, was that it had brought down the temperature outside quite a bit, making our prospects for a comfortable night much more likely. But just as we were getting ready to go into Walmart, we made a very unpleasant discovery.  The roof fan which is directly over our bed was leaking, and there was a large wet spot on our bedspread, and down through 3 layers of sheets to the foam mattress topper!

So we stripped the bed completely, and took stock. I was able to soak up the wetness from the foam, and we had a couple of spare sheets. However, I hung up the wet sheets in the bedroom, trying to get the cross breeze to dry them. Then we went in to shop. Joe found his battery, and asked the manager if we could stay overnight. She said yes and told us where to park. Then while I did the grocery shopping (and by the way, picked up a spare sheet to replace the wet ones), Joe went out and installed the new battery. He really IS amazing, and it works great.

Meanwhile, I was amazed to discover that a couple of the sheets I'd hung up felt dry. Joe had to lie down to rest after his battery install (he DOES strain himself too much, I'm afraid) and we had a few more "light" rains (some were not so light.) At which point, Joe casually says he's felt a few drops on him. When i checked, it was very wet on the bed again, next to where he was.

So I had to move the sheets yet again, and we had a discussion about what to do in the event of more heavy rain. In the end, we decided to prepare for it, even if it didn't happen. So I stood on the bed and covered the fan vent with a plastic bag and duct tape, so it wouldn't keep dripping on the bed. I also went outside and brought in a large bucket we have, which if the roof were leaking again, we could put onto the bed to catch the water. It makes it hard to SLEEP on the bed, but at least if the plastic doesn't hold, we have some way to avoid another thorough wetness. The main problem is drying things out! The sheets are large, and there's no clothesline or way to really hang anything large in here. Plus there are 2 people and a dog taking up a lot of space.

We'd also set our weather radio to give us an alarm if there IS some kind of weather emergency. And at 10:30 while I was writing this, it suddenly went off. The National Weather Service said there was another line of extreme thunderstorms heading for Dubuque. I had already been seeing a lot of lightening, so we battened down the hatches again. Sure enough, the line of storms went through, but the plastic on the ceiling seems to have held! So so far, so good.

And that's where we are now-- in the Walmart parking lot with dampish sheets, and a taped-up bedroom ceiling. Joey has fallen asleep regardless while I'm typing. If we have to, one of us could move to the couch to sleep, and make the table into a bed for the other one of us. But we do prefer to be in our own bed, that's for sure! Right now it is quiet and calm, and not raining. So let's hope we are lucky for the rest of the night!

Life on the Mississippi

Sunday, Aug. 5, 2018


Wow what a day! So much has happened, I'm having trouble remembering this morning, although I seem to remember that we actually got going quite early, and Joe even got to take a shower before we left our campground at 9:30. It was kind of gray, but we knew we were going to spend the next few hours inside, so it didn't matter. On the way off the island, we passed the casino again (I think I mentioned it yesterday) and I looked up on Casino Camper to see whether they allowed overnighting. They do, and so I thought that if we ended up staying for a second night in Dubuque, we could dry camp in the casino parking lot.

Ten minutes away was our destination, the National Mississippi  River Museum and Aquarium. I originally "scheduled" it for about a 3 hour visit on my original itinerary (meaning, it would have been yesterday's activity-- but THAT didn't happen!) But we got there a little after it opened, and I figured we'd have plenty of time. Well, we ended up staying there the ENTIRE day. This museum had several parts, all really excellent.

Paddlefish eating--that's his mouth wide open!

We started in the main building. The first floor was all about the Mississippi River. We learned about all the different environments in the river-- from marshlands to deep water to backwaters etc. Each area had an aquarium with the kinds of fish which could be found in that part of the river (including a bayou tank with a large alligator.) We watched a wonderful video about the barge traffic we'd seen yesterday-- more information about how critically important the barge transportation system is for farmers all up and down the river. There was a great exhibit on the locks, and  the issues involved with managing the traffic. We spent some time there because we like locks so much . The issue at hand is how to expedite traffic, and whether having longer locks would help that (remember, yesterday we learned about the huge 15-barge tows, which have to be broken into two parts to get through the locks. That takes about 2 hours for each tow, and traffic can back up.) Some people are in favor of making the locks longer-- we learned the pros and cons for that question. As Joey said, there are so many issues, it is not at all black and white, and once you make a decision, you are subject to the law of unintended consequences. There are good arguments on either side of the question as to how to handle the river traffic. We found it fascinating, again, today.

