MetLife blimp arrives for John Deere Classic

The Metlife blimp got here a couple of days early and it was such a beautiful day, the pilots must have said, “I will see enough golf, let’s head for the river.”  I took this shot from our boat late Sunday afternoon.

Check out the John Deere Classic, I bet the blimp will be there.
http://www.johndeereclassic.com/index.php

Millenium Park Chicago

I made a visit to Chicago for work and was high up in the old Prudential Building (used to be the first skyscraper in town), and now just a creaky building.  But I got some good pictures of the park, the skyline, Soldiers Field.  We could even see down to the Indiana shore.

The Adler Planetarium [...]

More information on the I-80 Mississippi River Bridge

Check out some more information:
http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pagesB/umissB04.html
Note the bridges just north and south had lower ratings:
http://www.bigrivermagazine.com/bridges.html
It really is a boring bland bridge.  I have driven over it, and driven a boat under it.  I think that something grander could have been constructed.

I-80 Bridge over Mississippi Closed to Illinois

So you think you can get from Iowa to Illinois just by driving over the Interstate 80 bridge??  Wrong.
The west-east route has been closed for a couple of weeks.  No date certain to reopen.  There is one lane open on the east-west route.
Inspectors are quite cautious about bridges over the Mississippi River these days.
Unfortunatley, the [...]

Princeton Wildlife Refuge

This morning we traveled about three miles north and found the unmarked (at least in terms of entrance roads) Princeton Wildlife Refuge.  It is managed by Iowa DNR and consists of Mississippi River backwaters.  There are some powered gates to control water levels.  I will share some pictures with you.

These are muskrat huts or lodges.
Here is [...]

Illinois Rest Stop at I-80 Mississippi River

This is a nice spot, but it can only be accessed from the east bound lanes.

Mississippi River Runs East and West

This morning I visited the Illinois side of the River and took pictures  at their I-80 rest stop. The river takes a turn in the Quad Cities and runs east and west with Iowa being north of the river.  Just upstream of the I-80 bridge the river takes its turn to the west.  Or to look [...]

Bund, Pudong, Shanghai

I successfully did the taxi thing and met my co workers for dinner.  Great dinner.
 
The sky is not that clear.

Kim conquers the leaves

Now doesn’t this look better?

Here are the tools of relocation:
It has two forward speeds, no reverse, which can be a definite disadvantage, since it then requires tugging it back.   Kim said better than raking or blowing.  A wing nut fell off each side of the handle during operation, and the hose had a tear.  But [...]

Barge through the oak leaves

I caught this view from our deck: