trainspotting

Because Campbell had told me that he was really interested in the Mississippi River, we did not head directly to Chicago after our riverboat ride.  We took a more meandering path north to Moline, IL.  I had envisioned maybe following the path of “Old Man River” through little towns, but by that time in our trip, I knew that fixing our minds on our destination was more important that scenic detours.  A little guy AND an old back, can only sit in a car for so long each day. 

There was nothing particularly enticing about Moline, IL.  It reminded me a bit of the small city where Dave and I went to college…the downtown is either on the way up or on the way down; it’s a little hard to tell which.  However, after dinner we went out to walk around a bit.  We had heard several trains going by not far away, and decided that counting cars was as good an activity as any on a Monday night in a sleepy, small Illinois city.   Little did we know how exciting it could be.  As the train lumbered slowly toward an intersection, a municipal bus went flying across the tracks, barely missed by the crossing barriers as they came down, reminiscent of the movie “Speed”. 

We also noticed a brand-new building across the tracks, called the John Deere Pavilion.  After making a few inquiries, we found out that it was a free exhibit of farm machinery that kids can climb up into.  The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and stopped by.  It turned out to be one of our favorite stops. Campbell loved climbing into the cabs of the giant grain separator and the front loaders and plows.  And the whole stop took 15 minutes.  It was a truly serendipitous find…complete with gift shop to get those last-minute gifts for brothers, mom and dad, and grandma and grandpa waiting for us to arrive in Chicago that afternoon.  It was a perfect cap to a perfect journey. 

Love, Liz