Day 18: 103 miles from Dubuque to Le Claire, Iowa with side trips. The river road alternates from along the river where streams enter and towns are located to high up in the hills with beautiful views of farmland and sometimes the river valley. We stopped in Savanna, IL where Frank Fritz has a restaurant /bar/antique shop; all pretty grubby and seedy. The place caters to bikers, especially on weekends. Nearby we drove to the top of Palisades Park and hiked to a dramatic view of the river, especially now with high water. Dam 12 was wide open.
We arrived in Le Claire about 2:30 and visited Antique Archaeology; lots of tourist things and Mike Wolf's collectables but not a whole lot of antiques for sale.
We are now comfortably looking at the Mississippi River from our room. Another nice 70 degree, sunny day.