Ride the River

In Father's Days past we have packed our bicycles and done Ride the River in the Quad Cities with Lisa's sister and her husband. Since we couldn't get to Rock Island (I-80 is closed east of Iowa City) We did our own ride the river tours today.

I rode over to my office this morning. Burlington St. bridge is still open, but wet since they are pumping out of UI Main Library and Lindquist buildings onto the street.

Tech Center is still dry. Here is the water across the street


And the water below our building at the corner of Capitol and Benton:


I came back over the Benton St. Bridge. Here is a closeup of the downriver side of Burlington St. Bridge. The large rusty thing at the top of the picture is the Iowa Interstate Railroad Bridge the highest span across the river in Iowa City.


Lisa and the girls and I rode on the tandem and the tag along to see the water later. Our first stop was Hawkins Drive and Highway 6 below Carver Hawkeye Arena. The water is up pretty high on the railroad overpass above Rocky Shore Drive:



Then we rode over to the UI west side arts campus. Water has come up to the back of Hancher Auditorium, the premiere performance stage in town:


It has also surrounded E.C. Mabie Theater. I performed in the UI's Summer Rep Theater on that stage in 1979.


Beyond Mabie is the UI Art Museum, all the works have been evacuated, including the giant Jackson Pollack.

(photo from: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/116/303258959_348126bcbd.jpg?v=0)

We then went to City Park. Lower Park is completely flooded. Here is the now submerged Park Road Bridge:


I then walked alone around Upper Park and came down to take a picture of Lucky Shelter #13, the one that we always rent for 4th of July picnics:


The GOOD NEWS is that there are some indications that the Coralville Resevoir may have crested last night, it was predicted to not crest until tomorrow. That is dependant on the amount of rain we continue to receive. However if that is true, we may crest 1.5 feet LOWER than predicted.

I told Rowan today on the ride that we have now at least tied 1918 flood level records, which were higher than 1993.