Equally fascinating were the paddlefish! We walked past the big tank of paddlefish just as they were about to be fed. I was expecting them to all go up to the surface to feed, like other fish I've seen. But no, it was far more amazing. Paddlefish have a very long nose (it looks like a paddle), and their mouths are way back behind their nose, so they can't get their mouths to the surface like other fish do. Instead, they open their mouths SO WIDE, and as the food drifted down in the tank, they swam around with their mouths open, kind of scooping it up. When they do that, you can see right through their mouths to the back of their throats, where their gills are, and you can see how they are filtering out the food, while the water flows right through the gills. When there is light behind them (which there was, because there was a bright light over the tank), you clan see right through their mouths. Joe took a video which is too long for him to send to me, but I took these photos which I think show the fish pretty well.

There were lots of other things to see, including the backwater tank in the lobby, with turtles (including one which was very entertaining, as he tried to get out onto a sunny log which was too high for him and kept falling back into the water), an otter with his own pool, and of course things like snakes, frogs, toads, etc. All in all, we learned a LOT about the Mississippi, and really enjoyed it.

Models of various Leonardo inventions and visions

Then we headed upstairs for the museum's current special exhibit. This was on Leonardo da Vinci. I don't really know what he has to do with rivers, but so be it-- the exhibit was amazing! It included information on Leonardo's background and education, and some displays of his notebooks. Then there were full-size models of many of his inventions-- machines which he hoped would help man fly like a bird, his "ideal city", a couple of cranes, and a sort of diving bell and underwater suit he designed to help humans live under water (sort of like scuba equipment.) There were also models of machines he designed to wage war, including an armored tank (really quite like the ones we saw yesterday on Rock Island!), a multiple-barrelled gun (again, sort of like the howitzers we saw, but more than one barrel attached together and spread out in a fan shape), and bridges designed to be quickly erected by a traveling army. There was a section with his anatomical drawings. And of course, a large section with replicas of his paintings, including a full wall-size Last Supper. Joe has always reminded me of Leonardo, being so creative in so many fields, and we both really enjoyed the exhibits, especially all the models.

By the time we were finished with that, it was noon! And there was another whole building to see. So we went out to the RV and had some lunch first, and walked Cassie. Then we came back and went to the other building, which is the "National  Rivers" building. The exhibits included things like how the rivers were used as highways, the importance of rivers in building the country, and stuff like that. Our favorte was the section on canals. We watched a short video on the building of the Erie Canal, and how that ushered in the "golden age of canals." As we left, Joe says, "Houseboat on the Erie Canal!!!", which is something we want to do-- rent a houseboat and travel on the canal. There was also a big exhibit on various ways rivers have been utilized to provide water to growing populations.

We also saw two movies, each about 20 minutes. The first was on "The Age of the Airplane," which was about how airplane travel has affected our lives. It was very beautiful and included a lot of things which we don't usually think about--especially, how before flight, most people would never experience any culture or country other than their own. And how profoundly our lives have been changed by the ability to travel between countries and continents so easily. After that, we watched a very different movie about meercats! It was a bit anthropomorphicized, but they are very cute animals and i didn't really know that much about them (meercats live in groups and operate very communally, and the "leader" of the group is the dominant female, rather than a male!)

We finished up that building by observing some more aquariums, including one of tropical water and fish, and one with cold water, which included sea stars and our favorite, a large red octopus. We also looked at the tank with the stingrays, which could be petted (the staff person there said they are actually responsive and LIKE being petted) and a tank with jellyfish.

Joe was getting really tired by this point, but we had to walk back to the car via the outdoor exhibits-- including a family  built and owned river tow boat, and the boat-building factory (which was the old use of the building we were attached to). We were too tired to go investigate the William H. Black, a side-wheeling steamboat which was used to dredge the Mississippi, and is now a National Historic Landmark. And until I looked at the brochure we picked up just now as I type this, neither of us knew there was an outdoor wetlands exhibit.

So how did I EVER think we'd be able to "do" this museum in 3 hours? It was 4pm by the time we left. By then we had several other things on our agenda. The "problem" one was that our house battery was dying, and Joe wanted to replace it. He said it was likely we'd find it at Walmart, and Google told us there was a Walmart less than 4 miles away. MY agenda was to check out the Fenelon Place Elevator. That was only 4 BLOCK away. So we went there first.

