The Great River Road 2026
  
 

Day 05

May 29

  
     
     
   
  I picked up some breakfast stuff at Aldi last night. It is just barely passable and as it turns out, it 'passes through' pretty quickly. I make a mental note to avoid those stores like a plague in the future. SweetTreat is waiting and after I get over my gastronomical adventure we light out.  
   
  I'm back over the railroad and then ...  
   
  back over the river on the hunt for the Great River Road. I have it all loaded into my GPS but I have found that the signs don't always agree with the mapped route.  
   
  But before long I'm back on the trail like a blue tick hound chasing a big coon.  
   
  There are some interesting buildings along the way like this old grain processor. But I am finding that the Great River Road signs are getting more scarce the further south that I travel.  
   
  I'm enjoying the route because it is mostly two lane through quiet small towns with very little traffic.  
   
  And it seems that small towns have not forgotten that churches can play an important role in the community.  
   
  It's once again a bit of hide and seek with the river today but I am sort of getting used to that part of it.  
   
  The scenery is every changing, from small communities ...  
   
  to tree lined boulevards ...  
   
  to deserted backroads border by dense forests ...  
   
  to high ridges where the river seems so far away.  
   
  I love architecture as I once had ambitions of becoming an architect. So this stately old church with graveyard outside of Sherill, Iowa catches my eyes..  
   
  And then there's another old structure I presume was a meeting house of some sort.  
   
  This one has a unique cupola - which happen to be very difficult to put a roof on regardless of the material used.  
   
  As I come in to Dubuque I see another fine example of earlier period architecture. It tends to be very beautiful and very functional at the same time.  
   
  Downtown Dubuque has some well preserved older buildings which I appreciate. I don't care for the 'renewal' approach where you tear down lovely structures and replace them with modern contortions of the building envelope.  
   
  I assume this stately old building was or still is a court house judging by its majestic appearance.  
   
  As I head south of the city I come across this lovely old church building in the hills.  
   
  After wondering if I will ever see the river again, lo and behold it appears right alongside me.  
   
  In Clinton, Iowa they have turned an old steamboat into restaurant and roadside attraction.  
   
  It's time for a refuel for SweetTreat and me. There's and old 1949 Chevy truck gassing up as I munch on my edibles. It's the same vintage that my maternal granddaddy had when I was a kid. I talk to the owner and he has spend a lot of money and time restoring and upgrading it. He chose to put a standard Chevy 350 V8 in it, which happens to be my favorite engine for Chevys.  
   
  Back on the road I am happily running alongside the river again.  
   
  Then the river does its disappearing act and we part company for a while.  
   
  Then it returns and I see a sign that lets me know I'm still headed in the right path.  
   
  But the signs take me down a little pigpath and I am wondering if I am going to end up on a gravel road again like the other day.  
   
  Fortunately it does not and I pop back out on a main highway following the river again.  
   
  This little community has many stately mansions sitting right up on the river bluff with great views I'm sure from their back porches.  
   
  I kiss Iowa good-bye and enter into the next state on the route, Missouri.  
   
  I arrive at my motel in Hannibal and am dismayed that the next door restaurant I had planned on visiting has gone out of business. In these uncertain times you just never know what you will find once you arrive.  
   
  There's Colonel Sanders a mile or two away so I decide that will do. I get chicken dinner and it has to be the worst one I have ever gotten from the Colonel. The chicken seems to have been under a heat lamp for days as it is dried and tough. But you make do with what you've got, not with what you'd like to have.  
   
  It's been an interesting day but this old boy is a bit tired. Once I hit the sack I am out faster than an oil lamp in a hurricane.