June 26 - Quad Cities

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Barges, I would like to go with you . . .

The Quad Cities area consists of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island in Illinois.  Our final convention walk started at the Botanical Gardens in Rock Island and took us over the Mississippi to Davenport. During a pleasant walk along the Mississippi (on a levee) we saw a string of barges heading upstream toward Lock No. 15.  The Mississippi IS big and it IS muddy.  But before crossing the bridge we toured the Broadway Historic District in Rock Island.  Apparently, the Blues Brothers are from Rock Island.

It took us 18 minutes to walk across Centennial Bridge.  On the Davenport, Iowa side at the foot of the bridge we passed Modern Woodmen Ballpark, home of the Quad Cities River Bandits (farm team for the Los Angeles Angels).  We also had a chance to see the Union Station Visitor Center, the Figge Art Museum, and a skybridge leading to a riverboat casino.

Elwood, me and Jake

The walk was supposed to take us back to Rock Island via the Government Bridge, a turntable style drawbridge, to give us a close-up look at Lock and Dam No. 15.  This bridge would have taken us to Arsenal Island and Fort Armstrong (built in 1816).  However, the powers that be decided to “clean” this bridge today, so it was closed and we had to return via Centennial Bridge.  This added some distance to our walk, bringing it to 11K at least. 

Whatever

I am basing my rating on the planned route.  Anytime you get a walk that crosses the Mississippi and includes two states, you have a winner.  An island, a fort and a lock and dam are worth lots of bonus points.  Overall, I thought the Rock Island side was nicer than the Davenport side.  Both sides had a beautiful park along the riverfront, but Rock Island seemed like it had more to offer.

Although volunteer trail guides were posted in a few spots along the detour route, I think the marking of that portion of the route was non-existent and there were several places where a few chalk arrows would have been very helpful.

Even though this is the last convention walk, I will be adding a few more posts in the next week or so, so continue checking.  Some of the posts will be backdated, so look at the whole title.

Rating:

Walk Route: A

Walk Documentation: B+