Sunday, September 11 - A Day of Remembrance - This day in 2001 2,977 People Murdered on American Soil by Islamic Terrorists

 It started raining a little before 10PM last night, and didn't stop until 9AM today. It was a good soaker rain. There was very little standing water when the rain stopped.

Last nights low was 57. Todays high was a breezy, mostly sunny 74. Lovely weather.

We did some driving around and looking today. We saw some interesting buildings in Lomax and Dallas City when we drove through yesterday but I didn't take any photos. We went back this morning and checked them out before crossing the Mississippi and checking out Fort Madison, Iowa.

You just don't get to see stuff like this while travelling the Interstates.

The Pink, a bar in Lomax, IL

We weren't sure what this building in Dallas City, IL might have been. The surrounding structure seemed like it might have been a school at one time, but the main old building seemed way to ornate for that. It looked like everything was being torn down. I wished I would have been a little more bold while I was there and looked for a way to get in an peek at the interior.

The cornerstone said Oct. 31, A.D. 1895

A  home in Dallas City. More on the sign on the balcony, at the left side of the building, later.

We still see Trump signs as we travel, but no Biden signs.

The Mississippi River at Dallas City. The land you see on the other side of the water is an island. The grain elevator is on the other side of the river. You can see the island on the above map photo.

Crossing the Fort Madison Toll Bridge was interesting. It is a double decker swing bridge. There are two lanes of highway traffic on the top deck and two sets of rails on the lower deck. The highway deck is reasonably busy but the rail deck is very busy, train after train. The bridge and approaches total about a mile in length. It has a 525' swing span, for barge traffic. (I just read that the swing span is still operational. It "swings" about 2,000 times a year. I may have to get sit and watch it tomorrow and Tuesday.)  It was opened in 1927.

When entering the approaches you are warned that the maximum width is 8' (most Class A motorhomes are 8'4" to 8'6" wide, not counting the mirrors) height 14'4", maximum length 60' and maximum gross weight is 16,000# (our coach has a GVWR of 35,000#). No semi traffic is allowed on the bridge.

When we were on the approach, heading west from the IL side, 5 engines on a train passed us going east. When we got off the bridge on the Iowa side the end of the train has still not reached the bridge.

There is a toll collection booth on the bridge but today it was unmanned. A sign said "No Tolls" The bridge is owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

From the Fort Madison side.

The approaches to the main span seemed very narrow.

Once you were on the main span the bridge seemed wider.

Fort Madison marina.

 

We drove up and down several streets looking at houses, and the business district. The we had lunch at the Chuong Garden restaurant in Fort Madison. The food was good and very reasonably priced. After lunch we went to Old Fort Madison. Kathy sat in the shade on a bench out by the river while I toured the fort.

There was a reenactment going on right after we arrived. There were 5 guys dressed up as soldiers and maybe 7 dressed up as the French or British attackers.

A canon occasionally fired from the blockhouse on the right.

I have only fired a flintlock once so I'm not a judge of the actors techniques. I will say if all the misfires are any indication of real life back in the early 1800's I don't understand why a few Indians with bows and arrows didn't wipe out the entire US Army. I watched misfire after misfire. These guys could have run up and stabbed the opposing forces before they reloaded and fired.

As I was touring the fort I did have a good conversation about the history of the area, with one of the reenactors. 

I don't know if you can make it out in the photo below but there are 4(?) engines pulling a train across the bridge eastbound. The engines are off the main span and on the Illinois side.

I turned around and took a photo of the end of the train as it was still passing through Fort Madison.

I think there are only 3 RV's in the campground tonight. It is a quite place.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.