Saturday, August 15 dawned hot and muggy. We headed out to the local farmers’ market, down on the banks of the Mississippi. There we picked up sun-ripened tomatoes and Muscatine melons. There was quite an assortment of tomatoes; all sizes, colors and kinds – and all perfectly ripened by the hot Iowa sun. We headed home to cool off and finish preparing our food for the family feast later that evening.

After a wonderful lunch of those amazing tomatoes in homemade bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, we headed out to cruise the Mississippi on the Celebration Belle, a river boat with a paddle wheel that turns (but doesn’t power the boat). It was quite muggy and hot. We saw a few sailboats on the water, and gorgeous homes along the riverbanks, on both sides.

I went to sit in the Captain’s cabin as he narrated the trip so I could cool off. Over the wheel was an amusing sign:

The boat took us to Lock 15 and back to the dock – explaining the sights along the river. There are beautiful mansions dotting both the Illinois and Iowa sides of the river, mostly built either just before the turn of the century or just after.

The boat went past the I74 bridge, which is in the process of being replaced due to its inadequacy, and then veered over toward the (Illinois) Rock Island Arsenal. Of note was the base commander’s house – 22,000 square feet, a private residence second only in size to the White House.

The island also includes Colonel Davenport’s house, where he was murdered. His friend Antoine LeClaire, who lived in Iowa, insisted on naming the town of Davenport for his murdered friend. Both were the movers and shakers who helped create this four-city area, which includes Rock Island and Moline/East Moline in Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. There are five bridges crossing the Mississippi connecting the cities, which locals refer to as “the Quad Cities.”

There is much bridge history in this region – the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built here in the 1850s. It was quickly replaced when struck by a steamboat and destroyed soon after its completion.

We came home after our riverboat ride and had a wonderful family BBQ and get-together.

August 16 – another hot and muggy day. We went to Mass with Sally, and afterward went to Dubuque Iowa, and visited the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.

This is a very well laid-out museum, built over what was once a boat-building site. Steamships were widely used on the Mississippi. They were notoriously dangerous. The average life expectancy for a steamship was five years.

We toured a steam-powered dredge which had been built there and was used through 1973. The temperature in the engine room on the dredge could get up to 130 degrees – something that was quite easy to believe when one looked at the size of the engines.

The boat-building business closed in 1972 and was auctioned off, and the museum was established, eventually. I highly recommend taking the time to do this tour and to check out Dubuque, which has many charming brick buildings with iron facades. This was evidently the first European settlement in Iowa.

We headed back to Davenport, and Rob took Sally for a ride on the TriGlide. She liked it!

Tonight, we had a wonderful dinner at the Bix in the revamped Blackhawk Hotel in downtown Davenport. The hotel had fallen into disrepair and has made a glorious comeback. It’s encouraging to see this kind of reclamation of historic areas and town centers.Tomorrow, we leave Iowa for Missouri. We are on our way to Springfield.