Spring Comes Early In Muscatine

After having so much fun in Davenport yesterday,  Cheryl decided we should try running in Muscatine.   For those who may not be from Iowa,  Muscatine is on the banks of the Mississippi as well.  About an hour closer than Davenport.    It was a place known for digging freshwater clams and turning them into pearl colored buttons.




And then everything collapsed.   Just like everything else we humans try to exploit, the clams ran out and so did all those jobs.

But fear not!   This is not a hard luck story!   Rather,   Muscatine seems to be on the rise as things begin to settle down. ( After only 50 years)   From the looks of it, (admittedly, we only saw very little.)  It seems to be a small clean city with some new business growth.   They even had a Brewery!

But the real reason we drove all that way was to check out their bike/running paths.   Slightly shorter than Davenport, it still offered city, river, wilderness, rural, and suburban sites!   Very interesting to capture all of that in 7 miles.  Unlike Davenport, the industrial side was slightly farther down the river an not accessible.



We thought yesterday was pleasant.... Today was down right enjoyable!   Temps hovered mid 40's and Cheryl was able to downgrade to shorts!  (or upgrade... depending on your perspective)  With tomorrow projecting the same with perhaps a hint of rain,  we are seriously considering going there again tomorrow.   Muscatine is slightly farther away than our usual Iowa City travel...but less than Davenport.   In the end,  it could at least become another option to add variety into our training runs.  We shall have to keep an eye out for other similar places.   We would not want Cheryl to get bored running in circles in the same place over and over again.... like last weekend.


Time seems to fly when you have a rather productive day.   In addition to Muscatine,  I changed the oil and folded an additional 5 fish.   This leaves only a little time to write and post this blog before I jump into the water world of Subnautica.    I finally sealed up the radiation leak in the damaged ship.  Things will be safe to explore again after three days of decontamination.....  But I digress.

I still hold out for the writing.   I simply have to have available uninterrupted time to put forth.   And while maintaining a bit of my creativity.   Oh the plight of writers...  Good thing I don't make a living out of this!