#5 Dubuque, Ia.

As we mentioned earlier in the blog, we had no specific itinerary for this trip. Originally we wanted to see some spots along the river, and head a little west to stop by the Winnebago factory in Forest City. But we needed more time to see sights along the river, and decided to work our  way up river and not go farther west. Now we are near the end of the trip, and are pretty happy with the route we’ve taken and what we have been able to see. Perhaps even more rewarding than the local attractions along the way have been the scenic campgrounds we’ve found, especially along the banks of the river. We are now in a county park in Dubuque, Miller Riverview Park, and it, too is a very scenic spot along the big river.

The first pic below was taken from the RV window when we spotted a sightseeing boat passing by.

All along the Mississippi we have been pleasantly surprised by the scenic rolling hills along the riverbanks and nearby. There have been so many great home sites overlooking deep valleys and expanses of river. Here is one perched on a bluff across the river that we could see from our campground.

When we arrived in Dubuque, we had some daylight left and decided to have a look at the Fenelon Elevator, the world’s shortest and steepest railroad. Built to transport a successful businessman to and from his lunch, the elevator is now a tourist attraction in Dubuque. Before we rode, we asked if they ever had any failures, and learned only short power outages that stopped the car for a few minutes. We didn’t fall and the views were terrific.

So much of the Mississippi River’s history in the last few hundred years is related to transportation of people and goods along the river, and nothing changed it more than the invention of the steam powered boat. Although we think of Robert Fulton as the inventor of the steamboat, it was actually invented by John Fitch in 1786, twenty years before Fulton’s Clermont. No one saw the value in Finch’s invention, and he died with no recognition and penniless. The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium has many interesting exhibits that trace the history of the steamboat and its impact on the growth of the US and the imaginations of men.

Housed in two buildings, and with both indoor and outdoor exhibits, its hard to describe the entire museum, but here are a few favorite exhibits.

A large scale model of a riverboat with cutaways revealing different scenes on the boat gave a good idea of life on a riverboat.

One could even imagine himself piloting one of these behemoth’s down the mighty Mississippi.

Apparently river boat captains used to like to race their boats when the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, this accounted for many of the numerous boiler explosions and other calamities that befell the boats. Mark Twain’s description of the excitement generated by one particular race was priceless.

The Sprague, which was the largest paddle wheeler ever built, was affectionately called the Big Mama, and was launched in 1901 in Dubuque. She measured 318 feet long.

Around the time Big Mama was launched, the Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works was the largest inland water shipbuilder in the US.

The exhibit of the log raft looked pretty authentic, even though it was accomplished with only 10 sections of logs in a 10x12 foot room – and a number of mirrors.

It took us the better part of the afternoon to look through all of the exhibits, which included a small paddle wheeler and some steamship machinery outdoors. Although a bit of an odd bedfellow, the aquarium afforded some interesting exhibits of aquatic life in the Amazon. Many exhibits presented information about conservation of our rivers and waterways. We saw some busloads of children, and it was clear that the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium has an important education mission and that many exhibits are geared towards these younger folks.

About ready to call it a day for our busy day in Dubuque, and nearing the end of what we considered an interesting, if limited, view of Iowa, we decided to see another of the mighty river’s locks and dams, No. 11. We saw a tug pushing a 15 barge boat through the lock. It came incredibly close to (and actually hit) the side wall of the lock as a deckhand looked on. Interesting Factoid: Deckhands spend four weeks on the barge and four off. 

Since the lock cannot accommodate all fifteen of the barges at once, the tug must separate them and move the last six through in a second stage. This photo shows the tug backed out of the lock while the gates are closing on the first nine of the barges.

           

A barge this big can transport the equivalent of 870 eighteen wheelers – but only moves at a max speed of 8mph, and often much slower.

Thanks for coming along on this trip! We all (Idgy, Rosie, Duffy, Anne and John) enjoyed your company, and especially your comments along the way!

#4 Davenport

We drove the Great River Road from Burlington to the Davenport area, and it was easy to see how the road will be a lot prettier in a few seeks. Nevertheless, it was an uneventful drive with some nice farmland scenery. 

