Lock Heaven

Description of "Lock Heaven": Two days, four locks, no waiting. There is nothing better than hearing from a lock master, "Keep coming, we'll have the lock ready for you." We heard that particular phrase twice on Thursday, September 17, as we made our way from Bettendorf, IA to Muscatine, IA and again today, September 19, as we cruised from Muscatine to Burlington, IA. On Thursday our speed through the locks allowed us to dock in Muscatine just before thunderstorms hit.

CARIB II docked in Muscatine. The slips aren't quite
meant for boats of our size, but they worked well enough.
And it was free--with power!

We had stopped in Muscatine last August for a single night, but it was after a long and challenging cruising day so we didn't have time to do much sightseeing. This time was different. After the midday storm on Thursday moved out we had time to walk around. In the early 20th century Muscatine became known as the "Pearl Button Capitol of the World" due to being the world's largest producer of freshwater pearl buttons. Freshwater mussels were harvested from the Mississippi River and the buttons punched from the shells. The city has a Pearl Button Museum, but we decided to pass on that bit of excitement.

Lon by the bronze statue of a mussel
harvester on the Muscatine
waterfront

Name placard for the mussel harvester statue

Like any self-respecting historic river town Muscatine has its share of old buildings, some going back to the mid-1800's and in various stages of repair (or disrepair).

Historic downtown Muscatine

A pretty impressive county courthouse,
and Civil War memorial to the dead
of Muscatine county

Muscatine can also claim that "Mark Twain lived here", which is the Mississippi River town equivalent of the claims about George Washington that were so prevalent on the East Coast. Twain--then known by his real name, Samuel Clemens--lived in the city briefly in 1855 while working for the local newspaper that was partly owned by his brother Orion.

Friday, September 18, was a weather day for us in Muscatine. The storms of Thursday continued intermittently on Friday, so it was no day to be out cruising. One of the storms on Thursday had hail, and we cringed every time we heard the clunks on the front windshield. Fortunately it didn't last long and didn't damage anything on the boat. But we did find out that Zipper is no fan of thunder and heavy rainfall. Those noises sent her scurrying to the aft stateroom, where she 'hunkered down" on the floor at the foot of the bed. Aside from that she is doing great!

Zipper trying to escape the noises of the storms

It was back to cruising in the sunshine today. One of the towns we passed was Oquawka, IL. I thought the name was cool and wanted to use it in the blog "just because". Little did I know that we were passing an "Offbeat Tourist Attraction" as listed in RoadsideAmerica.com. Oquawka is the home of a memorial grave marker to Norma Jean, an elephant with the Clark and Walters Circus, who died on July 17, 1972 after being struck by lightning in Oquawka's town square. Buried where she fell, the limestone tombstone was erected after a fundraising drive by a local pharmacist. Apparently "Elephant Killed by Lightning" signs all over town direct tourists to the memorial site, and a festival each August celebrates Norma Jean. Who knew what we were bypassing?

The Oquawka, IL waterfront. Norma Jean, where are you?

Well, we may have missed Norma Jean, but we did arrive in Burlington in the early afternoon, which gave us time for a leisurely lunch outdoors on the patio at the Drake restaurant. Burlington is still as quiet this year as we noted last year, so we are simply relaxing this evening. Tomorrow should be an easy day--no locks on our way to Keokuk, our last stop in Iowa.