June 13 Quad Cities, IA and ILL and Arsenal Island

    Left flat farmland in western Wisc. and drove through rolling hills full of farms.  Saw lots of marshmallow farms (actually fields of the large, round hay bales wrapped in white plastic).  One farm had about 15 wheelbarrows lined up on a lot line-would have been so pretty with flowers in them.  Another one had 10 wagons of all kinds, including an Amish buggy.  Enjoyed older country on 2 radio stations.  One of our longer rides at 4 hours.  Stopped at a rock grotto next to a Catholic church in Dickeyville.  Had one patriotic area and the rest religious.  Countless rocks and shells.
    Crossed the Mississippi and drove through Dubuque, IA.  Then south to Davenport, IA. on the river.  Arrived at campground at noon.  My niece asked if we'd seen a firefly yet and I said no, for one thing it didn't get dark in northern Mich. until about 10:30 and we were definitely inside and usually asleep by then.  As Tom walked into the office yesterday, one flew onto the porch just before it started pouring.
    I read that the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi was built in 1856 between Rock Island, Ill. and Davenport.  A steamboat company sued the railroad company because one of their boats hit the pier.  An attorney argued that people had just as much right to cross the river as to be on it.  The jury was hung.  The Atty was Abraham Lincoln from Springfield, Ill.  In 1862 the Supreme Court ruled for the railroad on a similar case.
    We drove across the Government Bridge, built in 1896, which has a double train track on the section above the vehicle section.  It has a 360 degree swing span for the river traffic below.  This is one of  the bridges to the 946 acre Arsenal Island, where the Rock Island Arsenal is.  Weapons and ammunition have been built here for our military since the Civil War.  Today it is the largest government-owned arsenal in our country.   The area is comprised of block after block of huge stone buildings that were built between the 1850's and 1870's.  Since it is an active Army installation, they are all still in use.  We saw one with a sign saying it is the headquarters for the Illinois warrior transition center - I would guess for returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.  One office had a Marine logo on the sign.  250 military personnel and 6000 civilians work on the island.  There is a housing section, school, PX and commissary for the military.
       At one end of the island is a locks system for moving ships down the river.  We watched one tug push 9 big barges, at once, through it!
       Rock Island Arsenal museum- visiting here was one of the highlights of the whole trip that Tom was looking forward to.  He said there is an unbelievable amount of weapons of all kinds in there and information, by serial number, on a lot of them.  He said any gun collector type should definitely visit it.  After he came out we drove around the island.  It held a Confederate prison with 12,192 prisoners there between Dec. 1863 and July 1865.  1,960 died and are buried in a  Confederate cemetery with nice markers that the V.A. maintains.  Rock Island National Cemetery (for military) is down the road.  It was started as a place to bury the Union guards who died at the prison.  There are nearly 24,000 white and gray markers, representing 29,000 burials.  Many headstones of the military buried there had a wife's name on the back of the stone.
    A big lot is full of large firepower-tanks, cannon-type weapons etc.  Tom enjoyed walking by them and reading the plaques.
    We drove back to Davenport and drove around the river area.  There is a huge casino boat in it.
    This is a nice campground that filled up tonite.  There is an Airstream caravan with 13 units.  One is really pretty with lots of burgundy on it.  The motorhome next to us has a couple with a 10 yr old daughter and a cocker spaniel.  They are driving from Calif. to Wash., D.C. and going home via the southern route.  We watch all these people walking their dogs in the rain at these campgrounds and think, no thanks!
    They have had so much rain here recently and it is supposed to rain tomorrow, but we want to see what we can in the 4 cities here before leaving Tuesday morning.  Neither of us ever saw this area of Iowa when we lived west of here.