Leaving Amana this morning, heading east. Well, first north, then east. Highway 30, with nice rural views still...
A popular taste treat in this area: truck on a stick...
It was an easy drive again today, about 2 1/2 hours. We had looked at photos of the RV park co-located with the marina in Clinton, Iowa - the photos looked good. The park wasn't in any database on our GPSes, and there were no signs for it... but, we knew it was near the riverfront, since it is called Riverview Marina and RV Park. Our first view of the Mississippi...
The RV park wasn't far from the photo above, but we had to circle it on three sides to find the entrance. Now, this is what an RV park is supposed to look like...
Concrete roads and concrete RV pads and patios! My favorite; we don't have any concerns about our jacks sinking down in soft gravel; the sites are near level. Self-registration (it is a city facility), and the price is about half that of typical commercial RV parks. Water and electric, with a dump station we can use on the way out. No "campground" amenities that bring in families, like a swimming pool, although there is a playground just beyond the RV sites. And one thing that Joan really likes very nearby: railroad tracks. Really, she loves train noise. The tracks are just outside this small park.
We got set up, got Izzy fed, dropped our registration in the deposit box, then looked around for some tourist info and a place to eat. The Chamber of Commerce Office had a couple nice ladies in there, but not a lot of suggestions. Back to the marina and a stop in the marina office netted us some interesting places to ride bikes.
Looking at the gray sky to the north when I came out of the marina office, we decided to explore first with the car. Good plan. We drove to Eagle Point Park, right along the Mississippi...
Yeah, we're gonna get rained on; glad to be in the car instead of on the bikes...
We were told you could see the lock from this area. Checking the map, we could see it was on the Illinois side of the river. On our way to that, the rain came down solid. It was further to the lock than I thought, but we are just sight-seeing (and staying out of the rain) - we have the time.
You can take the boy outta the boat, but you can't take the boat outta the boy - and, it stopped raining when we got to the lock...
Looking back towards the dam, there were a bunch of white pelicans "riding the rapids" at the spillway...
Earlier today, I had mentioned to Joan that there are bald eagles along the Mississippi - yep, we had a nice fly-over, but I didn't have the camera out. Egrets and geese...
And, then the rain came back. Coming back across the Mississippi, into Iowa once again...
Yes, the coach that we cleaned up yesterday got rained on. Not as bad when it is sitting still, compared to the mess when driving through the rain. When the rain quit, I got my miracle cloth device out and wiped down the coach in just a few minutes. It was warm before the rain... it cooled off a couple degrees, but made up for that by shooting the humidity up to South Texas levels.
Izzy was very excited to see us...
That is her "I'm so excited I could just nap" look. With the ground and pavement wet, her mean ol' Daddy wouldn't take her for a walk. Maybe later.
No comments:
Post a Comment