The Fenelon Place Elevator is "the world's steepest, shortest scenic railway." It was built by one Mr. J.K. Graves, a banker in Dubuque who lived on the bluffs overlooking the city. In 1882, Dubuque was "an hour and a half town," with everything shutting down at noon, and everyone went home for dinner. And Mr. Graves wanted 30 minutes to eat his dinner, and to take a 30 minute nap afterwards. Unfortunately it took 30 minutes to drive his horse and buggy around the bluffs to get to the top, and another 30 minutes to get back down to the bank after lunch. He didn't have time for his nap! As a traveler, he had seen incline railways in Europe, and he decided a cable car would solve his problem. So he built a cable car from the business district to Fenelon Place, on the bluffs, where he lived.

It started out as Mr Graves' private elevator, but eventually was purchased by 10 neighbors who had become dependent on it (Graves had started charging 5 cents/ride when neighbors kept asking for a lift.) The 10 men started the "Fenelon Place Elevator Comppany", and the elevator has been running ever since. It now costs $1.50 per trip, still pretty inexpensive considering the ride up that hill!

And we TOOK that ride-- IN our RV, because thank you, Google, for sending us to the TOP of the elevator instead of, as I'd expected, the bottom. So we rode it down, and then we rode it up. The view from the top is great-- you can see all of Dubuque's business district, and the riverfront, and across the river to Wisconsin and Illinois (Dubuque is pretty much at the border of those two states, although of course it's across the river in Iowa.) The roads we drove up were very reminiscent of San Francisco, and a couple were VERY narrow! But it was a fun way to end our touristy day. We may have been lucky (Joe certainly was) that at the bottom, where all the very cute little shops were located, they were all closed because it was after 5pm. So no shopping for me. We could see clouds coming along from our vantage point at the top, and there were a few sprinkles while we were on the cable car. So we walked back to where we'd parked Sam, and headed for Walmart for our battery.

And this is where I have to write a completely different blog.

"It's all about the journey."

Tonight's View from Miller's Riverview Park

Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018

This day really didn't turn out at all like I'd planned, but it was a good day anyway. How can it be BAD when you wake up on the Mississippi River, and go to bed later in another state but still on the Mississippi River?

We woke up at about 7 this morning, and while Joe ate an "emergency breakfast" (i.e. his blood sugar dropped suddenly, which woke him up), I went to use the shower at the campground. It was a very nice facility, clean and modern, but one drawback-- the water used one of those buttons where you press it, get water for maybe 40 seconds, and then it turns off. I was the first one to use it this morning, I guess, so it was COLD coming out, and took 5 or 6 presses to warm up enough for me to take a fairly okay shower. When Joe heard about it, though, he decided to pass on it.

He was busy, anyway-- he was fixing the tire pressure monitor which was loose, and then he got under the RV, because he'd discovered a small leak in our fresh water tank. He was unable to fix that, however, because it was too hard to reach. So... at least it's fresh water, and not black water, right?

Joe and Cassie near Fishermans Corner, IL

At 10:00 or so we left the campground, with the destination of a museum in Dubuque, about and hour's drive north of us. However, I'd picked up a brochure listing all the Corps of Engineer campgrounds along the upper Mississippi, and it told me that there was a visitor's center and observation deck at Lock 15, in Rock Island, IL. For some reason, I thought it was north of us, and got excited to stop there. About 5-6 miles later, I realized it was SOUTH of us. So then we decided to go back to see it. Then (after we'd turned around), I realized it was a full 25 minute drive south, and would delay my "itinerary". And THAT is when Joe said, "I'ts all about the journey. It doesn't matter when we get there, let's just go." So we went south (passing our campground from last night). We stopped again just a few hundred feet down the road, to walk out onto a concrete thing stretching out into the river. [Edit next day: I think this may be a wing dam, which is designed to encourage the water into the middle of the river to increase the depth there. It's part of the way they manage the river to facilitate shipping.] There were people fishing all along it (hence the name of our campground, Fishermans Corner), and at the end, it was a dam, which was channeling water through it. Beyond THAT was what was obviously a lock, and we were wondering why there were locks on the river. So we headed to Rock Island to find out.

