WHEW! An 11 hour cruising day today. Captain Dave's stats: 198 gallons of fuel; 90 miles; 3 locks.
Here's Sunday's happenings:
Left Ice Harbor in Dubuque at 8:01 a.m.
While I understand the significance of the flag, I have NO IDEA why an evergreen is at the top of the new bridge . . . hmmmm.
Two miles south is the "Mines of Spain State Recreation Area". The park includes archaeological sites of national importance as an early lead mining and smelting venture led by French explorer Julien Dubuque, as well as Dubuque's gravesite. These sites were collectively designated a National Historic Landmark District as Julien Dubuque's Mines.
Skiing anyone? Approximately 20 miles south of Dubuque, is Chestnut Mountain Resort in Galena, Illinois. When the kids were about 8 and 10, we visited this resort in the summer (by boat) and enjoyed alpine sliding down the "mountain". Krystina and Tony enjoyed this recreation in the summer of 2012, when we brought the boat back from Annapolis, Maryland.
After a few travel days of little of no tow activity, we pass by the first of many tows we encounter today.
Approximately 15 miles south of our first lock of the day (Lock 12), we find the United States Savanna Army Depot which is a training site for the armed forces.
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There's a bent sign on the right of this picture. These signs were posted every hundred yards or so for approximately one mile. About all we could make out is "No Trespassing" (which is all we really needed to know 😉)! Since we saw so many towboats today, we decided to hand out a few awards! The first award is the Safety Award and it goes to "Charlie G." As we were approaching Charlie G., Dave noticed some guys that were in a fishing boat paddling; it appeared that their motor was broke. Dave visited with the captain and Charlie G. took a log off of the fire (as he was headed right towards the fishing boat), while another fishing boat rescued his fellow sportsman. WHEW!  The further south we go, we see fewer beaches. In our 11 hour cruise today, we probably see less than ten! |
The next tow boat award is the Friendliest Tow Award and it goes to "R. Clayton McWhorter". The captain chatted with Dave a few times as they passed each other in the narrow bend of the river and then came out of the pilothouse to give us a wave (captains of tows RARELY if EVER come out of their pilothouse)!😄✋
As we get closer to Savanna, Illinois, we notice the Mississippi River getting a new bridge connecting Savanna and the island town of Sabula, Iowa. Even closer, and we notice something peculiar at the top of the new bridge.
What could it be? Yes! An American flag and evergreen tree; say what?!
Right after Savanna and Sabula, we need to go through a railroad, swing-bridge. Lucky for us, a tow, AND the excursion vessel, "Twilight", need to also go through; so the bridge is open right away, with no wait. Now, who will get through first (hint, it's the one with the flag 😁)?!
Note: We found passengers boarding "Twilight" at Ice Harbor in Dubuque (where we had left early this morning). This excursion boat does one and two night cruises.
About 20 miles later, we see this big windmill in Fulton, Illinois. Fulton's Dutch Windmill was manufactured and pre-assembled in the Netherlands. Once it was delivered to Fulton, the Windmill was assembled and installed by Dutch craftsmen. It stands nearly 100 feet tall and the massive timbers are assembled by wooden pegs!
While we got lucky passing right through Sabula's Swing Bridge, we didn't have luck with the Clinton Railroad Swing Bridge, as we had to wait FORTY minutes! However, we had the pleasure of watching MANY trains (two at one time on the bridge, and another merging on land)! It was a train freeway!
Another twenty miles later and this hovercraft passes us near Princeton, Iowa; so cool!
And the last tow award for the day is The Patience Award, given to "Jason Nyberg". This tow sat at the end of the lock wall for AT LEAST 15 minutes trying to move the end of his barges to the channel so that he would avoid hitting the green buoy! Believe it or not, this captain also came out of his pilothouse to give us a wave! I think he thought we deserved The Patience Award!!!😂
Just before we got to the Isle of Capri Marina, our stay for the night, we saw all of these birds in the middle of the river. It turns out they were all sitting on a cement wall! Dave remembers seeing this in the past and has no idea why a river would have cement walls in the middle of their river!😲
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