Great River Road 2011: Day 10 - Quad Cities Tour, Davenport Iowa

By: Hank and Sue Knippa - Adventure 10

Sunday's adventure was a tour of the “Quad Cities”. On a section of the Mississippi that runs east to west are Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa; on the other side of the river in Illinois are Moline and Rock Island. Even though they each have their own government institutions the area has the appearance of being a single city.

Our first stop was the Rock Island Arsenal. Located on an island in the river the base is home to five different military commands including the First Army headquarters. Throughout its history many different military weapons have been manufactured here. At this time the arsenal produces artillery mounts and armor for the Humvees as well as a mobile machine shop which can repair artillery pieces and other hardware in the field. Throughout its 175+ year plus history the base has housed POW's from the Confederacy and Italian prisoners from WWII. Also on the base is the home of Col Davenport who established the Rock Island Line railroad with the able assistance of a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln.

Rock Island Aresenal

Arsenal Museum

Confederate Cemetary Memorial

Next on our tour was the John Deere Pavilion in Moline where the company was established and is still headquartered. Included were antique and new farm and construction equipment plus artifacts from the company’s long history.

John Deere tour

Hijinks at the John Deere exibit
(Sue Knippa, Sandy Childs, Carol Gosline)

To complete our tour what could be better than a stop for world famous Whitey's ice cream. The smiling faces in the pictures tell the story.

Waiting in line for our ice cream

Whitey's ice cream is great

After returning to our RV park and a quick rest we were treated to brats and sauerkraut courtesy of Gunter (Brat Man) and Sandy Oeser. With some side dishes brought be other travelers a feast was enjoyed by all. As a special treat for the ladies Sandy also had scarves that she made for all the girls.