The rock island line
180 crow miles from LA Crosse took us to the Quad Cities. In the morning. I took advantage of a bile tour along the Mississippi, which I thought was a great way to see the city. It also offered a chance to atone for the gluttony of cruising. At least I hoped it would make a dent. The 120 miles (I insisted on senior markup of ten to one) took us to four of the five cities that make up the area: Rock Island, Moline, East Moline. Davenport and Bettendorf. Calling it the Quint Cities never caught on. We went past the arsenal, I think the second biggest in the US, that once housed Confederate prisoners. As was the case during the Civil War,modern weapons and medieval hygiene left some 2000 dead and buried in the compound. The riverfront has been converted into parks and lots of bike paths and the bridges accommodate pedestrians and bikes. We later traversed through an unusual 6 span bridge which allows each span to turn 90 degrees, and later went through it. The 
ride across Iowa this summer concluded here and we celebrated as they did, by getting our tires wet. That picture is captioned. Last biker finally finishes Ragbrai 2024