October 30, 2012

View of the day-We managed to find another combine looking for a grain cart on our three state road trip today.

Today's list had finding a place to fill a propane tank at the top of the list.  After searching online, we found a place in Cascade, 10 miles south of Farley, where we were camped.  The road down was scenic and we got to see a lot due to the fact that it was really curvy and rough, so the going was slow...but we had nothing else on the agenda, so we enjoyed the view.

We got our propane tank filled, then took yet another scenic route, this time to Dubuque to check things out over there.  Marilyn had been checking online and had discovered the riverboat cruises ran until the end of October, so we were hoping to fit one in...until we saw the website had a notice up that October 28 was the final one for the season.  So much for that plan.

We crossed the bridge and went down to the lookout point to see the river, from the shore, at least.  Al found his bench by the lookout and sat there until it got too chilly...the sun was shining but the wind was howling out of the north, so it made short work of any enjoyable water watching.

We decided to cross back to Dubuque on the bridge to the north of us and since we were now in the state of Illinois, the 10 mile trip around to the other bridge would take us through Wisconsin before crossing back into Iowa...hence the reference to the three state tour that we took today.  While we were crossing back across the bridge, Al noticed that there was a barge being moved down the river that he wanted to watch, so we looped back around to the lookout where we had been to check out its progress...this time the jacket came out.

We watched as the barge lined up to go through the pass where the train bridge had swiveled out of the way.  It took some time, but finally it came through, but then had to rearrange aim to make it under the main bridge, while the train tressle turned back to position.  It was really quite interesting for us flatlanders to watch the procedure...it must be like someone from the mountains watching a field being combined...simply, mesmerizing.

Al stood down on the dock and was impressed by how close the barge front got as the tug pivoted at the back to line up We watched as it passed under the second bridge, then crossed back to Dubuque to find the Applebees so we could have supper before going back to the camper.

Back at the camper, we got the propane tank hooked back up, then fired up the furnace and called it a night. 

This "professional tourist" thing is something Marilyn could get used to...