Category Archives: bettendorf

Davenport Trip Pictures

By | | , , , , , ,
2 Comments

This posting will be more pictures and less talk.

I was in Davenport, Iowa today anxiously awaiting the Star Trek T.N.G event tonight.  The afternoon was spent biking on a trail along the riverfront, mainly on the west side of the Mississippi.  I will caption each picture with the details….

Riverfront bike trail… I started from the far right, rode to the island on the left, around, and back to the far right, taking a short lunch excursion to the Illinois side using a bridge near mile marker 5. 

Starting from downtown Davenport near the Rhythm City casino is the skybridge…  Note the observation deck.

The Davenport Skybridge.  It is 5 stores tall and provides a beautiful view of downtown.

The van from 5 stories up (zoomed in)… I wonder how many people noticed it…  Oh well.

This is the view looking downstream.  I started the bike ride from here to the southern most part of the trail which ended at Credit Island.  This photo is of the Centennial Bridge.  (near mile marker 4.5 on that map above…)
Workers finishing up the new pedestrian bridge connecting Davenport and Credit Island.
Located on Credit Island, here is a copy of the painting by Georges Seurat…. See below…

This is an artist’s interpretation of the painting which is in Credit Island Park.
Van Trekker taking a water break with the other dummies…
A view of Davenport from Credit Island.  The water is very low.
After returning to the Skybridge, I headed north a couple of miles farther.  These lillies provide a scent so incredibly powerful and beautiful it will stop you in your tracks.  It’s pure heaven.
For lunch I crossed over to the Illinois side and took this picture of the Davenport skyline looking across the Mississippi from the town of Rock Island..  Note the casino on the left.  I went in there today and hit them pretty hard and walked out with 3000 more than I walked in with.   (pennies, that is… )  What the heck… $30 of free money in 15 minutes is not bad!
This is the cure for having ridden in the sun (102 degrees according to the bike computer) for over two hours.  At a new find, “El Patron Mexican Bar and Grill” I asked the waiter for “Vitamina C”  (Vitamin C”… He looked confused and then I said “Cerveza” (beer).    He liked that joke and brought a cold, frosty beer with a slice of lime.  I cannot think of a time when a Corona tasted so da** good.  Unfortunately, I had to stop at one… The vegetarian taco salad was awesome, too.

By this time I was hurting pretty badly.  The sun was taking a toll and it was time to get back.  I found Anytime Fitness and got in a good lifting workout.  Dinner was a power salad at the grocery store salad bar.  This trip is sure a departure from the “gorge-a-thons” during last year’s van outings.

Tonight the campground will be good old Walmart for the price of “free ninety-nine”…  That’s my buddy’s urban slang for “gratis”.

On the agenda for Tuesday is another morning of bike riding on a different trail.  Hopefully I can get it done earlier to avoid the sun.

The evening will be spent at a cool campground called “Buffalo Shores” where the camping spots in the front are connected to the shore of the mighty Mississippi.  Nothin’ like beach front real estate, if only for a day.  It looks like some great pictures will be taken.  The place is spectacular…  More about that later.
‘
Now it’s off to the IMAX theater to watch the remastered Star Trek TNG episodes.  I was delighted to see that the USS Riverside (a reproduction on the Enterprise) is parked in front of the theatre.  It gives a geek like me goosebumps.

Take care and thank you for following the blog.   As always, if there is something you would like covered or have explained in more depth, please let me know.  That’s what it’s here for…

Live minimally and prosper.

Van Trekker

 376 total views,  2 views today