Today was a very good day.  It would have been an excellent day if it weren't for heavy headwinds and more lousy Iowa roads.

It started from Fulton with some fun at the windmill.  This is an authentic Dutch windmill that was disassembled in the Netherlands and then reassembled in Fulton by Dutch craftsmen.  It is 100' tall.

I give Illinois a high B+ for the route today.  I couldn't quite give them an A because of how often the trail paralleled the highway about 15' to the right.  However, probably 90% of my time in Illinois today was on trails and the trails were mostly smooth.  We left Fulton on a levee trail.

For the second day in a row, the wind was against me.  Today it blew harder and was more constant.  It stayed very consistently out of the south and I got very little respite until late in the day. This will give you and idea of what the wind was like. 

 












Anyone know what kind of flowers these are?  As long as I was taking wind-related pictures, I thought you should see there were wildflowers.

 

One break from the wind was the Albany Mounds Trail.  To see the mounds I would have had to do some hiking.  I did enjoy the trail through the area.

 

Port Byron

 

 

 

As I cycled the trail, a blue heron was "following" me.  He was come close to shore and as I approached him he would circle out over water.  This happened three times and the last time I thought he was gone.  I then saw a white crane and stopped to take a picture.  While I was getting my phone out, I heard a commotion and looked up to see that the blue heron had displaced the crane. tWithin seconds, the heron had adopted the pose previously held by the crane and the crane resumed his pose but facing in the opposite direction.

As soon as I took this picture, the heron flew away.  I swear he was just trying to find a spot to pose and once I got the shot he was off on other business. 

 

While taking a brief break, I looked up to see a dragon flying through the sky into the wind.

 

I crossed the river into Davenport Iowa from Rock Island Illinois over the Centennial bridge.  This is Davenport from the bridge.

 

 This is downriver from the bridge.

 

I went through Davenport on a really nice trail.  Once outside the city limits, however, I was back to the poorly maintained roads that I rode on so frequently in Iowa.  It was almost as though the state feels they have contributed to the MRT by putting up an occasional sign.  The best roads and trails were all within town or city limits.

 

About the best thing on the remainder of my ride for the day was this look at the Mississippi.  I'm sure I will be able to find bayous in Louisiana with much the same look.

 

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