June 10, 2008
Sunday we left Nebraska for a week long adventure centered on a visit with daughter Janna and family at their home in Lake Bluff, IL. Rains have been inundating all of the Midwest so in addition to our own rushing streams, we saw overflowing rivers and flooded fields all across Iowa and Illinois. After crossing Iowa on I-80, we drove north on the Great River Road for a short distance from Davenport to Clinton, IA. where we spent the night. In that town, ADM has a huge corn sweetener plant that presents the startling sight of a large golden dome with great tubes connecting it to various towers nearby. The Mississippi River is very wide here, flowing around a number of tree covered islands apparently flooded with the muddy water coming into the river from every side.
In the evening, we walked along the west bank of the river and watched a tug boat maneuver its huge cargo through an opening in the railroad bridge downstream. A van stopped near us and a little round woman hopped out to greet us cheerfully, announcing that she was a resident of Beaver Island which was just “over there”, pointing to a spot on the other side of the bridges spanning the waters. She said that her husband used to be a tug boat captain and she had gone down the river many times on just such a craft as we were observing; the food was incredible, hence her rotund appearance. Her husband, the former boat captain, sat immobile in the front seat of the van so we surmised that perhaps he’d had a stroke or some other illness that rendered him inanimate. As we observed the tug pushing its block-long grain barges along and threading them through the small opening, we marveled at the skills of the operator.
The little woman launched into her stories; “The cook put out three meals a day like you wouldn’t believe. . . Thanksgiving every night, if you know what I mean. . . and the cook on the tug had just two requirements. . . she had to be old and she had to be ugly. . . there were ten men on that boat, you know, and well, you know how that could be. . .” And so forth. Her speech was in the well rounded cadences of stories polished from much repetition. Perhaps she was lonely and needed respite from the silent man in the car. We finally broke into her non-stop conversation, thanked her for her information and walked away pleased to have had our day conclude with a personification of that time and place.
This day in Lake Bluff is beautiful with clear blue skies and a breeze that is lifting the blossoms of the Kentucky coffee tree outside the north window out and away. We are postulating activities for the day and week before us while sitting about enjoying unstructured time. As is frequently the case, my head and my body are not quite in agreement about how to go forward; not surprisingly, the body always wins!