To Wisconsin; driving along the Mississippi River

We left for Wisconsin after noon, as I wanted to go to Bible study in the morning.  We knew we would be going only partway this first day. 

It is getting costly to travel with gas prices rising!

We drove the usual route up 35 all the way to Des Moines.  It takes about 6 hours.  It was suppertime so we stopped at a restaurant that we do not have close to us.

Our granddaughter, Claire, age 9, enjoys playing "Guess Where I Am", an on-line game.  It will show a picture of a place and you have to guess what country or city this picture is from.  I took a couple of pictures to send to her to try to guess where we were. 

Can you guess?  

Probably many people have been here, but we rarely have a chance to go to one.

It was dark by the time we left Des Moines.  We drove until about 9 o-clock when we pulled into a place in Le Claire, beside Davenport.  Our room overlooked the Mississippi.

Picture taken from our room the next morning.

Across the river, on the Illinois side is the town of Port Byron.

We read that these two towns have an annual tug of war across the river!  Isn't that a fun tradition?  I found these pictures on-line.

After breakfast, we drove across the river into Illinois.

Oof!

We were heading up the Mississippi River.

I love these old homes!

This one would be fun to re-do!!

We followed signs to Albany Mounds.  

It would be fun to take these trails someday.  Not this day.  Too cold and too mucky as snow was melting.

Lock and Dam 13 past Fulton.

Fulton is named after Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat!

Look how the river widens after the dam.

A penitentiary close to the town of Thomson.  A plan to house Guantanamo detainees at this facility was shut down.  Thomson is also known to be the melon capital of the world!

Savannah, Illinois

I'd enjoy shopping here.  But Al doesn't care for antique stores, so if I want to stop, I'll have to do it when I'm driving by myself.   He tells me we are trying to "down-size", not add more stuff to our home.

Hmm.  Not a great name for someplace I'd want to eat at.

Someone was having a tree in their yard cut down.

to be continued.....