Busy day. Added the song-city of Davenport, drove the Lincoln Highway, the Great River Road, and Highway 61, learned about Nauvoo and Keokuk, and ended the day in Hannibal, Missouri, of Mark Twain fame. Plus I’ve got a little catching up to do on Chicago.
This has turned into a long post. I think that I tend to find unfamiliar types of terrain more exciting than areas that are just as beautiful, but are more similar to those in which I grew up. And today was my first day in areas that really reflect the Mid-West. As Barb mentioned in her comment, we live in an amazing and a diverse country. We should feel momentous pride in what we have. I do feel great pride in our country. And I’ll leave it at that.
I took the Lincoln Highway from Chicago, across Illinois, to the Mississippi River, and then the Great River Road to Davenport, Iowa.
The Lincoln Highway was one of the first transcontinental roads built for automobiles. The original route was set in 1913, but has been adjusted to account for road changes since then. The west end is in Lincoln Park in San Francisco and the eastern end is Times Square in New York. A total length of 3,389 miles. So my Drive from Geneva to Fulton of a little over 100 miles doesn’t count for much. See the web site of the Lincoln Highway Association for much more history and the official map.
https://lincolnhighwayassoc.org/
In Fulton I switched to the Great River Road, a US Scenic Byway. I plan to mostly follow this route all the way to Memphis, but stopped today in Davenport to check that city off the list. I left Davenport on the Great River Road and crossed back into Illinois at Muscatine. Stopped at the Mark Twain Overlook where I saw this plaque and the view.
“Know the Naked Truth”
Con Man: The Fraud Who Claimed To Have a Cure For Cancer
I drove the River Road through Illinois from Muscatine and then crossed back into Iowa at Keokuk, where we find the Keokuk Energy Center, the world’s largest monolithic concrete dam in the world when it was commissioned in 1913.
https://monk.radford.edu/records/item/7437-electric-generators-power-plant-keokuk-iowa
But before Keokuk I went through Nauvoo. Give yourself 10 points for American History, or Religious Studies, if you are familiar with the Battle of Nauvoo. This was the site from which Brigham Young led the majority of Mormans to what became Salt Lake City, following persecution in Illinois and the surrounding states. That was February 4, 1846. On September 10, 1846 the “Regulators” a 1,000 man militia drove the last of the Mormons out in what became called the Battle of Nauvoo. There is now a huge ass Mormon Temple in town. Completed in 2002.
After transiting a small corner of Iowa, I found my self in Missouri. The Great River Road merged with Highway 61, though quite a bit south of Mr. Dylan’s neighborhood. I took 61 into Hannibal, and stopped for the day.
There are a few unreported items from Chicago. We did get to meet up with Sam and Nydia downtown, but due to Omicron concerns it was a much more restrained visit than originally planned. We did all get to the Bean. First pic is from afar (we are in the reflection), second is getting ready to go under (see one of us with outstretched arms), and the third is looking straight up from the center (Brittany’s white hat is center left).
And of course food and drink and presents. The wine flight, the in house produced Swiss roll, and my socks. All from Brittany.
Last item. Kate was kind enough to let me browse her genealogy files. I found this old photo. There was no name attached, but I feel quite confident that we are related.
The Journey 
That photo looks quite familiar. When I get home tonight, I’m going to browse my Mother’s book and see if it is in there. No doubt a relative somewhere down the line!
You again bring back memories of Hannibal. When we went on the Delta Queen trip, we were supposed to board in St. Louis, but when we arrived there, we were informed that the Delta Queen was not there. So, our group of Arlo Guthrie fans boarded a bus and headed to the Delta Queen, which was in Hannibal due to a lock on the river being broken. We ended up staying in Hannibal for two days while they fixed the lock and simultaneously repaired a bent keel on the Delta Queen after a bit of a ‘run aground’ further up the river. We finally did continue our journey once the river was fixed and made it to New Orleans. Hannibal didn’t have much to see, but we did learn some lore about Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn!
Hope you had some Garrett’s caramel corn while you were in Chicago — it is the best.
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Well… I had a Garrett’s knock-off. It was delicious, although Kate said the real thing was better. Something for next time.
Would you recommend a river boat trip on the Mississippi? In the summer.
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First of all, I checked my Mother’s book and was unable to identify the happy child in the photo above!
If the Delta Queen were still running (closed down due to fire safety rules that it could not comply with) AND you could do the cruise with an artist like Arlo Guthrie (now retired from touring), I would say yes. We had a great time, but that had a lot to do with the company — a bunch of old hippies (aged 50’s) were quite a treat for the staff on Board the Delta Queen, whose normal clientele were generally in their 80’s. Without either of those, I probably would not do a riverboat cruise. But, you are being advised by someone who finds ocean cruising extremely boring. Did it once from Vancouver to Hawaii and hated the cruising part — the stops were great, but 3 days to get to Hawaii was awful. I figure I’ll hit another big boat cruise when I can no longer walk. That said, I love small boat expedition cruising. Did several cruises with expeditions.com and all were spectacular. Pull up to an Island, land zodiacs on shore and go hiking — much more to my taste. The stops along the Mississippi were good though, Memphis, Natchez, etc. visited a battlefield, etc, but I think a driving tour would be just as enjoyable.
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I’ll take a look at expeditions.com. I’ve done all the big ship cruising I plan to do. I agree the shore excursions can be fun, but the boat? Not so much. And you suggest what I fear about a riverboat cruise.
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