Boats leaving Lock 15 on Rock Island, IL

We drove through Moline, IL (following our GPS) and saw the bridge going over to Rock Island, which is in the middle of the river. But the GPS said to go further. There was a sign on the bridge which said "U.S. Army", and so we thought it was the wrong bridge anyway. We continued another 10 minutes and GPS sent us over another bridge. Whoops, at the very end of THAT bridge was a sign that said, "Vehicles over 11' use right lane," which was NOT the direction the GPS was sending us. But we are 11'8", and so we went to the right lane-- right up to the Army checkpoint booth. The lovely young man on gate duty explained that we needed to go to the OTHER entrance (the bridge we'd passed) so we could get a visitor's pass-- all of Rock Island, we then found out, is a military installation. (I'm just looking for a "Mississippi River Visitor's Center"-- a military outpost was NOT what I expected!)

So we turned around and went back upriver yet again to the first bridge. We went over that, up to the Army checkpoint booth, and the second nice young man on gate duty says, "you are in the right place, but you need a visitor's pass." Alas, we were supposed to turn before his booth to get the pass. (Keep repeating: "It's all about the journey.") So we had to turn around AGAIN and take another small road to a small building where we filled out official forms which allowed them to check our criminal records, and finally we got a visitor's pass to Rock Island Arsenal, which is what the whole thing is called.

Military Cemetery at Rock Island Armory

Well, wow, we had NO IDEA. It is a fairly large island, and has been under the control of the US Army since 1863, when it was established as a national arsenal. But the first fort there was Fort Armstrong, which was built in 1816. Hence, there are historical buildings and installations all over the place. The first thing we passed was a very large military cemetery, and then went through the base area-- housing, the PX, the commissary, and especially, the huge Arsenal building. According to my brochure, "The arsenal today serves the warfighter as the home of U.S. Army Logistics, and the manufacturing wing remains active as the only federally owned foundry in federal inventory." There is a museum, and many buildings which can be toured.

We didn't stop, however; we went directly to the end of the island to the visitor's center for Lock 15, which was the first lock built by the Army Corps of Engineers on the river. We learned that there are 27 locks on the upper Mississippi, to facilitate water traffic and the movement of goods through the midwest. The visitor's center had an observation deck as well as an interpretive center. We watched a very interesting movie which told us a lot about how the locks were built, how the tow boats were set up, and all kinds of other really interesting information. We enjoyed our visit very much.

On the way out of the building, we noticed a poster for an event called "Floatzilla", just two weeks from now. It involves a large group of kayakers and canoers going through the lock at the same time, trying to break the previous record. We were thinking, maybe we should skip dealing with wild fires out west, and come back for Floatzilla-- we have our kayak in our RV!

Howitzers

On the way back off the island, we drove through the main street again, stopping at Memorial Field and its display of howitzers. There were a LOT of them, plus some tanks. I'd never seen any of these things up close. They had a tank which was the main tank used in Vietnam, howitzers from WWI and WWII, guns from the Civil War, and a lot of experimental prototypes (these things were actually designed at the Rock Island Armory.) So we were suitably impressed with our entire visit. And at the bottom of the bridge as we left the island, we stopped at a shop called Shameless Chocoholics-- THAT can't be bad, right?

We finally cross the Mississippi

The ranger in the river visitor's center had been very helpful, and gave me an idea for the rest of the day. It was long past time when we could have gotten to the museum up in Dubuque, so instead we decided to drive up the Iowa side of the river, passing through Le Claire, and just get to a campground at a reasonable time for a change. Le Claire is a little touristy town (so the ranger said,) but interestingly it was on my original itinerary for the trip back eastward, because it is the location of Antique Archaeology, the home base of the stars of American Pickers, a show on TV which Joey and I really enjoy watching. So we drove up to Le Claire (it was only about 20 minutes upriver), and went to Antique Archaeology.

Alas, the stores were about 90% promotional stuff (AA t-shirts, hats, etc) and 10% actual antiques.

Not that I expected to buy any antiques, but really, I was disappointed. After that, we drove straight up to Dubuque, to tonight's campground, Miller's Riverview Park, I think it's called. I believe it's owned by the city. It is on yet another island in the river (there is also a hotel and a casino, but since we wanted the shower house here, we passed up the free camping in the casino parking lot.) The campground is kind of basic-- and we were too late to get a riverside site, but the price was right, only $18. So we are averaging inexpensive campgrounds so far on this trip!

Tomorrow's plan is to go to the museum here in town, which is only 10 minutes away, and then continue west through Iowa. It was nice to have a day like today, without being on the highway non-stop. It was fairly low key, but we learned interesting things and saw places we'd never known about, which makes a good day for us!

Map showing tonight's campground. The blue dot on the island is us!