Head Out On the Highway, Looking For Adventure
Turn on the Big Island road just out of Milan, Illinois and you'll travel an almost deserted two-laner that takes you to where the Hennepin Canal flows into the Mississippi. Look far northward and you'll see the Centennial Bridge.
Remnant of one of the locks of the canal system. Finished in 1907 it was 155 miles long and saved nearly 500 miles of travel. Built much like the present day lock and dam system, much of it remains, much of it doesn't.
This section, at the mouth of the river, still has water-level numbers etched into the deteriorating cement walls. On up a bit, and unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it, was the remqins of the locking gate area which would ahve been closed with a boat in it and rising much like the river dam system.
This is a Google earth picture of the area Mr. and Mrs. Wombie and myself were on this particular day. Big Island apaprently is a place one woudln't want to be around in the evening hours. There was a body found recently who met its demise by nefarious individuals, and the place is also home to deals, drug and otherwise. But during the day it is home to fishermen and besides, we had, Mrs. Wombie with us to protect us.
We had a nice chat with this guy who was waterboarding worms on this fine afternoon. A friendly fellow he was just happy to be here with a couple lines nearby and a cold one in his hands. Who wouldn't?
On the way home I glanced over to the right while going through Viola. I yelled to the Wombie to turn around after I spied an old car in a structure. Even with out reflection you can see a hidden beauty in there. Is that a '57 Cadillac? Could be. It will definitely warrant further investigation in a future adventure.
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