Davenport, Iowa and Beyond

We awoke Monday to another crystal clear morning on the Mississippi River.  We were tied to the main dock at Davenport with the cities of Moline and Rock Island, Illinois just across the river.

Today our bus excursion took us sightseeing around Davenport and stopped at this location below:

Isabel Bloom was an artist who created and sold solid cement miniature statues and other art objects in her gallery in Davenport.  She has died, but here manufacturing gallery lives on, and gives tours to visitors.

This lady showed us how she handled the molds and how she opened each one up and cleaned the piece.

We caught this guy, above, looking down onto the manufacturing floor at the workers.  He said that  he loved work - "he could stand and watch it for hours!"  😏

Karen knew all about Isabel Bloom and was the main reason that we picked this tour.  She bought a small item to bring home to Michigan as a souvenir. 

Next our bus took us over the Mississippi into Illinois where we drove through Rock Island and Moline.  Above was a John Deere factory with new equipment parked outside.

It just so happens that the hourly workers at John Deere are on strike.  We passed these picketers at the entrance to one of the manufacturing plants.  Consequently, we could not visit any of the John Deere attractions that are frequent stops on tours.

Our boat pulled out of Davenport at 2:00 PM for a long northward journey tonight toward the town of Dubuque.  Stop by tomorrow to see what gives......

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