Dubuque, Iowa

Here we are on the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa. It was just a couple of months ago that I was able to walk across the Mississippi River in MN and barely got my feet wet. Besides this paddle boat, there were some barges with coal going upstream to supply the power plants and barges going downstream with grains and lots of pleasure boats on the river. We were camped on river just north of the bridge joining Iowa and Wisconsin. Less than a mile south is the bridge from Dubuque to East Dubuque, IL.

I finally made it to college. Here I am at Loras College in Dubuque, IA. This is where cousin Jim graduated. I promised I wouldn't say what year he graduated, but it was between the years 1962 and 1964. He got together with about 40 classmates at homecoming last weekend. The weather was great and he seemed to enjoy seeing how the campus has grown and to find out what some of his classmates have been doing over the last 45 years.

The past week was also great in that we were able to spend some time with Jim's mother, who lives in Cascade, IA. Cascade is only about 25 miles from Dubuque. The area is much drier than it was in June when we were here. All the rivers were flooding in June. The crops are looking pretty good considering all the rain in the area this Spring.

We are now on the road heading to Colorado Springs. We plan to get there on Wednesday the 8th.