Chapter 15 Keokuk to Quincy, IL, Grasshoppers for Lunch, Architectural gems

A disused bridge.

I have crossed the river back to Illinois and ride through some very quiet rural country side.  Sue leapfrogs ahead every few miles because it is threatening to rain and she can swoop in for a rescue if needed.  No one is on the road. It traverses the edge of a hillside overlooking vast cornfields that stretch uninterrupted for 2 miles across to the river beyond.

Corn, corn and more corn.

 It is idyllic quintesential countryside with a few towns.  I am cruising at top speed scattering grasshoppers sunning on the shoulder in my wake.  That is when one leaps up and is intercepted my my open mouth while chewing gum.  We are talking a big olive green Chinook chopper sized hopper that struggles inside my mouth with all his pointy barbed legs kicking.  It is not the best feeling. I instantly spit him out along with my gum.  Yeeecth!
That night Sue tracked down a campground called the Driftwood.  It is a former KOA that fell on hard times and has been resurrected by a new owner.  The manager is a real character who left nearby Quincy years ago to travel and work odd jobs in the American West.  He traveled by bicycle from Jackson Hole, WY to Quincy, IL so we instantly clicked and I spent the evening hearing his life story of divorces, working ranches, racing dirt bikes and climbing mountains.  Eventually as the injuries accumulated he wisely decided to hang it up, move back to Quincy leading what must be a very tame life now.  Quincy is a town that boasts the 10th most architecturally significant intersection in the country.  It makes me wonder why the list even went that far down.  Nonetheless, we visit this corner and I am truly impressed even as an Architect.  It is in the middle of a historic district of fine turn of the century homes that were built to impress.  All sorts of architectural styles, ornate details, wrap around porches, gables all executed in fine brickwork and masonry.  My question to the locals is: Who built these?  The downtown like all river towns struggles to stay alive against the chains and Walmarts on the outskirts of town.  While there are also many fine buildings downtown there are equally as many vacant lots.  I learned that Quincy was a leading center of commerce in its heyday with many fortunes being made as the river and railroads converged here.  These fortunes answer who built these mansions.  They are worth getting off the interstate if you ever pass near Quincy.