When looking for a campground, you always hope to get the perfect one and the perfect spot in it. We use a website called RV Park Reviews to see what other people think of a campgrounds and select largely based on their ratings, which have been pretty accurate. With our larger RV, here is what we hope to find:

-       30 amp electric

-       level ground with some nice scenery

-       good space between spots

-       plenty of room between spots to maneuver into the spot

-       not too many neighbors (mostly so the cats aren’t bothered by the noise)

-       some shade

Anyhow, we were lucky to find near perfect camping here at Buffalo Shores campground that is on the banks of the Mississippi. Owned and run by Scott (Davenport) County, this campground meets all of our criteria to a “T”. Our spot backs up against a sandy beach along the Mississippi River. The Ranger told us that in summer people swim here, even though there is always a pretty strong current.

Every so often we can see a barge slowly pushing down river. The barge in the first pic must have been more than 500 ft. long.

Although we aren’t big fans of reality shows, we have been hooked on a few of History Channel’s shows, like Pawn Stars and American Pickers. So we took this opportunity to visit the American Pickers store in LeClaire, just north of Davenport’s sister city, Bettendorf. Their shop has been seen on the TV show many times and in the flesh it looks just about the same, though a little smaller and less glitzy.

The shop seemed to concentrate on motorcycle and mechanical items.

Did you see the episode where Mike and Frank decided to buy Danielle some wheels as a perk? She didn’t expect this single seater with a pull starter on the dash!

Just down the street was the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum.

We felt a little misled, because only about 1/10^th of the museum was devoted to Buffalo Bill, who was born in the countryside near here. But in addition to a nice display about his life and times, there were a lot of exhibits about early American life in and around LeClaire. I liked this display from one of LeClaire Mfg.’s products that converted a reel mower to a gas driven mower. Do you remember those?

Anne wants one of these washing machines, so she can save on Electricity.

Another wing of the museum housed the Lone Star paddle wheeler, the longest continuously running steam powered boat on the Mississippi – 1869-1968.

Guests are permitted to wander throughout the three levels of the boat. Although we felt the museum was a little misrepresented, especially by the sign out front, it was definitely worth the time for a visit.

The Rock Island Arsenal is a large Military facility established in 1816 that has served as a military base, prison camp for civil war prisoners, and, since it was officially established as Rock Island Arsenal by an Act of Congress in 1862, as a 946 acre US Army military supply and manufacturing facility. The property includes the Rock Island National Cemetery, the home of the area’s earliest settler, Colonel Davenport, and the Army Corps of Engineers Lock and Dam 15 as well as the Corp’s Mississippi River Visitor’s Center.

In the early 30’s, the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) was given the task of building and operating a series of more than 30 locks and dams designed to permit cargo barges to move freely down the Mississippi, dropping about 450 feet over a 600 mile distance. You can view Lock and Dam 15 at the Corp’s Mississippi River Visitor Center. They have a number of exhibits about the Corp and the area on the first floor, but the most interesting part is the second floor where you can watch barges move through the lock.

Since an average of only about 7 barges move through the locks per day, we were lucky to be able to watch one, and the series of pictures show its progress:

Barge approaching the lock with gates closed, water in the lock is low.

Water in lock is raised and gates opened, barge enters lock.

This barge is a smaller one, pushing only 3 barges; they can push up to 15 barges, and most often, they do. Also note in the photo below that there is another vessel in the lock, a COE ship that was doing some dredging. Clearance between the barge and the COE ship was only a few feet at most on either side. It was interesting that the barge Captain told the Visitor Center folks that this was the first time he had passed through a lock with another ship in it – in his 20 years of time being a captain! And the Visitor Center officer had never seen this happen either.

Water lowered 15 feet, gates open, and barge proceeds downriver. Note the pivoting bridge section rotates 90 degrees for the barge to clear the lock. The double deck pivoting rail and auto bridge was built in 1896.

Our next stop was the Arsenal Museum.

Entering the museum, we were amazed to see a huge collection of hand guns and rifles dating back to about 1775. Books were available to the visitor that listed some information about each gun.

From its earliest days, the Arsenal was responsible for manufacturing and stocking supplies for the Army ranging from tin cups and watering bridles to refitting jeeps with 106mm recoilless rifles for the Vietnam war.  Small arms and add-on armor kits for HumVees have also been manufactured at the Armory.             Many of the museum displays illustrate the equipment that has been manufactured through the years at what today is the nation’s largest government owned and operated arsenal.

We enjoyed our time in Davenport, and for sure hope to visit the Buffalo Shores Campground again!