I-80 Bridge is under repair again!

Surprise for me.  On my daily commute.  The I-80 bridge over the Mississippi is back down to one lane in each direction, repairs for the next month!!

Nuke plant has fish hatchery

Just up the river from us in Cordova IL is the Quad Cities nuclear plant, owned 75% by Exelon and 25% by Midamerican Energy.  We boat past it all the time.  And there are always fisherman out there.  Part of it is that the cooling water is directly discharged to the river and the water [...]

Homegrown Sweetcorn

It is that time of year and I think this year’s crop is one of the best.

Houses on Stilts

We have noted that the most flooding occurs just downstream from the dam.   The further downstream one is from the dam, the less the flooding, at least in that pool.   So the worst place to be is just downstream from the dam. Our pool 14 is about 30 miles long.  The upstream dam is 30 [...]

Grain Unloading and Loading on Barges

I took some pictures from the river of the grain unloading and loading terminals on pool 14: Silly me, that’s a tug with loaded barges.  At first, they seem to be intimidating to new recreational boaters.  But after awhile you learn they are very predictable, unlike all those other recreational boaters, particularly those trying to [...]

I-80 Bridge Summit

A meeting in Leclaire last night to plan for this year’s bridge closure.  I already know that one antique store is closing, perhaps a victim of bridge closures. http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/article_2e0d9126-2291-11df-be5f-001cc4c03286.html?oCampaign=hottopics http://www.kwqc.com/Global/story.asp?S=12048126 And a tv news story: http://www.wqad.com/news/wqad-leclaire-bridge-summit-022510,0,3389539.story

Incentives to finish the I-80 bridge early

Civil Constructors won the contract to repair the bridge.  This is just repair, they recently built a whole bridge over the Rock River and finished it a year early.  But is it a good idea to rush? http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/barb-ickes/article_5cf0e81e-dc94-11de-b11d-001cc4c002e0.html

Gitmo prisoners to Thomson IL

There has been a lot of news lately about the possibility of closing Gitmo and moving prisoners to an unused state prison about 40 miles north of here.  It is located just north of Thomson IL and is a testament to IL politics.  High security prison, never fully opened.  The jail is already high security;  [...]

Heron on the dock

Here is our old buddy from Canal Shore Drive, taken last week: Barges are still running:

The River between Princeton and Leclaire Iowa

Taken from our friends Martha and Kris’ yard: I wonder why that section on the Illinois side is cleared of trees and brush and planted with grass.  No crops planted either which is how we usually fill up vacant rural land in Illinois and Iowa.