More along the Mississippi

Mississippi Mussel Digger
Kids playing in the fountain on the Muscatine riverfront.
Mussel shells with the button blanks drilled out.
Cards of buttons
Nanc on the Great River Bike Trail along the Mississippi.
Kart racers are just a blur.

Government Bridge with the swing span moving back into place as the American Queen departs the lock. Look closely and you can see the double deck.

While we spent a lot of time just relaxing during our two weeks at Shady Creek along the Mississippi, which is now on our list as one of our favorite campgrounds with wonderful camp hosts Larry and Judy, we did do a few other things. We enjoyed just driving along the river on part of the Great River Road, a national scenic byway that includes 3000 miles of roads on both sides of the Mississippi starting from its source at Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the mouth in Louisiana. Driving the entire length is in our future plans. In Muscatine, "Pearl Button Capital of the World," we walked along the waterfront and toured the History and Industry Center that has displays on the pearl button industry that thrived in the area staring in 1887. The buttons were made from mussel shells harvested from the river. By 1905, 1.5 billion buttons, nearly 40% of the world's total, were manufactured here. Many families had there own businesses in their homes and local church groups would make money attaching the finished product to cards for sale. Today only one button company remains and the buttons are made of plastic. We also took a couple of rides on the Great River Bike Trail that extends over 60 miles from Rock Island on the Illinois side of the river. Over Labor Day we watched one of the go kart races in the Rock Island Grand Prix. It is billed as the largest karting street races in the world. It was unbelievable how fast they move in those little high powered machines. At the Mississippi River Welcome Center we learned about the operation of the lock and dam system used to control water and traffic on the river. We also crossed the very unusual Government Bridge that has a roadway on the bottom and a train track on the upper level. The bridge, which was built in 1896, also has a swing span that rotates to allow riverboats to pass.

As we are writing this we are at the Leisure Lake RV Resort in Joliet, Illinois watching the remains of Gustav pour down rain. It is one of the rare days we have had where it has rained ALL day. They are expecting as much as three inches of much needed precipitation. Good for them, not good for us.