1. Hannibal, MO. (Update. In summarizing our Mark Twain activities yesterday I forgot to say that we stayed at the Mark Twain Campground adjacent to the Mark Twain Cave.)
You can see that it's another cloudy day. No rain, though, and temperatures still cool, low 70s at the max. Also, they managed to make this bridge's superstructure look squat rather than soaring.
2. Quincy, IL. Now, here's soaring.
3. Keokuk, IA. The adjacent RR bridge, which you can barely see, is more interesting than the highway bridge.
4. Fort Mason, IA
A bit of a story here. As you approach this bridge a sign says, Limit 8 tons; No semis. We're considerably over 8 tons. Fortunately, there's a large graveled area at the side of the road, so we pull off, turn around, and stop. As I'm studying the map and deciding where-now, a man in a pick-up who has been parked in this area drives alongside. He says, Do you need to cross here? We say, Not really; besides, we weigh more than 8 tons. He says, You can do it. I just saw two Greyhounds go across. They do it all the time. So, we decide to do it. (Who you gonna believe at a time like this?)
It becomes clear that the bridge is plenty sturdy (you wouldn't be reading this if it wasn't). BUT, there are two little zigzag areas that require a long vehicle, like a semi or a big RV, to go out of their lane in order to make the Z without scraping the side. We get extremely lucky and in both cases there is no oncoming traffic. Whew!
5. Burlington, IA
As you can see, this picture is taken as we are heading down an off-ramp. I was headed for an Iowa Visitor's Center and possibly lunch. The Visitor's Center was advertized as Major, or Full-Service, or some such characterization to let you know it's pretty special. We're going to be crossing IA next week, so this looks like a good time for brochure harvesting.
This exit is right down town and as I follow the VC signs, I soon make a left turn toward the river front. Oops. Should have looked before committing myself to the turn. The street is blocked about a half-block down. Burlington is preparing for their riverboat festival this coming week, so there are barricades all along the river front. The only way to get out of this dead-end is to unhitch the PT (oh, the shame of it all) and execute a turn-around -- there is room for that.
I have abandoned thought of the Visitor's Center or lunch and just want to escape, but as we're preparing to re-hitch, a guy comes out of a restaurant and says you can park where you are if you'd like, for a while, and go to the Visitor's Center. We opt to go to the restaurant for lunch. That provided a welcome opportunity to relax. After lunch, I get this picture of the graceful Burlington bridge. Iowa brochures will have to wait. Of course, with the internet, brochures are not such an essential research tool any more.
After Burlington, the route up the Illinois side of the river is the one I'm most concerned about. The roads are shaded on the map to indicate they are paved, but they're pretty dim, apparently county roads, not red or blue highways. But they do have little green dots indicating they are scenic roads, so I figure they might be tourist-friendly. These roads turn out just fine, and the route is marked by Great River Road signs, so it's easy to follow. (I hadn't tried to program the GPS, either from bridge to bridge or for the whole itinerary. We're roughing it.)
6. Muscatine, IA
We cross for the last time at Muscatine and then it's just a short drive to Davenport where we find a very nice RV park for the night. Only trouble is we're in trees and can't get satellite TV; there's no cable; and I can't get the TV antenna/digital converter connection to work like it did at home. So, a quiet evening for reading and blogging.
Cheers,
Susie and Rob
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