Davenport, Iowa or as some of the locals call it “Da - port - of- Ven”. Now I must admit that I never saw “Ven”, nor any street signs pointing to such a place nor did I really hear any of the locals use that name, but it could be, so don’t be so quick to say -“Oh sure, Da port of Ven! Yeah - Really! You are such a nay-sayer! It could be true!
OK then, the City of Davenport is a neat, clean and friendly albeit a small city. We drove in around 6:00 pm on Saturday night and there was still a lot of day light. Now for a Saturday night the place was not jumping but there was life. Davenport, like many cities along the Mississippi has gambling and casinos in boats which are tied up to waifs and docks. I guess being on the river lessens the need to force the crying losers back to shore, since you can just give them a good shove, and into the moving Mississippi they go. I didn’t gamble, having earlier met that roving census taker and as already in the hole for $75.00. But Davenport is more than a city on the banks of a great moving river and bad luck, it has academic laurels of scientific excellence which are competed for between local St Ambrose College, a small Catholic liberal arts college and Palmer College. You never heard about Palmer! Lynn and the Mississippi in back
Apparently you are not well read or educated, huh?
Yes, that and the Mississippi, one which I can’t understand its support and success and the other may have been a mere gift of happen-stance by a geography textbook publisher which referred to the river by name and may have confused the location of the "Quad cities" which are now five. But that’s Davenport for you, filled with it’s two self appreciated items of pride!
We checked into the Radisson and fortunately got their last room. Busy weekend huh? Our room was interesting to say the least. It was designed for octogenarians who needed to hold on to a stability bars just to change their minds. There were more bars in the adjoining bathroom than a lot of prisons have to control vicious inmates. Oh well we had a room - bars and all, Ok, Ok, so i did find the stability bars helpful when getting in and out of the tub, on and off of the can and putting my pants on and basically getting around the room. Now at night, it was rough. With the light out, banging into one tubular bar and then jumping back into another kind of like a pin-ball machine with out lights but with plenty of metal bell sounds!
We went for a short walk, found a nice restaurant, The Wood fire Grill, next to The River Music Experience. Actually you could be at both at the same time, if the door to the restaurant was left open as it was often. Mom and I had a good dinner. I had prime rib, my favorite - don’t tell my cardiologist! After our meal we strolled went back to the hotel, not wanting to be on the empty streets of Davenport after sundown, Empty that is, except for some off-key folksingers practicing and a few elderly couples arguing where they parked their car. I’m sure glad Lynn and I are not like them, By the way, where is our car?
The following day was Sunday, got up and went to have breakfast, walked over to the downtown Catholic Church, Saint Anthony’s. Now Florida was admitted as a state into the Union in 1845 and St. Anthony’s was already founded in - 1838. Ok so your not impresses, but I was. I met Mom taking her morning walk on my way back. It was she who found the plack saying that Dred Scott also passed through Davenport while still the property of some physician No, no, not Dr, Palmer. Apparently Dred’s owner was connected with the US Military as a physician. He may have been the man that Dred Scott sued to try to become a freed man once he got to the non-slave state of Illinois? I’ve got some research to do! Oh well we are on the road again - this time we are heading south towards New Orleans and Robin, eventually but we do have some intermediary stops. Will I see you at the next chapter?
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