During spring-summer 2004 both Stephanie and I became a little familiar about the Illinois and Iowa area around the Mississippi River (the same river we lived a mile from and drove alongside to work in St. Paul, Minnesota) near southeastern Iowa. I lived in Macomb, where I taught at Western Illinois University. Half a dozen of my final weekends in Illinois I spent visiting Minnesota’s Twin Cities, where I had lived and taught before, and I traveled the Illinois and Iowa countryside – usually late at night- to travel between the two. First, I crossed the Mississippi at Fort Madison, Iowa, where a kooky (and not very sturdy looking) double decker railroad and car bridge straddled the river, near the Fort Madison prison, casino, and old fort. One of my colleagues reminisced about teaching over at the prison, until a lockdown ended their teaching assignment. My department head lived across the river in Burlington, Iowa, and later I began crossing the bigger, higher, more conventional bridge there.
In May I moved to Louisville, and Stephanie and – for a while – Vincent took over my Macomb apartment, as Stephanie taught English as a second language for the summer. Stephanie crossed the Fort Madison bridge to go to the casino with her friend Joanne. And Stephanie and Vincent crossed the river at Keokuk, Iowa, up river from Quincy, Illinois (where the Macomb train end-pointed and where I got one of the cable TV stations in Macomb) on her way to our rendezvous for a weekend in Hannibal, Missouri (just down river) and then on to St. Louis.
This week all of these parts of the Mississippi valley – near Quincy, Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Burlington – are at risk of flooding or already flooded. I can remember the Illinois side approach to the Burlington river, and apparently that farmland is already under water. We’ll keep the families in this and other parts of the country threatened by flooding in our prayers. (Pictured above are Western Illinois University football players (the "Leathernecks") – in Macomb for football practice – who’ve taken a break to go help pile sandbags up near the river.)
In May I moved to Louisville, and Stephanie and – for a while – Vincent took over my Macomb apartment, as Stephanie taught English as a second language for the summer. Stephanie crossed the Fort Madison bridge to go to the casino with her friend Joanne. And Stephanie and Vincent crossed the river at Keokuk, Iowa, up river from Quincy, Illinois (where the Macomb train end-pointed and where I got one of the cable TV stations in Macomb) on her way to our rendezvous for a weekend in Hannibal, Missouri (just down river) and then on to St. Louis.
This week all of these parts of the Mississippi valley – near Quincy, Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Burlington – are at risk of flooding or already flooded. I can remember the Illinois side approach to the Burlington river, and apparently that farmland is already under water. We’ll keep the families in this and other parts of the country threatened by flooding in our prayers. (Pictured above are Western Illinois University football players (the "Leathernecks") – in Macomb for football practice – who’ve taken a break to go help pile sandbags up near the river.)
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