Quad Cities Bike Ride

 We enjoy getting together with various family members at locations where we can explore the area by bicycle on bike trails.

This trip was to the Quad Cities along the Mississippi River. We RV camped at the Fisherman's Corner campground which was a very nice location along the river bike trail in Hampton, Illinois.

Paved roads, shade, a view of the river and a nice bathhouse made this a great place to camp

Betsy and family once again rented an RV with a slide out for the trip and had it delivered and set up at the campground

Phillip and Wendy purchased a pop top camper and enjoyed it on their first outing in the unit

Our Airstream continues to provide good service. Not bad for a 27 year old RV.

                                     

The bike trail takes you to the dam for Lock #14 on the Mississippi. You can ride out to the water control gates and see the action 

We enjoyed watching the barges and tow boats lock thru

Playgrounds are found all along the bike trail

Much of the bike trail travels across the top of a levee offering great views

Shade can be found along the way

There is a water taxi that will take you on tours of the river and various sites of interest

 

One of the especially memorable parts of the ride is to travel onto the Rock Island Arsenal Island

The bike trail leads to a bridge over the river. This is quite the bridge and includes a swing portion to allow barges and tow boats to clear when locking thru Lock and Dam #15

The bike trail in Moline, Illinois takes you past the John Deere Pavilion with machines on display

The Pavilion  area looks like a full scale model railroad

Quite the mural

                                     

The upper part of the Mississippi is too shallow to support navigation without the use of locks to keep the navigation channel at a minimum depth of nine feet