Days 65, 66 – Davenport, Iowa

I have to admit that I neglected to post on the blog last night because I didn’t have anything to report that was of interest to me.  Yeah, some stuff happened that I observed, but it really didn’t connect with my view of the world.  So we got new tires on the rear wheels of the coach; so what?  So Geri and Don had a highly sinful breakfast at a place called Grandma’s; quite factually, nothing in it for me.  So we put on over 250 miles on I-80; literally, a snore.  Am I getting to be a little self-centered?  You be the judge!

Today wasn’t really any better, but maybe I’ve got myself to blame.  Don and I had a very pleasant walk around the perimeter of the RV Park, and the grass was very nice for rolling and walking.  There’s a huge field of green beans next to us, and they smell really  good.  When we got back to the rig, Geri and Don were talking about what they wanted to do here in Davenport, and they were in agreement about wanting to see a museum at the Rock Island Arsenal; whenever I hear the word museum, my eyes glaze over, ‘cause I know that I’ll just be going along for the ride, with little or no quality time for activities that I might enjoy.  So, I pretended that I wasn’t feeling all that well, and convinced them that I would be better off staying with the coach.  So, I got an afternoon of snoozing in the air conditioning, which isn’t all that bad a deal. 

When they returned home, they had lots of stories to tell me about the things they had seen at the museum and a bunch of other places.  Like the huge collection of pistols, rifles and machine guns that covered the walls of the building, weapons from every country in the world, almost, and going back to Revolutionary War times.  It turns out that the Arsenal was responsible for the design and development of most of the small arms used by the United States Army since the Civil War (which, I understand, wasn’t all that civil).  There were displays of artillery pieces that the Arsenal was involved in building, and a bunch of exhibits concerning the construction and growth of the Arsenal.  Don was particularly interested in the history of the facility, ‘cause his mother and father worked at an Arsenal, too, when they lived in Benicia.  And, of course, he had to point out that Benicia Arsenal was even older than Rock Island Arsenal.  To which I felt like responding, “Yeah, but Rock Island is still in business!”  But, nice guy that I am, I didn’t.

They also visited an outdoor display of artillery from various wars, including a huge cannon designed to fire an atomic bomb far enough so that when it detonated, the gun crew wouldn’t be casualties.  Don took a photo of it, and I’m sure he’ll post it.  They stopped at a house on the Arsenal grounds that had belonged to a Col. Davenport, for whom the Iowa town was named.  He was a fur trader in the early 1800’s, a partner of John Jacob Astor.  The house had been renovated very well, and they got a guided tour from one of the volunteers working there.  They also stopped by the locks on the Mississippi River and watched some ammonia barges pass through after almost grounding themselves at the entrance.  The bridge from the Rock Island Arsenal over to Davenport was built in 1896, and is still in service!  Cars travel on the lower deck, and the upper deck has railroad tracks; Geri said she might not want to be on the bridge if a train was running over her. 

A lot of this information was of some interest to me, and a lot was not, but I pass it on anyway in case you might find it fascinating.  After all, that is a reporter’s job.  More importantly, Geri took me out for a nice long walk in the coolness of the evening, while Don was fixing some seafood pasta, which ultimately resulted in some tasty plates for me.  Don and I worked on the blog, watched a little TV, and we all got to bed early.  Big travel day tomorrow, shooting for 400 miles.  Wish us luck!